Mankind sensible of this therefore it is often suggested to us in Scripture This Chapter vers 1. says Man that is born of a Woman is of few days Few and evil says Jacob have the days of the years of my Life been after he had lived an hundred and thirty Years Gen. 47. 9. Well then might the Psalmist say If our strength lasts to fourscore years yet it is soon cut off as Psal 90. 10. But we shall have the best and most lively apprehension of the contemptible shortness of human Life if we compare the continuance of that with the duration of some other things There are many of the Creatures made inferiour to us that yet now commonly live much longer than we Naturalists tell us that some forts of Birds commonly live an hundred years when alas not one in many hundreds of us can reach to near that Age. Of some Trees it is said they will live Eight hundred years Many of our own Works abide and continue much longer than we We contrive them for our own advantage and comfort and in a little time leave them we know not to whom We live in Houses we meet in Churches that were built by we know not who we read Books written by men that have been dead perhaps many hundred years ago If we consider the more abiding parts of the Creation how much longer do they last than we whom they were made to serve One generation goes and another comes says the Preacher but the Earth abides for ever The expression does not mean that this Earth shall never be dissolv'd and there are other Scriptures which intimate that it shall but it teaches us that while the Earth abides and has done so for several thousands of years a great many generations of men have successively been upon it For a while it has fed and then devoured them A while they have had a portion here and then resigned it to others and they after a little while have resigned it again to others no man can carry any of these things away with him How many lives has the Course of this one Sun measured and yet the Sun continues to run his Race Above five Thousand years has that bright Creature been a burning and shining Light when alas we are but as of yesterday as Job speaks Job 8. 9. And how much longer after us the Earth and the Sun and the Heavens may last we know not But if they should last much longer as we have reason to think they will not last always there are yet another sort of Beings of a longer duration The Angels which were made above five Thousand years ago shall continue for ever they shall know no end of duration nor alteration of their blest and happy condition Their duration is not transitory their condition is not frail and feeble But in the last place let us consider the infinite and everlasting Duration of the Ever-blessed God He is from everlasting to everlasting as is said Psal 90. 2. He always was and never had beginning always is and shall be and never shall be at an end Oh how justly may we despise considering these things the contemptible shortness of our present Life The Psalmist says to God A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past Which is as if he should say If we wretched mortals should be continued in this world for a longer time than any of the first men liv'd who liv'd some of them near a thousand years yet this were very little to thy unmeasurable duration The longest Life of man is as inconsiderable to thee as one past day is to us Yea it is as little as a watch in the night he adds as three or four hours spent in sleep And very fitly is this matter exprest yet further to make us duely sensible of it Psal 39. 5. Behold my days are as an hand-breadth The four short Stages of mans life are but each of them as it were the breadth of a finger in their length and yet further Mine age is as nothing before thee The greatest number of our years is so small it is as nothing when compar'd with thy eternal duration Thus we may help our selves duely to apprehend the shortness of our present life 2. Let us consider that this our present Life is very frail and feeble As the Flower is the shortest liv'd part of a plant so 't is usually the weakest the most easily withered and destroyed A cold wind pinches and blasts it a high one tears it in pieces a hot Sun shrivels and withers it a little fly or worm can easily destroy a thing of so delicate and tender a constitution And so frail as this is the life of man There is not the weakest Flower more weak than he the strongest man may be kill'd by a fly or an hair a crum of bread a blast of ill air or a few drops of drink Even the weakest and most contemptible Creature that is can put an end to his days when 't is commissioned by the Providence of God to do so And we are liable to a great many mortal accidents any of which can cut us off in the prime of our years when we are proud of youth and strength As Job says some die in their full strength when their breasts are full of milk and their bones are moistned with morrow Job 21. 23 24. Our greatest strength is but weakness How often has the Sun risen upon a man alive and well and promising himself many days and before his setting has seen him a dead carkass Again We may apprehend the frailty of our present life from hence we all breed in our selves the Causes of death A great many distempers are our mortal bodies liable to and we carry the seeds of them in our selves And we may say there are some diseases which the excess of health and vigour dispose men to some that kill only the young or strong as a consumption or a feaver But that constitution must needs be acknowledged frail which breeds its own destruction and this is the common case of mankind in our present state And yet further will the frailty of this life be presented to us if we consider the unavoidable decays of old age If without accidents and in spite of distempers we pass through childhood and youth and manhood yet in old age nature decaies of its self If nothing else destroy us we shall like the weak flower fade and fall alone The crazy building may be propt a while but it will tumble at last let what will de done to support it And this ought sure to be reckon'd a very frail thing which will fall of it self and perish if it be let alone And much rather yet should we account it so if it will fail and perish notwithstanding the greatest care and the best means that can be used to preserve it And this is the miserable condition of our present life 3.
wickedness and impiety debase and disparage us These latter deform us into the likeness of the Devil and so make us truely more vile than the Beasts that perish So much reason is there that we earnestly endeavour then to adorn our Souls with Piety and Vertue 4. And Lastly The Excellency and Immortality of our Souls should make us greatly concerned to secure and attain for them an Everlasting Happiness Since we are capable of such an one we should not rest till we have some good assurance of it It would become us and it were our Wisdom to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure as the Apostle advises We should work out our salvation with fear and trembling Let every man then take it into his most deliberate Thoughts What shall become of him to all Eternity Let this be a great concern with us all When this frail Tabernacle of my Body shall be taken down in which my Soul now dwells Where then shall my poor banisht Soul abide Where Oh where shall that be then disposed of To what company shall I go for I cannot be happy alone And what good things shall I then enjoy for I have not a self-sufficiency within me I am told and assured of two very different States after this Life the one of perfect Happiness and the other of perfect Misery To which of these two States am I likely to be doom'd since I am immortal and must abide forever in that I am sent to it greatly concerns me to know which of them it shall be The one is designed for good Men and the other for the Bad Which is it then of these two Characters that I bear Since the course of my Life has a certain tendency towards the one or the other of these and I shall fare hereafter according as I have lived here let me consider well what a Course I take Am I sit to dwell in the kind and loving World above if I harbour any Malice or Envy or Hatred in my Heart Am I fit for the pure Mansions of Heaven if I live in sensual and brutish Sins Am I fit to live with those who are all faithful and true with the God of Truth and Righteousness if I am deceitful and unjust and had rather be cunning than sincere Am I fit to be in the presence of God and in the Company of those that Reverence and Adore him if I am habitually Prophane and accustomed to despise all things that are Sacred and to abuse the awful Name of God in vain Oaths and Perjuries Am I sit to leave this World and to be happy out of it if my Heart be so set upon it that I can love I can relish and delight in nothing but what is of this World If this be my Condition and this has been my Course of Life certainly this will not bring me to Heaven If a man finds then that it has been thus with him he should resolve to stop and divert his Course Since without Holiness no man shall see God we must follow after Holiness we must follow after these Divine Qualifications that have been mentioned as things necessary to our everlasting Happiness We must cease to do evil and learn to do well and devote our selves to the Service of God in a course of universal Obedience to his Commands we must repent of our past Sins that they may be blotted out we must purify our selves as God is pure Blessed says our Saviour are the pure in heart for they shall see God We must cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God and present our selves and our repentance and obedience all in the Name of Jesus Christ hoping for acceptance through him and for the favour of God to be bestowed upon us only for his sake Let it be consider'd that we must either dwell with God and his holy Angels in everlasting Joy and Bliss or be doom'd to the Prisons of the Devils and confin'd to dwell with enraged and wicked and spiteful Companions If we must not dwell in the Regions of Light we shall be dismissed to the gloomy Caves of everlasting Darkness If we are not admitted to the Joys and Hymns and Praises of Heaven we shall be condemned to the Howlings and Discords and Torments of Hell and there bear a sad part our selves in those Everlasting Sorrows There is no Middle State but the one or the other of these will be our everlasting and unalterable Portion Life and Death are set before us and we have leave to chuse between them But it is so That if we will not chuse Life we shall not be at Liberty to refuse Death If we do not chuse Life and Happiness and earnestly and steadily engage in the Course that leads to it we must fall into the other destruction and misery will come of themselves How shall we escape says the Apostle If we neglect so great Salvation Let it be consider'd that we must determine our choice between these two things while our present Life lasts not a moment more will be allowed us to do it in and this Life is of uncertain duration and most certainly is hastning away It is best for us therefore to hasten our choice in this Matter and to be very constant and steady in the way to Happiness when we have chosen that THE PRAYER OEternal and Almighty God! Before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth or the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God Thy duration is without beginning or end and thou art the Author and End of all things besides thy self It is thou O Lord that hast made us and not we our selves Thou hast sent us into this world to enjoy it a while to study and see Thee in the things about us to praise Thee for their Excellency and Goodness to love Thee for them and more than them as being the Fountain and Center of all that Goodness which is scattered and dispersed among them And thou hast made us for the high and noble Happiness of enjoying thy self O Lord how great and good things hast thou designed us for and how low and mean things do we consine our selves to We are ashamed to think how seldom we think of thee we use thy Creatures and thy Gifts and forget thy Self we are charmed and detained with that little Goodness that is in them and neglect that infinite Abundance which is in thee we commonly make but a low animal use of the things of this world considering in them only their suitableness to the Appetites and Necessities of our Bodies and valuing and delighting in them only for that and so they do not raise up our minds to thee And thus it comes to pass that we seek none but these things we live as if we were not made capable of better we seek our Happiness where it is not and neglect it where it is
my behaviour here this short Life has an influence upon the Eternal one If I have lived well and well used the Talents I was entrusted with here I shall enjoy better and more lasting good things there I may justly content my self to be denyed any of these things below if the wise disposer sees fit to do so since better things to full satisfaction are reserved for me But if I live wickedly I must expect that alittle time will put an end for ever to all my present ease and prosperity I must part with all my lov'd Enjoyments and bid a farewell to all mirth and pleasure All my portion of good is in this World and I can enjoy it no longer than while this short and transitory Life lasts It is but a small portion of good then that falls to my share if this be all I must have And it was not worth the being born to be exposed to so many evils to bear so many afflictions to feel the wrackings of so many violent passions as this mortal Life and vale of Tears are acquainted with for the sake of enjoying so little good so short and small a felicity And besides my pleasant Circumstances here will quickly end in Torments and Miseries that will continue for ever Let us I say think much of that other World and divert our thoughts from this That so our affections may be disengaged and we may not be entangled with the Charms and Allurements of this World to our everlasting perdition And having got our selves at liberty from those fatal snares and fetters let us earnestly apply our selves to prepare for and secure a happy State in the Life to come This ought to be our greatest care in this World and employ the most of our endeavours In every other care and endeavour this should be minded and should direct them We should so pursue this World as at the same time to pursue a better and so enjoy this World as that we at the same time may hope for a better Ought we not to be most concerned that we may be happy there where we must be longest Let us behave our selves always in this World as going out of this and going into another where we shall abide and stay Shall we be carefull about a few days to come of this Life and not much rather be solicitous what shall become of us to all Eternity Now to secure our happiness hereafter we must endeavour to make our peace with God to regain his favour by repenting truly of our former Sins by stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life by devoting our selves to Jesus Christ to be followers of him with whom the Father was well-pleased We must then deny all angodliness and worldly Lusts and live soberly righteously and godly in this present World We must cease to do evil and learn to do well and follow after holiness without which no man can see God no man can be admitted into that presence of God which makes Heaven Let us endeavour to grow reconciled to a very serious and religious Life to become acquainted with and to relish the joys and pleasures of devotion and communion with God To delight in him in meditating on his Nature and Works in praising adoring and worshipping of him Which things will be the great entertainment and happiness of Heaven and therefore till we are suited to such things till we can find the highest pleasure in them and in all acts of Vertue till we can satisfie our selves in such things even with the want of many worldly Enjoyments we are not fit for Heaven nor can be happy in another World But thus to prepare our selves for and secure a happy State hereafter is the best use we can possibly put this our mean Life to And though this Life be so short and transitory we shall have time enough for the securing a better if we do not cheat our selves of it by unnecessary delays and if we apply our selves diligently to this matter And how great an Improvement of our present Life is this How great a gain How much to advantage To employ this Life for the gaining a happy one hereafter is as if a man should lay out Pebbles for Pearls should exchange Dirt for Gold and short liv'd Sparkles for lasting and glorious Stars 'T is to lay out Earth for Heaven to spend time for the purchase of Eternity to use the Creatures so as to make them bring us to God to labour for a very few days that we may enjoy an Eternal rest to deny our selves in a few things and for a little while that we may ere long enjoy full satisfactions everlasting pleasures This is truly and greatly to redeem our time This if we do we shall not regret that our time on Earth was so short and transitory THE PRAYER O Eternal and Almighty God thou art always the same and thy years do not fail thou art the same yesterday and to day and for ever without Variableness or shadow of Change It is upon thee O Lord and thy unchangeable Power that all things else do depend in their Beings and in all their Operations thou fillest Heaven and Earth and thou workest all in all All thy Works praise thee O God and thy Saints bless thee The invisible Things of thee are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even thy Eternal power and Godhead And we O Lord are amongst the number of those whom thou hast Created and dost preserve thou in thy due time didst bring us into Being at our Birth and by thee we are hitherto sustained It is thou that supportest our frail Natures that they fall not into the Dust by thy careful Providence over us we have escaped many Dangers we have got through the weakness of Infancy and the Heedlesness of Childhood by thy Blessing has our Food nourisht and our Cloaths warmed us for we live not by these things alone but by the Word which proceeds out of the mouth of God We are in thy Hands then O thou the Sovereign Arbiter of Life and Death when ever thou pleasest we return to the Dust from whence we were Created We acknowledge it is of thy Mercy that we are not consumed and because thy Compassions fail not And we are afraid when we think how easily thou canst crush and destroy us how frail our Life is and how short and Transitory how little a distance we are from Eternity and how exposed our Lives are how many Evils and Dangers compass us about and how small a Matter is able to put an end to our Days These things when we consider them make us look upon our selves as always just at the brink of the Grave and Eternity And while we have liv'd careless of our Duty to thee while we have liv'd in Rebellion against thee we have been upon the brink of Hell and in continual Danger of falling into it Had thy wrath been kindled against us but for a
The old person is oftentimes attended with the yearly returns of very painfull Distempers which give him perhaps some intermissions for a little while but 't is only to let him gain so much strength as to be able to endure and rub through the more returning fits of them He shall feel the smart of former Wounds and the Aches and Pains of old Bruises and the stiffness and weariness of former Labours Sickness confines him to his House or his Chamber and makes him a Prisoner at home Pain wearies out his days and makes him wish for the Night And when the Night has continued a while he wishes again for the Day He has no comfort in his Days nor rest in the Nights The remainder of comfort and pleasure which weakness and decay had left Sickness and Pain utterly lavish away Therefore 3. It must be mentioned as another Inconvenience of old Age that it is with many a time very destitute of Pleasure The old man has but a very weak and languid Sence at the most of all the pleasant things of this World The desire now fails as Solomon says verse 5. The Sences and Appetites grow dull and have less relish of these things The dim Eye is no more ravisht with beautifull Objects nor is the deaf Ear to be charmed with harmonious Sounds The Nose and Pallate are hardly sensible any longer of pleasing Tasts or Smells Can I discern between good and evil says old Barsillai to David Can thy servant tast what I eat or what I drink can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women 2 Sam. 19. 35. The Novelty of things which helped to transport him in younger years is now no more attending them he can meet with nothing new but is cloyed and sick with the dull repetitions of the same things 4 It is a great addition to the Evil of these days that if any affliction or inconvenience befalls us then it is usually more incurable than in our younger years it might have been Man is born to trouble as the Sparks fly upwards Affliction will haunt and molest us as long as we live in this mutable weak and exposed State and that condition of Life which renders our afflictions most incurable renders them also the most grievous and troublesome When our condition is hopeless as well as inconvenient this more than doubles the grief of that inconvenience and this is commonly the unhappy case of old Age If a man be then sickly he cannot expect ever to recover or enjoy a good State of Health again if one distemper be cured it turns into another He that is deprived of his Children then cannot hope to have more as poor Naomi complained If then he falls into poverty he must lie under it and bear all the sorrowfull attendants of that for he is now weak and uncapable of that Industry which should help him He wants more than he did in younger years and is less able to take pains to get it 5. Lastly that which further helps to make old Age an evil time is the certain approach and nearness of Death It is known then that this cannot be far off His miserable days will shortly end in dissolution from his sick Bed he must go ere long to his cold Grave and be a long Prisoner there His best days are irrecoverably gone and he shall never return to the health and vigour the mirth and jollity of Youth again The certainty of Death is the great and uncomfortable disparagement of the present Life In all our mirth it damps us to think of it It troubles our best days it chills our warmest blood it sours our sweetest delights to have a serious thought that we must die It affrights us to think I must ere long be cold and senceless I must be a gastly Object to those that have most delighted to see me Those I most love will hasten to bury me out of their sight they will commit me to worms and rottenness I must lie down in darkness and oblivion worms must feed on me and the winds ere long scatter my contemptible dust I must leave all the pleasant things I have here and go into a new an unknown World from whence none come back to tell what is there These are sad and very painfull thoughts to him that puts this Evil farthest from him But with how much the more force must these things strike and wound when they are certainly near And to the aged Person these things must be near They may indeed be as near to the youngest here present as to the oldest but it may also be said they may not be near such but it cannot be said they may not be near them that are aged Death with his fatal Dart is almost ready to strike them Their day is come to the Evening and therefore they cannot be far from Night their Glass is almost run and shall never be turn'd up again and therefore must soon be out This also then may make old Age an evil time And this is the time to which many men incline to put off their living well but whether they do wisely in this or no will be best determin'd after we have well considered what is to be said on the third Head of Discourse wherein I doubt not to make appear as was proposed that the best defence and preparation we can possibly make against these Evil days is to begin a religious and vertuous Course betimes and to continue in it all our days before this time This the Light of Nature taught a wise and thinking Heathen Cicero de Senect who speaks thus Aptissima omnino arma senectutis c. The best weapons and defences of old Age against the Inconveniences it is liable to are the Arts and the Exercises of Vertues Which being cultivated through every Age of Life before if we happen to live long will then bring forth wonderful Fruits Not only says he because they will never desert us no not to the extream point of Life though that be very considerable but also because the consciousness of a well spent Life and the remembrance of many good and vertuous Actions are highly pleasant to us Thanks be to God we can say this upon much better grounds than the Heathens could and then the Argument ought to have the more force upon us To make it appear that a religious and vertuous Life before is the best preparation and defence that we can possibly make against the Evils that attend old Age I shall insist upon these two particulars 1. This will in a great measure prevent some of the Evils to which that part of Life is liable 2. It will greatly alleviate those which it does not prevent and soften them with very effectual Consolations In the first place this will in a great measure prevent some of the Evils that old Age is liable to A vertuous and temperate Course of Life in our younger years gets a good
Further The very thought and assurance of the approach and nearness of Death may be a comfort to a good man against many of the Inconveniences of old Age. Death it self will not be very terrible to him whom a good Life has made ready for it who knows his Sins pardoned and his good Deeds accepted through the Mediatour who can say I have fought a good fight I have finisht my course I have kept the Faith and henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness It is pleasant instead of being terrible to a good man when he can say My work is almost done and I am now expecting my Reward My warfare is well nigh accomplished and the next thing that is to come is my Crown I am indeed near the time of parting with this World but I shall exchange it for a better I shall go to never fading pleasures to durable riches to unspeakable joy and felicity Can a man be troubled with the nearness and approach of his Death when he knows it will be a change that will be much to his advantage And he that knows this will be comforted most effectually under the Evils of his present condition When he can think if nothing else can cure them Death will and that very shortly it cannot be long ere I shall be free from them all Ere long my pains shall be at an end and I shall be at ease I shall be removed from among those that are wickedly a weary of me and willing to part with me to live with them that will be as willing to receive me And if his posterity are such as can deserve the Blessing of his Prayers he can comfortably commit them to the Providence of God and think that by his good and righteous and holy Life he has entailed a Blessing upon them which is a far better portion with a small provision than the greatest abundance of ill gotten goods And thus much I think may suffice to demonstrate that a good and vertuous Life makes the best preparation that can be against the Evils and Inconveniences of old Age. And this is certainly a very good Argument for our minding Religion in our Youth If we do so we are fit to die if it should not be our lot to live to old Age and as such a course is most likely to lengthen our lives so far so it will prevent or alleviate the Evils that commonly attend that time if we do live to it For a Conclusion of this Discourse and to strengthen the Argument I shall briefly compare this with the other ways of living that many betake themselves to When we are entering upon the World the most of us do dispose of our selves in one or other of these two ways Either we greedily follow the pleasures of the World and give our selves up to the pursuit and enjoyment of them Or we betake our selves to the eager pursuit of wealth or honours and to raise a fortune as we call it But alas neither of these two ways of living will be able to afford men that true comfort and satisfaction in their latter end which may be derived from Vertue and Religion these will rather end in Vexation and Trouble They that give themselves up to Pleasures treasure nothing but sorrow and shame for after-days What profit is there in these when they are gone what fruit do they leave behind them and how much pain and sorrow do they leave when they leave an impair'd Estate a sick distemper'd Body and a guilty Conscience And for a man to think I have amused and entertained my self with Vanities and for them have neglected and forsaken the most solid and durable Goods I have received all my good things here Alas how thin how empty a portion is it Yet this is all this is all I was born to enjoy These guilty pleasures cannot entitle me to better things therefore they are not earnests of such I have then received and spent all my portion of good and happiness These are very sad and grievous thoughts and such as these must the Sinners guilty frolicks end in Accordingly we may observe that none are so morose and melancholy and discontented in old Age as they who have licentiously followed their pleasure in the former part of their Life who are smarting now for their foolish frolicks and have the burden of their present Evils much the greater and the heavier for them Again let us consider those who have spent all their Life in heaping up of Wealth These do seem indeed to be somewhat the wiser persons of the two but there is not much difference between them He that most pursues Riches does not certainly gain them and while he is still drawn after them with hopes they perhaps like his shadow fly from him still and so he loses his labour and his life too He that gets Riches cannot be sure to keep them all his days or that he shall comfort his old Age with them And when that comes with the Evils and Pains and Distempers which all the wealth he has gotten cannot remove when it cannot reprieve him from the Grave nor set his Death a moment further from him when it will leave him at his going out of this World to all the Miseries of the next and this cannot purchase his peace with God nor redeem his Soul from Hell nor gain him admittance into the Courts of Heaven Then how does he disdain all his labour how is his sick mind fretted to think how he has lost his time how little comfort does all his labour in this kind afford him when the fruits of it are so useless to him Thus we see the ends of worldly men of those who minded nothing all their days but the pleasures and wealth of this World Their end is sad and gloomy their sweets turn bitter their abundance ends in poverty and wretched Nakedness their Mirth in sorrow and their short lived Pleasures in everlasting Pain and Torment But the good and vertuous Man closes up a troublesome Life with joy and gladness his Labours end in rest and his Pains in ease and felicity If he be encombred with any outward Evils his comfort is he is going away from them all If he has received any good things here he knows also that far better things are reserved for him in the World to come THE PRAYER ALmighty and most Wise and most gracious God Thou art Glorious in Holiness fearful in thy Praises doing Wonders all thy Works O Lord are done in Judgment thou art Righteous in all thy Ways and Holy in all thy Works We admire thee we praise we bless thee for thy worderful Works of Creation and for thy wonderful Works of Providence O Lord there is none to whom we may compare or liken thee there is no God besides thee And in particular we desire at this time to Praise thee for the Wisdom and Goodness thou hast shown in thy most excellent Law in
alleviate our present Pains and a sence of favour and reconcilement with God would conquer the fears of Death and make us ready and willing to appear before our Judge 3. But if a man has the warning of a lingring and slow Sickness to repent of his Sins and prepare for his Death 't is yet a very great Hazard whether he will repent under it or not If he has not such a Disease as will necessarily hinder this yet many other things may and often do so We do not seldom see men that deferred their Repentance till this time as far from performing it then as ever they were before A man may think while he is in health and engaged in the World and exposed to the Temptations of it that the danger of that time and the confinement and separation from the World will mightily help him to do this necessary work then and put him upon it but alas the contrary to this does very ordinarily come to pass With some the very pain and trouble of their Disease though it does not take away their Sences and the use of their Reason yet it is able to distract their minds and divert them from all Thoughts of Repentance and making their peace with God Does not daily experience teach us that a severe pain if it be but at a tooth and that even in a Person habitually pious and good is able to disturb the mind and unfit one for any exercise of Devotion and so detain the Thoughts that they can fix on nothing but that All that we are commonly sensible of in such a case is the present pain and all that we can be concern'd about is to get rid of the present importunate grievance And is it not much rather likely to be thus with a man under the pain and trouble of Sickness If so little an inconvenience can divert even a good man from fixed and good Thoughts how much more likely is it that greater pain and uneasiness will divert him from such who is habitually wicked who has lived all his Life an utter stranger to such Thoughts has never tasted the pleasure nor found the benefit of them Besides as the delaying Sinner has been wont to love his Body better than his Soul to contrive the satisfaction and convenience of that rather than the everlasting Happiness of this he must needs be apt in this distress to be still in the same disposition and to be so busied about the griefs and pains of his Body as to neglect his Soul still as he has done all his days before And if so what a madness is it for a man to expect and wait for the very worst disposition and state of his Body that he may then perform the greatest and most important business of his Soul Again the very fear and apprehension of dying quickly may happen to take away all thought or concern of preparing for Death This may seem unlikely but yet it does sometimes come to pass I knew a man says one who had been wont to visit sick and dying Persons and he not altogether a careless Liver neither who being at the point of Death when he was admonisht by a Minister to prepare himself for his departure was so possessed and overwhelmed with the Thought that he was in danger of speedy Death that he could think of nothing else but of sending for this and the other Physitian of taking this and the other Medicine and all the care and thought that he could be possest with was only how he might recover and escape the present and imminent danger and in the midst of such thoughts he breathed his last And thus it is very likely to be with many men he who has great affairs upon his hands and especially if they be a little entangled he who leaves a Family but ill provided for or likely to need his presence among them He who would fain see a Son or a Daughter well disposed of and setled as we call it will be apt to be wholly devoured with the same care Thus sure it is very likely to be with a great lover of the World with him that loves nothing but what is here that has no treasure in Heaven nor expectations of any thing comfortable in the other World When he apprehends himself in danger to leave all at once what he has here to leave it for ever and go he knows not where and he knows not to what but fears exceedingly a great deal of ill such a man must needs be liable to a great Consternation at the Summons of Death and to think of nothing but by what means he may avoid it for the present and gain some more time to make a better preparation for it than he has done And further it may be the sick man is not in danger of a speedy Death or perhaps if he be so he will not believe it as it is with a great many He hopes perhaps to recover this Sickness and promises himself after it many years of life when he has but a few moments to live And the Flatteries of Friends will be apt to encourage this conceit and the Physitian must give him it may be more hopes than himself has to support this sick mans Spirits and assist his own prescriptions And then though the concern to avoid Death does not put him by his Repentance yet the hopes of longer Life may do it he will think he needs not yet repent the dangerous period before which he purposes to do it is yet a great way off and thus he goes on to cheat himself into everlasting perdition And it is no wonder if a man who has been habitually wicked and lived many years in his Sins does take any encouragement to put off his Repentance still and can hardly find in his Heart even upon his Death-Bed to do this The custom of sinning is like a second Nature and is not but with the greatest difficulty and labour overcome It will hardly ever forsake a man Of the habitual Sinner is that for the most part true which is said Job 20. 11. His Bones are full of the Sins of his Youth which shall lie down with him in the Dust How unlikely indeed is it that a man should in a moment so fall out with his Sin as to hate it and throw it off for ever when he has many years loved and cherished it or that he should now all at once be possest with an hearty Love of God and Goodness which for many years he has neglected and hated Accordingly we often see Persons upon their Death-Bed still the very same that they were before as they lived so they die there is no change or alteration in the least appears in the state and disposition of their minds We find them exercising the beloved Sin in their Discourse when they cannot do it in their Actions it appears to have still a fast possession of the Soul even when the opportunities of
committing it are taken from them How often do we find the profane Person then profane the habitual Swearer cursing and swearing with his last Breath How often is the covetous Person taken up with his worldly Affairs thinking and talking of his Bags and Possessions or of gainful Bargains and further gettings even to the very minute when he must lose and part with all How often is the proud and vain Person then vain and proud too even then concerned about Beauty and Cloaths about trimming up and adorning the poor wretched Carkass which is likely within a few moments to be but rottenness and putrefaction This hardness at Death and unconcernedness even then about a future State is a very tremendous and deplorable Judgment of God which very often falls upon those who have long resisted the means of Grace and refused to repent and turn to him He gives up the obstinate Sinner to a Judicial hardness which the very near approach of Death and Judgment shall not be able to move He lets him be forgetful of himself at the point of Death because he was and would be all his Life long forgetful of God and his Duty to him He would not make sure of his pardon before and now he shall have no thought or concern about it And there is yet another hindrance the of delaying Sinners repentance at the point of Death which all such are in great danger of and many fall under and that is Despair The same Adversary of their Souls who tempted them before to presume will now if they are at all awakened and sensible of their condition be very ready to hurry them into this And surely there is too much ground for such a temptation in the case of him who has deferred his Repentance till now He must be in great danger of falling into a hopeless and despairing Sense of his Condition if he has any at all whose own Conscience with the Adversary can tell him he has squandered away the time of mercy and his day of Grace is come to its end before he has secured the Grace and Favour of God He has spent his whole Life in Sin and Rebellion against him that made him to whose Glory he ought to have lived and whose Mercy and Love he now stands in need of That he has utterly lost one Life and shall not be trusted with another that as he can never undoe the Ills he has done so he has no time left to alter his Course in and live it better And when he thinks with himself that at such and such times he was invited and earnestly urged to repent and break off his Sins and he had some good motions towards it in his mind but he made a shift to stifle those motions he slighted the good Counsel and despised the necessary Reproofs How apt must he be in the midst of such thoughts to fall into despair to think that God will now only laugh at his Calamity that if he should repent he shall be refused And then he will neglect it as thinking it now too late and that it would be in vain This is the sad Case of many a dying Sinner who has lived all his life in the contempt of God and Religion He now gives himself for lost and goes to Hell expecting to go to Hell He throws away his last minutes in despair after he has wilfully lost his whole Life before in presumption So many things there are which may hinder a man from having any mind or thought to repent at last But now when no man can possibly tell but some one or other of these may be his case when he comes to die if he neglects this before how plainly unreasonable and extravagant is it to put off our Repentance to that time 4. Another Argument to dissuade men from relying upon a Death-Bed Repentance may be this What Repentance men do practice in that condition it is very seldom sincere and true Some indeed are struck then with a mighty fear of God and dread of their final Sentence and of the Punishments of Hell which they are conscious to themselves they have deserved and which they think are near the getting hold on them And in this fright they are full of confessions of their Sins and condemnations of themselves for their former Evil life and earnestly they sue for pardon and mercy and make great protestations how good they will be if it will but please God to spare them But alas all this with the most of men in this condition is but false and dissembled all this does seldom arise to a true and sincere Repentance It proceeds in the most from a wrong Principle They only dread the Wrath of God and the Punishments of Sin they do not hate their Sin they are not truly fallen out with it they do not love God nor are heartily reconciled to his Commandments True Repentance ought to be entirely voluntary and free but this is entirely forced They talk of leaving only what is leaving of them and of sinning no more when they think they shall not have opportunity to entertain themselves with their beloved Sins any more It is possible a man in this condition may think himself that his Repentance is sound and his Resolutions are hearty but it is very easie for him to be deceived It is easie says one for a man to think he has no mind to do that which he plainly sees it is not in his Power to do Possibility says he is the best Proof and Trial of the Will If thou dost not while thou canst do this does most manifestly and truly shew that thou hast not the Will to do There is a great deal of dissembled seeking to God and pretended Conversion to him under distress and affliction among the Sons of men Such was that of the Jews spoke of in Psal 78. 34. where 't is said When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God But it is added in verse 36 37. of that Psalm Nevertheless they did flatter him with their Mouth and lied unto him with their Tongue for their Heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant In like manner the late penitent makes perhaps very earnest Addresses to God but it is only to get out of his present distress and if this be granted and his fears are over he soon forgets all the good promises that he had made Of those who make these good Vows and Protestations in their Sickness and Danger a very small proportion do fulfil them when they have escaped their danger which shews they are for the most part false and deceitful ones The most of them return after a little while to their abdicated Sins like the Dog to his Vomit or the Swine that was washt to wallowing in the Mire Or instead of those nauseated Sins says one Hamm. Pract. Cat. they make choice of some other new Path to Hell
this case And now methinks this should be sufficient to deter any man from relying upon a Death-Bed Repentance especially any man that has time and opportunity in his hands to perform a more sure one This is at the best but an uncertain and uncomfortable one no man can tell whether it will be accepted of God or not because no man can certainly tell whether it be true or not And though a Sinner ought not to despair in such a case yet he can have but little and that a very wavering hope Such a one may be saved but neither he nor any one else can be assured that he shall be so There is so much ground of hope in this case as may encourage a wretched Sinner who has neglected himself all his days at his last hours to try what Repentance will then do for him it is the only remedy he has left and if that fail nothing will help him But there is not so much ground of hope as may give any man who is now in health any reasonable encouragement to put off his Repentance till that time Certainly it is very unreasonable for a man to build the Hopes of his Salvation upon that which cannot secure his Salvation to him To conclude If the Gospel affords any small encouragement to them that repent upon a Death-Bed yet it gives no man any at all to defer and put off his Repentance till then He is guilty of great folly and presumption that shall do so In this wilful deferring of our Repentance we do greatly provoke Almighty God not to grant us the benefit of this remedy at last How justly may God say to such a man then as Wisdom speaks Prov. 1 24 25 26. Because I have caled and you have refused I have stretched out my hands and you would not regard me but have set at naught all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh Now you shall call and I will not answer and though you seek me early you shall not find me He may most justly cut a man off in his Sins by a sudden Death and not give him any warning or space to repent He may very justly put an end to our days by some such Disease as shall hinder our Repentance He may very justly give a man up to a final hardness and so let him die in his Sins who would needs live in them And he may let the Sinners remorce and trouble be as his false heart enclines to make it but false and dissembled Such as cannot amount to a true Repentance and then all his Cries and Tears all his Vows and Protestations shall be vain and not accepted But he shall go to feel what he fears and from the torment of fearing that he is undone to that of finding he is so These things may in God's just Judgment befall him who had much time given him to repent in who was often called to it by Ministers and Friends and perhaps warned by some Afflictions but would needs put it off to the End of his Life And when God cuts off such a man in his carriere of Sin without giving him space to reform his Life it may well be suspected he has rejected all the Sorrows Vows and Protestations that attended his departure It is not a favour promised that a man shall have the grace of Repentance given him then who has refused it often before Though God out of his Sovereign grace may give a good and safe Death to him that has lived all his Life wickedly yet he has no where bound himself to this he has not given us any express or intimated allowance to depend upon or expect any such favour And then it is altogether unreasonable to expect it Lot us then to make sure that we shall die the Death of the Righteous repent while we are in health and may have time to prove the truth of our Repentance in a good Life and so to assure the acceptance of it with God Let us repent when we are called to it and when the grace of God is ready to assist us and to give us a true Repentance Let us endeavour to live the Life of the Righteous for as long time as we can before we come to die and then we shall be sure to make a good End Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace THE PRAYER O Most Holy and most righteous Lord our God the Judge and Governour of all the World thou lovest Righteousness and hatest Iniquity With shame and self abasement we present our selves before thee at this time who are vile Earth and miserable Sinners Who have broke thy Laws and done evil against thee what we could who have followed the corrupt Inclinations of our Natures and the evil Customs and Practices of the World rather than the way of thy just and good Commandments If we should say we have no Sin we should deceive our selves and the Truth were not us We therefore humbly confess our Sins before thee which it were in vain for us to endeavour to conceal from thee for we know that to the Lord our God belong Mercies and Forgivenesses tho' we have rebelled against thee Thou art he who delightest not in the Death of a Sinner but had rather that he should turn to thee and live We thank thee O Father of Mercies that thou allowest us the benefit of Repentance we bless thee for the great Propitiation Oh that Men would praise the Lord for his Goodness towards the Children of Men whom he has not excluded from all hopes of Favour and Mercy as he has done the Apostate Angels And we give thee most humbly and hearty Thanks O Lord for thy Goodness to us in particular who are here before thee In that thy Forbearance and Long-suffering does yet afford us space and time for Repentance that we are not now at this time among the Damned in Hell as we have greatly deserved to be that we have time allow'd us to consider our ways and turn our Feet unto thy Testimonies that we have space to secure our Repentance to practice it and to enjoy the Comfort of it to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance Lord if we are truely grieved for our Sins past we must needs be greatly desirous of leading a new and different course of Life from that we have sometime done Give us therefore we pray thee the Grace of true Repentance and let us have that to praise thee for added to all thy other Goodness towards us Make us to know in this our Day the things that belong to our Peace before they are hid from our Eyes suffer us not to harden our Hearts against the Invitations and Warnings of thy word Let all of us that are here present be seeking the Lord while he may be found and calling upon him while he is nigh and without delay