be pardon'd and saved That therefore which the Gospel calls and admits us to is a state of Repentance whereinto we enter by Baptism Adult persons already come to the use of Reason must repent that is bid adieu to their old wicked way of life and resolve upon a new and holy one before they be baptized And Christian Infants by Baptism covenant to lead a life of repentance when they come to understanding And none are to delay this wilfully but always as they are able to understand the state whereunto they are called and wherein they are engaged to make good their part of the new Covenant which is to live in sincere obedience to Christ and always to repent of their failings as they are able to discover them Thus he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Mar. XVI 16. How Shall he be saved though he live as long as he will in his Sins after he is baptized No but if he die after Baptism before any actual sin and in a purpose not to commit any such he shall be saved and if he do commit sin afterward and speedily repent of it not wilfully continuing therein he shall be saved But if he wilfully continue in his Sins which in Baptism he renounced 't is no-where told him that he shall be saved Baptism saveth us saith the Apostle 1 Pet. I. 3 21. But then he saith too 'T is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God If our Consciences being examined can answer us truly that we covenanted sincerely and keep covenant faithfully Baptism saveth us But what was it we promised To repent and begin to live an holy life at such or such an Age or when we grow old and are going to dye or after we have had our fill of sinning some time or other when we shall think it most convenient Was it not this we promised To keep God's holy will and commandments all the days of our life Was it not this Charge that Christ gave his Apostles when he gave them Authority and Command to baptize Teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you Matth. XXVIII 20. What for some few days of their life or for the whole remaining part of it St. Paul shall answer this Question Rom. VI. 2. Shall we saith he that are dead to sin live any longer therein What means he by saying We are dead to sin Is it not that we are by our Baptism engaged to live in Sin no longer Know ye not saith he again that so many of us as were baptized into Iesus Christ were baptized into his death v. 3. And what will follow thence This is that which he tells us v. 4. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life And then he adds v. 6. Our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroy'd that henceforth we should not serve sin Henceforth we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies that we should obey it in the lusts thereof Neither to yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but to yield our selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God v. 12 13. Henceforth then that is from the time that we are called to repentance by the Gospel and are baptized into Christ we are to lead a life as St. Paul saith Eph. IV. 1. worthy of the vocation wherewith we are call'd and that 's a life of sincere Obedience and unfeigned Repentance To sin at all is a transgression of the Law and that 's mortal in it self but that the Gospel comes in to our succour and gives us the privilege of Repentance If then we delay our Repentance so graciously indulged unto us we sin against the mercy of the Gospel as well as against the righteousness of the Law we reject our Pardon most lovingly tender'd unto us by our unwillingness to comply with the Terms on which it is offer'd us and if we be sick unto death and will not in time apply the only remedy provided for us in our otherwise desperate case what can we expect but to dye and what pity can we deserve if we die And yet too many are apt enough to encourage themselves to hold out still longer against all Calls and Invitations to a speedy Repentance upon the most deceitful grounds imaginable Because they read in the Prophet Ezek. XVIII 27. When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive And because many have lived a long time very wickedly and yet have been converted at length and accepted of God upon their conversion and repentance they are apt to think it no such ill thing as they are told it is to delay their Repentance a-while longer and therefore venture on it in hopes they may be accepted hereafter as well as others have been Now for men to flatter themselves thus upon so very slender grounds is so very foolish a thing that one who considers not how much the love men have to Sin is become too hard for their reason to answer how weakly soever it plead for it self would exceedingly wonder how any reasonable creature should be guilty of it It is indeed very true and God's Holy Name be for ever Blessed for it that God will accept of the true Repentance of great Sinners who have lain long in their Sins without Repentance and this is a good reason why one that hath continued long in Sin should not despair but if he yet Repent he may hope to be Saved But is it therefore as good a reason why he should delay his Repentance in hopes to Repent hereafter I have not yet said that no man who hath been long an Impenitent Sinner can never Repent or shall not be pardon'd if he Repent though I am in doubt whether or no a Sinner that Repents not till he come to die can have a pardon upon so late a Repentance But that which I have said is this That all delay of Repentance is exceedingly sinful and therefore nothing ought to be pleaded for it no man should dare to encourage himself in it It is a Sin against the Gospel of Christ which is the only foundation Sinners have to raise their hope of Salvation upon 'T is I think beyond all dispute that though the Gospel of Christ assure Salvation to the Penitent yet it hath not assured Repentance to him who delayeth it It calleth Sinners to Repentance without exception whether they have been so a longer or a shorter time and promiseth acceptance but doth it allow them to take what time they please for it after they are called Doth it tell them that they may safely
plain from those Excuses men are wont to make for themselves when they have Sinned What is it which they commonly plead for themselves but this That they did not think it to be a Sin That they hoped there had been no great evil in what they did If they had thought there was so much evil in it they would not have done it Now if they speak truly 't is plain that they had not been tempted but through Inconsideration And indeed it is hardly imaginable how the number of wicked People should be half so great as it is were it not for this that they consider too little what they do We cannot think that in a Christian Church people should live many years and yet never hear of the things which are daily taught therein and yet these are enough one would think to make them fearful to live Wickedly and to arm them sufficiently against all Temptations were they duly considered When we hear how strictly a most Iust Good Almighty and Omniscient God hath forbidden all Wickedness upon pain of Eternal Damnation and how the same Great God hath Commanded Holiness and encouraged us to it with the Gracious Promises of Pardon for all past Sins and Acceptance of Weak if Sincere endeavours and performances of Duty through JESUS CHRIST and for his sake of the reward of Eternal Life How were it possible for us for the sake of a little short and often filthy Pleasure for the shadow of Honor or for a little dirty and uncertain Wealth and all but for a very few Days to venture upon Sin did we ever consider things Seriously No we see it that when men are at any time awakened into serious consideration by some sharp Affliction by an apprehension of some great and imminent Danger or Sickness they can despise all these Temptations and resist them and if when the Danger Fear or Pain is over they are again enticed by the like Baits 't is only because through their ease their consideration is fallen asleep again So plain is it that the greatest advantage that any Temptation can have over us is that which we give it by not considering things as we ought to do 5. Nothing more certainly ruines us eternally than Inconsideration and that both because it keeps us in Ignorance and hinders us from that Exercise of Grace which by Faith in CHRIST JESUS should bring us to Heaven Inconsideration holds us ignorant both of God and our selves and so never well understanding because never throughly considering what we hear and read what we see and feel the Goodness and other Attributes of God our obligations to him and dependance on him on the one side nor our own needs our weakness and miserable condition when our selves alone on the other side we rush on blindly and boldly and the more blindly always the more boldly too fearing nothing because we see nothing and seeing nothing because we will not open our eyes to see and consider what lies plain and visible before us A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished Prov. XXII 3. A wise man feareth and departeth from evil but the fool rageth and is confident Prov. XIV 16. They consider not that they do evil Eccl. V. 1. The harp and the viol and wine are in their feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands Isa. V. 12. They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their Wickedness Hos. VII 2. The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider Isa. I. 3. Again Inconsideration hinders all those Exercises of Grace whereby through Faith in CHRIST we might escape Death and be prepared for Life Eternal Who can Repent of the Sins which he hath not duly Considered with all their aggravations He that examineth not himself often he that never reviews his Conversation nor inquires into the temper of his own Heart is like to prove a sorry penitent He that considers not the Law of God knoweth not wherein he hath Transgressed and he that considereth not his own Life cannot lay his Sin to Heart He that thinketh not much both of the vileness and danger of his Sin will hardly bring his heart to be sorry for it or to hate it Whilst we are secure and careless how we spend our days what can be expected but that we lie still in our Filth and hold on confidently Dishonouring God to our own Destruction I hearkned and heard saith God but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying What have I done Every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel Isa. VIII 6. Who can have any Comfort in his life past that considers not how he hath spent it whether Sinfully and Vainly or Virtuously and Piously Who can chear up his Soul in God and rejoyce in the Lord Who can arm himself against the Terrors of Death and in hope expect the great Judgment to come who never yet cast up his account nor considered what he hath been doing all his days nor how far he is run in arrear with God How shall an unconsidering man ever be able to say with St. Paul Acts XXIII 1. I have lived in all good conscience before God unto this day Or as he again 2 Cor. I. 12. Our rejoicing is this the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world Who can be thankful to God for all the Mercies he hath received and all the wonders of his Goodness vouchsafed to him in all the parts of his life that hath not consider'd them well Who can improve the Blessings of God to God's Honour and the good of himself and others that seldome thinks of them What obligations to God can we be sensible of in all the great things which he hath wrought for us whilst we mind them not How can we live and act any otherwise but loosely and irregularly running headlong into all wickedness and upon any danger so long as we consider not what a God we have over us and what Rules he hath given us and how much we are concerned to observe them For want of considering it is that we do all things at random without any regard to the Ends or Consequents of our Actions Our Love our Fear our Desire our Hope our Trust our Obedience are all misplaced we keep to no Rules nor tye our selves up to any Laws we omit our Duties to God our Neighbours and our own Souls we commit things abominable and hurtful dishonourable to God and destructive to our selves most unbeseeming both our Nature and our Profession against our own comfort and happiness we consume our Time in Idleness Folly and Vanity because we Consider not for what we live nor whose we are nor what we are to account for And by
it and begging God's Pardon for it nothing of all this could be done too soon because it is our Duty to do all this so soon as we have Sinned and we have always had Sins to be hated confess'd resolv'd against pardon'd and forsaken And yet were this all that is meant by Repentance though we could not but confess it very reasonable that all this should be done so soon as we are sensible that we are Sinners yet I fear we should not think it altogether necessary but would rather flatter our selves that it would be enough to do it in our last Sickness or some few days or hours before we die because all this if we have but so much time and so much sense and understanding left us as to think of it may then be done and I doubt not but it is done by a great many who yet do not Repent unto life as will be shewn anon But seeing Repentance is all this and a great deal more than all this even a through change of life not for death but for a more Holy life and that not in Heaven but on Earth seeing it is a leaving of Sin not to do nothing but to do our Duty a turning from our own wicked ways unto God's Testimonies and the keeping of his Commandments it is a Duty that we are always to be doing so long as we live and can only be done whilst we live and is in great danger not to be done at all if it be not soon begun and cannot be done too soon because the doing of it soon even so soon as we can is a part of the Duty To make this plainer let us First briefly consider what the Duty of Repentance is as in the Holy Scripture it is described unto us and Secondly what time the same Scripture directs us to for the doing of it and by both we shall easily perceive that we cannot repent too soon because no sooner than it is our Duty First Observe how the Duty of Repentance is described unto us in the Holy Scripture Ezek. XVIII 21. It is a turning from all our sins which we have committed and a keeping of all God's Statutes and doing that which is lawful and right And v. 31. A casting away from us all our transgressions whereby we have transgressed and making us a new heart and a new spirit It is an amending of our ways and our doings Jer. VII 3. A returning every man from his evil way and making our ways and our doings good Jer. XVIII 11. It implieth a godly sorrow for Sin yet that godly sorrow is not Repentance but worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of 2 Cor. VII 10. It implieth a hatred of every false way Psal. CXIX 104. A being ashamed and confounded for our own ways a loathing our selves in our own sight for our iniquities and for our abominations Ezek. XXXVI 31 32. A confessing and forsaking our sins Prov. XXVIII 13. And yet all this is not the whole Duty of Repentance But as we must cease to do evil so must we learn to do well also Isa. I. 16 17. We must both eschew evil and do good 1 Pet. III 11. Neither is this to be thought a work on which it may be enough to bestow some small part of our life when it grows near to an end for Repentance is thus express'd Tit. II. 12. A denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and living soberly righteously and godly in this present world Can we think the Apostle meant no more by these words but that we should do this for some few years or days of our old age before we die Certainly no man can be so foolish as to think so but rather that even so long as we live in this present World and whilst we are a looking for that blessed hope mention'd V. 13. that is so long as we live we should do this as Zacharias clearly expresseth it Luk. I. 75. That we should serve God in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life And by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality Rom. II. 7. I am confident that no body can now imagine that such a Repentance as in these places of Holy Scripture is commended to us can be the work of a dying man or that it is not work enough for one's whole life how long so ever However 't is plain that it is our Duty in all the several ages of life and at all times whilst we live and therefore no point of our time can be too soon to begin it in but every moment that we wilfully neglect it we add to our Sins by leading so long an unholy life contrary to the Command of God But this will more fully be proved afterwards Secondly Observe what time the same Scripture directs us to for the setting upon this Duty And we shall hardly find that it commends to us any other time but the present there is no to morrow that I know of allow'd us to depend upon not the least countenance or encouragement to procrastination or driving off to another time Therefore now saith the Lord turn ye even unto me Joel II. 12. Now it is high time to awake out of sleep Rom. XIII 11. Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. VI. 2. To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. III. 7. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth Eccl. XII 1. No part no day of our Age too soon We are always call'd upon to repent presently to day just now and not told we may stay till to morrow or bid to do it sometime hereafter Whenever therefore we are called to repent and that is as soon soever as we are made to understand that we are sinners and that Repentance is our duty then is it our duty to set about it and to put it off longer is a violation of our duty and a new sin and therefore 't is certain we can never begin to repent too soon 2. We cannot too soon do that without the doing whereof we can never be in a safe condition no man thinks he can make too much haste to be safe And nothing can be plainer than this That we are never in a safe condition till we be sincere Penitents therefore we cannot repent too soon unless we can be safe too soon Can any one think he hath too soon got out of the Lion's mouth out of the snares of the Devil and from the Borders of Hell Can any one think it too soon to be within view of Heaven and Eternal Joys Then indeed he may think it too soon to repent of his sins and walk in the ways of God's Commandments Did we but really believe and well consider That we are always in danger of Eternal Destruction and every moment ready to fall into the bottomless Pit of Fire and Brimstone out of which there is no
Redemption so long as we go on in any of the ways of sin tho we had no sense of our Obligations and Duty to God and tho we had no Love to him which should constrain us to do any thing for his sake and lest we should be wanting in our Duty to him yet one would think the apprehension of the danger we are in of perishing should make us afraid to go on and fear should constrain us for our own sakes to change our course of life lest we should be wanting to our selves and our own safety Our Blessed JESUS who came to save us from Death and Destruction came to call us to Repentance that we may be saved that being the only door that God for his sake hath opened unto us to Salvation He himself it was that said Except ye repent ye shall all perish Luke XIII 3. And when St. Iohn the Baptist saw the Pharisees and Sadduces coming to his Baptism which was the Baptism of Repentance he thus saluted them O generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance Matth. III. 7 8. Shewing them That there is no other way of escaping the Wrath of God which always burneth against sin and wickedness but such a Repentance as brings forth the Fruits of Righteousness Till we unfeignedly Repent of our sins we are in a state of sin and so long are we the children of wrath Eph. II. 3. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness Rom. I. 18. Whilst we know what is our Duty to God and yet do it not there are many stripes ready for us and God hath declared both by many Threatnings and by many Examples of his just Indignation that his Wrath is kindled against us God spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person a preacher of righteousness bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly And turning the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly 2 Pet. II. 5 6. They suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. What safety can the impenitent Sinner promise himself or whither will he fly and take Sanctuary from the Fiery Indignation of provoked Justice and Omnipotence Whilst we presumptuously continue in our sins we heap up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. II. Our Sins cry aloud to the Almighty for his Vengeance upon us His Judgments hang over our heads like the naked Sword over the head of the Tyrant by a single hair of Mercy and if our sins once break that we are suddenly cut off from the land of the living God will wound the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses Psal. LXVIII 21. For God is angry with the wicked every day If he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready He hath prepared for him the instrument of death Psal. VII 11 12 13. God hath made all things ready for the execution of his Wrath whensoever it pleaseth him and no sinner knoweth how soon God will smite him down to Hell If he stay yet a while longer it is to give us time to repent and if we repent not ere long he is the mean while but whetting his Sword and bending his Bow to its full bent that whenever he pleaseth to take his own time for it his Sword may pierce deep and his Arrow flye home and wound mortally Indeed he hath declared himself to be very gracious and slow to wrath and our own daily experience assures us that he is so and this wicked use we are too apt to make of it That by his long-suffering and forbearance we embolden our selves to sin the longer and to delay our Repentance in hope of longer forbearance still Yea Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Eccles. VIII 11. A strange and most unreasonable presumption this as tho a man could be the safer the longer he abused God's Patience and turn'd his Grace into wantonness and even dared him to do his worst Oh that we would consider how unadvisedly we act for our selves how ill we consult for our own safety and what Fools we are to think we can be safe whilst we are provoking God by our Sins and by this Sin especially of presuming he will yet forbear us longer because he hath forborn much longer already than we deserv'd Not considering the goodness of God in his forbearance and long-suffering which should lead us to repentance after our hardness and impenitent hearts we treasure up unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Rom. II. 5. How foolishly secure soever we may be in our sinful courses yet certain it is we are never safe Ionas may sleep and fear nothing but the Winds and Seas are not quiet for all that while and he is in no less danger because he thinks not of it Whilst we sin God's Anger is pursuing us and we know not how soon it will overtake us Seeing therefore we are never safe till we repent we cannot repent too soon unless it can be too soon to be safe 3. We cannot too soon do that without which our life can never be comfortable to us Comfort is the very life of life and a life without Comfort is worse than death And truly a life of sin is a life without any true Comfort at all and false Comfort is not worth the having unless it can be worth ones while to go laughing into the Fire of Hell which never shall be quenched We cannot therefore too soon repent except we can think it too soon to lead a comfortable life And that the impenitent sinner can have no true Comfort is plain enough from what was last consider'd That he can have no safety for certainly an unsafe condition is also a very uncomfortable condition and I know not what can comfort him that sees himself every moment in greatest danger of perishing everlastingly What Can there be any place for Comfort in that man's breast that knows himself to be at Enmity with God and God to be incens'd against him Can he find Comfort who walks whereever he goes under a full-charg'd Cloud of Vengeance ready whenever God gives the word to break upon his head Can there be any Comfort in a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries And yet this is all he hath any reason to look for who sins wilfully after he hath received the knowledge of the truth and holds on without Repentance Heb X. 26 27. Indeed we see it too often That the most abominable Sinners can so harden themselves in Sin
consider'd both that the Minister may take heed that he go not beyond his Commission in comforting the Sick and that we may all learn in due time how far we may build and rely on such Comforts as men in such a case can administer unto us And therefore I here in answer to it say these things First We very earnestly exhort the worst of Sinners even to the last gasp to repent of their sins because though we cannot assure them that God will now at the last hour accept of their late Repentance seeing he hath no-where as was said before declared that he will and though by reason of what is said in his Word concerning his ordinary method of dealing with Sinners we are rather afraid that he will not Yet we do not know the depth of God's Mercy nor the riches of his Infinite Goodness nor what he may be pleas'd to do in an extraordinary way if Sinners at last use extraordinary endeavours And if by such Motives and Arguments and Prayers as we can use God seem to work mightily on the spirit of the dying Sinner though we dare not assure him of the life which God hath not promised to a Death-bed Repentance and therefore we cannot be sure that he will give it yet dare we not leave him to despair because we know not but God may give it Secondly We therefore exhort the worst of dying sinners to Repentance and declare unto them the gracious and comfortable Promises which God in Christ hath made to all true Penitents because God hath commanded us to Preach Repentance unto sinners without exception and herein as we obey so we imitate our Lord and Master JESUS CHRIST who ceased not to invite all sinners to Repentance or to promise good things to the Penitent even when he who knew the hearts of all men knew that many of them to whom he Preach'd would never repent nor become capable of the good things promised God hath bidden us exhort to Repentance but he hath not told us That we are to cease from exhorting any one that will hear us so long as he liveth We cannot therefore excuse our selves if we do not all we can to render them who will not repent inexcusable it will not be safe for us to leave them this Plea That they wanted any Means or Helps at any time that we could afford them Thirdly We hold on to exhort even to the last because how near unto Death soever the sinner may seem to be we know that the Lord of Life and Death can raise him up again and we know not but he may do so and let him live yet longer to compleat the Repentance which may now be begun God is pleased sometimes by severe Chastisements and heavy Afflictions to awake sinners to Repentance who had lived in sin securely many years and now when the sinner seeth himself at the Pit's brink and Hell opening its mouth to swallow him up he may possibly think it fit to hearken to counsels of safety tho no more can be said but possibly he may yet be saved We know not but now he may enter upon a Repentance which tho it would do him no good should he now dye may prove unto Salvation if he recover and live to bring forth the fruits of it which God is yet able to make him do and hath not told us that he will not do Lastly We to the very Last exhort to Repentance and mind dying sinners of the Promises of God to Penitents because that whether it will then avail to Salvation or no yet we are sure enough it can do them no hurt It is certainly their duty to repent and ours to exhort them to it and as it would hurt us to neglect our duty so can it not hurt them to be minded of theirs For sinners to be made sensible of their sins and of this aggravation of them That they have despised the Comforts and Promises of Mercy to the Penitent is a good thing whatever the end may be of such sinners God is glorified by mens being brought to a sense and acknowledgment of his Authority and Goodness and of their own Wickedness and Baseness by their confessing That in all that is brought upon them he is righteous and they are wicked By mens acknowledging at last That God hath been always good especially in his great Patience and long forbearance hitherto and that he is now very just in his Punishments for our obstinacy glory is given to God And this ought to be done and if this will not qualifie sinners for Pardon and Salvation 't is however a part of their duty and may for ought we know mitigate the Severity of their Sentence and lessen their Torments But now after this is said it is a very sad thing that men should by wilful delays bring themselves into this uncomfortable condition And it is a very afflicting thing to every good Minister of Christ to stand by the bed-side of those dying persons to whom he is able to speak no more Comfort than all this amounts to For first He can speak no Comfort at all to the sick person but upon supposition that he is what he finds too much cause to fear he is not a sincere Penitent and this is very sad And secondly He can speak no Comfort but on supposition of such a Repentanee as the sick person himself cannot know without some extraordinary means that he now hath and therefore cannot tell how to apply the Comfort to himself And this is very sad again The Sincerity of ones Repentance cannot ordinarily be known to himself but by the fruits of it in a holy Life and by these he that 's now dying can never know it It is only such a Repentance as would produce Holiness of Life if the sick person should recover that is Repentance to Salvation and when the sinner on his Death-bed calls to mind how often his heart hath in this point deceived him when he remembers how his love to sin hath hitherto conquer'd all such Purposes and Resolutions of holy living how often he hath heretofore upon the same or some other occasion very seriously as he thought resolved as now he doth and yet never kept his Resolution how shall he be able to assure himself That he would keep it any better now should he yet live I hope what hath been already said is abundantly enough to convince us all both that a sinner can never repent too soon and that he may drive it off till it be too late And therefore seeing Repentance is altogether necessary to Salvation it is a work that requires great Haste and admits of no Delay The CONCLUSION FRom what we have now proved it may be too easie I fear for many of us to reflect very sadly upon our selves It is certainly if these things be so as hath been said high time for us all to think what we have been doing all the while we have already lived in
our selves in Do we know any of us that there is so much as one day or one hour betwixt this moment and Eternity And why then are we not now in as great haste to repent as we were in then How many that delay from time to time are when they least fear it knock'd down with a sudden blow How many are cut off in the very act of sin when secure in themselves and thinking on no such thing as dying they were in Hell before they thought that death was near them Is not our delaying our Repentance the likeliest way in the World to provoke Almighty God to send out one of these swift Arrows to destroy us O let us be ready for it may come in an hour that we think not Whilst we so confidently promise our selves to morrow and flatter our selves with purposes of repenting then a sudden destruction a Phrenzy a stupidity or we know not what may arrest us and not give us leave so much as to think that we are Sinners or to say Lord have mercy on us Doth not God seem for this very reason to conceal both the time and the manner of our death from us that we may be the more watchful and take the more care to be always ready for dying at whatever hour or in whatever way it shall please him to take us hence Did we certainly know before-hand just when and how we must die we would venture the more boldly to spend our time in sin and vanity till we knew the time was near and then it may be some few days before become a little more serious just as it is the custome of too many at this time to do before a Sacrament Therefore God will not have us to know the time of our death that we not knowing but it may be to morrow may be every day ready and so he may have the honour and we the comfort of a pious life Moreover as was before said To continue in sin in hopes that we may repent hereafter as it is to sin that grace may abound which is a thing if we believe the Apostle greatly to be abhorred Rom. VI. 1. So is it the most effectual course we can take to shorten our days and to prevent the benefit we hope for The fear of the Lord prolongeth days but the years of the wicked shall be shortened The hope of the righteous shall be gladness but the expectation of the wicked shall perish Prov. X. 27 28. Again We can hardly give any rational account why God should so strictly and under so severe Penalties enjoin us the practice of many excellent Vertues and forbid us many foul Sins if we may hope to please him and be saved by a very late or death-bed Repentance Can such Vertues as Sobriety Temperance and Chastity and many more be thought commanded us as the proper Exercises of a sick and dying man Can the Sins of Gluttony and Drunkenness Chambering and Wantonness Murther Theft Ambition Covetousness and more such like be forbidden upon pain of damnation left a man should be guilty of them on his Death-bed or in his last Sickness when 't is somewhat hard to conceive how a man should have any thoughts of them Or can we conceive that the meaning of such Commands is no more but this You must either do these Duties and avoid these Sins while you live or repent that you have not done so when you are about to die What were this but to say That all the Commands of holy living signify no more but this That a man may safely break them all whilst he liveth if he can but keep them when he can break them no more or be sorry that he hath broken them when he is afraid he is just going to be damn'd for it or resolve to keep them when he thinks he can live no longer What probability is there that any Resolution of repenting hereafter is sincere We cannot absolutely resolve to repent hereafter because we cannot certainly know that we shall live hereafter and if we resolve but conditionally to repent hereafter that is on supposition that we shall live to repent we must seem content to be damn'd if we dye before that time come because we know That without Repentance we must be damn'd I think one cannot in good earnest resolve to repent unless he immediately do repent when he resolves upon it How can any one imagine it too soon to do what he knows necessary to be done and yet may never be done if not just now No man can with any colour of reason be thought in earnest when he saith he resolveth to do that another day which he knows is to be done every day and must of necessity be done sometime and yet he knows not whether he shall have another day or no. It 's plain such a man doth not resolve at all to repent for he loves it not and that 's the reason he doth it not now and will still be as good a reason not to do it then but in truth all he resolves upon is not to repent now or to drive it off yet longer and that 's no resolution at all to repent What folly is it to drive off our Repentance till we be scourged and lash'd unto it If we make not haste of our selves and God have yet any kindness left in store for us he will whip us to it If we will not otherwise awake out of sleep God if he have not already determin'd we shall sleep on unto death will awake us with his Rod. And whether had the Prodigal better have staid in his Father's House and continued in his Love and under his constant Care and Providence by obeying him at first or have wandred abroad as he did till extreme want and ill usage drove him home If we will be saved we must repent and is it not a very foolish thing to stay till the whip drive us to it Especially when 't is doubtful whether or no the Repentance which begins in Fear will end in Love which yet if it do not it will never bring us to Salvation And now after all this I hope none will be so foolish as to flatter themselves with a vain conceit of their being Penitents when they are not or to encourage themselves with as vain hopes of repenting hereafter whereof they can have no certainty We find indeed one Example of a dying Penitent in the Scripture who was accepted of God and we find no more but one that of the Thief upon the Cross. But alas he hath afforded but very small Encouragement to any delaying Sinner by his own happiness in being crucified by the side of his Saviour Here is as I said but one single Example and yet had there been ten thousand such as this one was I do not see how they could any more encourage a considering man to delay his Repentance one hour because no one knows whether after that hour he shall have so much time as that Malefactor had to Repent in tho it was very short or whether in that short time he shall repent as he did Had never any Offender but one been pardon'd by any King could this be any reasonable encouragement to all the Rebels and Malefactors in the Countrey to hold on rebelling robbing stealing murthering and committing all sorts of capital Crimes in hopes of a Pardon only because once it fell out that some such Offender was pardon'd Indeed it will follow hence that such a Pardon may possibly be obtain'd because it was obtain'd but it follows not that it may ordinarily or probably be obtain'd because it never was any more than once obtain'd that we know of Besides This is indeed an Example of a late Repentance and many Examples of a late Repentance there are besides this though hardly another of one so late but we are not sure it is an Example of a delayed Repentance for we cannot find that this late Penitent ever one minute delayed his Repentance after he was called to it and convinced that it was his duty And indeed seeing this man's case was very extraordinary he that would encourage himself by it ought first to see that his own Case in all considerable circumstances be like unto it If any one ask What course is to be taken by those who have long delay'd their Repentance but are not yet in appearance near unto death I know not what better Advice to give him than this That he delay it no longer but make all the haste that possibly he can to repent now And by how much the more time he hath already lost let him use so much the more care and diligence to improve that little which is yet behind to his best advantage Such an one had need to give himself in a manner wholly henceforward to this great Work and should not suffer any business that he can well shun to disturb him in it He should not now grudge to pinch himself of time in relation to all bodily and worldly Concerns as much as he did God and his own Soul before or to bestow as much upon these if he can possibly as he used to do upon those No self-examination no humiliation no prayers no tears no striving to do good can be too much He had need to do almost nothing else but bewail his sinful life denying himself all the Pleasures and all the Comforts of this World save only the necessary supports of life This seems to me the least he can do to satisfy himself of the sincerity of so late a Repentance or to lay a foundation for a comfortable hope of God's acceptance I shall now conclude the whole Discourse with those words Isa. LV. 6 7. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy and to our God for he will abundantly pardon FINIS