me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his He was not at all reconciled to their God who hindred him from getting those great Rewards which Balak offered him nor did incline to become a Proselyte to the Jew's Religion He had rather enjoy his Gain and Honour among the Heathens still like a false Prophet than embrace the Truth and become meaner among the Jews But yet he wishes for the happy end of the Jews He would willingly be reckoned among them when he should come to die that he might be a partaker in their felicity in the next World This was the sence of his Mind and herein he speaks also the mind of a great many others besides There are many in the World who would live the lives of licentious Sinners and yet at last would die the Death of Saints who would have the profits and pleasures of Sin here and hereafter the Rewards of Religion too And as a great many wish this so they think they have found out an expedient to obtain it and that is by a Death-Bed Repentance It shall be the whole Business of the present Discourse to demonstrate the Folly and Danger of relying upon a Death-Bed Repentance of wishing or expecting with this false Prophet to live a wicked Life and yet to Die the Death of the Righteous and to make an end like him And this I shall endeavour to set before you in the following particulars 1. There is no Man can possibly tell whether he shall have the space and warning of a lingering Sickness to repent in or no. Our fortunes and conditions are not at our own dispose but at the disposal of him whom we daily offend by our Wickedness Nor can we be any more sure before-hand of the Way than we can be of the Time of our going out of this World Many things may prevent us from having the space of a lingring Sickness to repent in and do we not greatly provoke the supream Disposer to prevent us of this by our delaying to repent How many ways are there of dying besides that on a sick Bed and which of them may be his fortune no Man can tell Should we then defer our Repentance to a sick Bed when 't is very uncertain and hazardous whether we shall die there or not But if we should die there the Sickness may be such as to give us no opportunity to repent there It may take away the use of reason may utterly hinder all composed thinking we may die in Convulsions in a stupid Lethargy or in the ravings of a Feaver or under such violent and racking pains as shall effectually hinder us from doing any thing towards a happy Departure Thus he who would not repent before is not able to do it now He wilfully lost all the time of repentance to the last Minutes of it and now he loses them too by his unfortunate Distemper But how unreasonable is it for a man to throw away all his time to the last Minutes when he does not know whether he shall be capable of using them to his advantage or not 2. Let us consider how great Inconvenience men put upon themselves at last who defer their Repentance to a sick and dying Bed They perhaps now think themselves very wise and that they do well to put off all their Sorrows to come together and to trouble them but once But alas when these do thus come together they will be forced to conclude they were very foolish in so doing when they find the Burden of all at once too heavy for them to bear Certainly a great load is much easier carried in several parcels than all at once and if the whole be too heavy for our strength it were our Wisdom to divide it When a man is under the pains and faintness of a Disease the grief of parting with all that he has in this World all his dear Relations his loved Enjoyments and the sweet Fruits of his own Labours When he is a Prisoner to his Bed is separated from all his Pleasures loaths the greatest Dainties has his Head aking his Heart faint his Limbs feeble and trembling these sure are very unfit Circumstances to put off the Trouble and Sorrows of Repentance too How wretched must he be who has at the same time Trouble without and Anguish within Pain in his Body and Distress in his Mind Who in this condition must have his Conscience accusing him for his ill Life calling to mind past and forgotten Follies and Extravagancies when he has the Pardon of them to seek And by consequence he must have the Flames of Hell as it were before him and be terrifyed with the apprehensions of being speedily carried before his offended Judge to be doomed to his eternal and unalterable State How sad is it to be told he must now suddenly leave this World and does at this very time deserve to be thrown into Hell Those that defer their Repentance to a Death-Bed do not rightly understand or else they do not consider the true Nature of it They think to pass it over with a Lord have mercy upon me with a general slight Confession that they have sinned and with a few Sighs and formal Resolutions that they will do so no more They do not consider that true Repentance is a very bitter thing that in great Sinners especially as these men are wont to be it must be attended with a very hearty Sorrow with great Anguish of Soul with earnest Indignation against themselves for their Sins with a sence of the terrible Deserts of them that they must judge and condemn themselves as unworthy to find favour with God and deserving the everlasting Punishments of Hell And these sure are very unhappy Thoughts to be joyned with the sad Circumstances of Sickness and Dying and these men put off the most uneasie and afflicting Thought to be born then when they are in the most feeble condition and the most unfit to bear them we shall we might think have trouble enough without them with the sad outward Circumstances of such a Case and might say sufficient for that day is the necessary and unavoidable Evil thereof and may easily see if we will that it is highly foolish to bring upon it more Evil and Trouble than it needs to have It is plainly our wisdom to provide before-hand against that time for the Comfort of it to lay up Supports and Consolations to allay and mitigate the Evils that will attend it And this we might do by practising our Repentance in the time of our Health by forsaking our Sins betimes and living a good and vertuous Life for some time before we come to die Then if we have Sorrow without we shall have Joy within if the Body be in pain we may be at ease in the Mind The Reflections upon a well-spent Life would comfort us in our Weakness the joyful Hopes and Expectations of entering into Rest and Happiness would
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
Were there nothing in the Constitution of Man but that he could not be worthy to be compared with the vast bigness of the Earth and Heavens with the constant Motion the brightness and durableness of the Heavenly Bodies But the Soul of Man is in a Sense vaster and larger than these as it is capable to comprehend them It is of more unwearied motion than they it moves its self it is brighter far and far more durable than any of them It is then upon the account of the Spirit in Man that the making of him is thus set together with those great operations of the Creating Power Upon these grounds we may conclude that the Prophet Zachary does in our Text intimate the great excellency and dignity of the Soul of Man It shall be the business of this Discourse to insist upon some Proof and Application of this Truth And let us now perswade our selves for a little while to turn our Thoughts inward to view and consider our selves to know what a sort of Being God has given us Of all knowledge this may be reckon'd some of the most useful and important Hereby we shall come to understand what it becomes us to do what our true Interest is what great things we are capable of and should therefore pursue them To demonstrate the Excellency of the Soul of Man I shall insist only upon these two Heads of Discourse as containing what is sufficient for the present purpose They are the Nature of the Soul and the Capacities of it which do arise from and are the Consequents of such a Nature In the first place Let us consider the Nature of the Soul of Man And this I shall represent to you briefly under two Particulars 1. It is a Spirit 2. It is Immortal 1. The Soul of Man is a Spirit and therein it is an Excellent Being It is Invisible A thing that cannot be seen by the Eyes of the Body through the Excellency of it It is said of God in Praise of him that he cannot be seen The Apostle Paul calls him by way of Eminency the Invisible God 1 Tim. 1. 17. This then is an Excellency and does greatly recommend the Soul It is too pure and sublime a thing to fall under the gross apprehension of Bodily Senses It is a Pure Uncompounded and Unmix'd thing It is all the same is not made up of worse and better Parts It is in a sort all Light and has no Darkness is a bright celestial Ray sprung from the Great Father of Lights and Spirits Or at least it was very full of light and brightness in its Original State and before it was sullied with sinful Pollution in the Fall of our first Parents It has not diversity of Parts designed for divers Actions so as that what one Part can do another cannot which is the usual disparagement of Bodies But all the Soul can do whatever the Soul can do It can all of it understand and will apprehend or remember it can all chuse or refuse It has not some parts heavy and some active some to move and others to be moved but is all full of Action and is always working and busie It knows no weariness it needs no rest or refreshment It knows its own Actions and chuses what it does and acts freely and from its own Motion These are the Properties and Advantages that belong to it as it is a Spirit That the Soul of Man is a Spirit the Holy Scripture does abundantly declare When a man dies it says of his Body The Dust shall return to the Earth as it was and of his Soul The Spirit shall return to God that gave it Eccles 12. 7. This is a thing distinct from the Body it was not raised from the Dust as that was but came from God immediately nor does it return to the Dust but returns to God at our Death The Apostle says What man knoweth the things of a man that is the purposes wishes designs save the spirit of man which is in him speaking of the Soul of Man 1 Cor. 2. 11. And in the Fifth Chapter of that Epistle at the 5th Verse he directs the Corinthians to excommunicate an Eminent Person among them who had been Incestuous for the destruction of the Flesh that the Spirit might be saved in the Day of the Lord meaning his Soul I shall add no more to this particular but proceed 2. To what was next mentioned as declaring the Excellent Nature of our Souls which was that they are Immortal These Beings have a beginning indeed as every thing else has but One who is the first Cause and Author of all others But the Souls of men shall never come to an End When a man dies there is only a separation made for a while of his Soul from his Body with a dissolution indeed of the Body but the Soul remains the same that it was That lives still though not here and continues to be though it has changed its Habitation Do not imagine said the dying Cyrus to his Children That when I depart from you I shall be no where nor any longer For whilst I was with you ye could not see my Soul only ye knew by the Actions ye observed that it was in my Body Be assured then that it is still the same tho ye do never see it Thus the Learned Heathen could speak of the Soul And it is in the Nature of this to be Immortal as it is a Spirit It has nothing in its self to put an end to its being as it is an uncompounded thing It cannot be destroyed by any thing else but only by God that made it The Soul of man knows no decay it admits of no encrease of its Substance It remains always the same and is herein a Noble Image of the Unchangeable God It shall out-last the strongest works of Humane Art It shall endure longer than the Heavens and the Earth It shall weary time and then run on with Eternity This is a very great and important Excellency of it That it shall never cease to be and certainly if we are in any respect Immortal this deserves our very serious consideration And this also the Holy Scripture that source of all Saving-Knowledge and Wisdom does sufficiently teach us When it speaks of our Being after this Life and even before the Resurrection of our Bodies As when Christ said to the penitent Thief when he was dying This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He was to Be therefore his Soul was not to be dissolved with his Body and he was to be in Paradise in a happy State When the Scripture calls Death a Departure out of this World it seems to intimate this The Apostle Paul who was to leave his Body in this World as all other dying Persons do yet speaks of his Death as a Departure 1 Tim. 1. 6. And in Phil. 1. 23. He speaks of his Death as what he desired in these words I desire to
further how this does also appear in the Exercises or Benefits which his matchless Lovebestows From the former head we learn what great things it can do from this we shall see what it does and has done And we shall see that as there is no Love like his there is none so great as He so there are no such Benefits any way to be obtained as by his Love These Exercises of Divine Favour are properly his lifting up of the Light of his Countenance upon us and these are able to contribute more to our Happiness than all things in the world besides them The Benefits which the peculiar Favour of God bestows are these 1. He does forgive and pardon all their Sins to them who are thus the Objects of his Love They become so by the Meritorious Death and Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ which through their Faith is to them a Propitiation for Sin And therefore the righteous Judge of all the World being atton'd and reconciled he will no more impute to them their Iniquity And tho the imperfect Creatures do too often offend notwithstanding all their Care yet upon the renewal of their Repentance and their daily asking the Pardon of their Sins His Mercy for the sake of Jesus Christ daily gives them their Pardon Now every man that knows himself a Sinner and that did ever seriously consider what that imports and what belongs to such a Condition cannot chuse but acknowledge it an unspeakable Benefit to have his Sins all forgiven to be sure it is really such in its self The Man who is forgiven can think of God and not be troubled nor afraid can put up his Requests to the Throne of Grace with assured and comfortable Expectations He that knows this of himself knows too that the great Obstacle and Impediment of the Exercises of Divine Mercy is removed and he may hope that the Streams of it shall plentifully flow towards him He may hope that his Iniquities shall not withhold good things from him And what a Pleasure is it to think of an Enemy reconciled and become a faithful affectionate Friend And especially to know this of the Almighty and Eternal God! To know that Infinite and Eternal Perfections which were adverse and angry are reconciled and become kind How great and how sensible a Blessing must it be for a man to be able to say I that was obnoxious to an Infinite Eternal Wrath I that lay under the heavy load of a Just Curse which doom'd me to Everlasting Flames am now become an Object of Infinite and Eternal Love and an Heir of Heaven He who might have treated me with Everlasting severity I am sure will now use me with Everlasting loving kindness The foolish and unreasonable Ills that I have done and the base Affronts I have offered the great God shall cost me no more Sorrow than that of a wholesome Repentance This is a very happy and very pleasant Change in a Man's Condition This Blessing introduces a Peace that passes all understanding and indeed a Peace which the world cannot give For I may add that the assured Pardon of our Sins is absolutely necessary to our taking any considerable Comfort or Delight in any thing of this World for without this if we look into our Condition we must know that these are all aforfeited things that they are but lent us by the Patience of God our tranquility and prosperity depends upon the will of him who is justly displeased with us for our Sins and is daily provoked to put an end to it The unpardoned Sinner cannot consider his Condition nor understand it but he must be affrighted and troubled for he must see that the Sword of Divine Vengeance hangs continually over his Head and this must needs dash all his Joy But that is a very poor Felicity which cannot endure to be reflected upon and considered which if it be rightly understood is spoilt and lost if it be examined is none at all If therefore we would have a Condition in this Life which we may reflect upon and consider and take delight to do so we must have the Pardon of all our Sins assured and God reconciled to us And now I think we may conclude this Head with the Psalmist's words Psal 32. 1 2. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity 2. Another blessed Exercise of the Divine Favour to the peculiar Objects of it is that he does sanctify them that he restores that most excellent Part of the Divine Image which we unhappily lost in the Fall of our first Parents We are taught that this is a Fruit of his Love Eph. 5. 25 26. where it is said Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that is by pouring out upon them the sanctifying Operations of the Holy Spirit who is compared to water Thus he expresses and exercises his Love to them that are the Objects of it And thus his Love grows from Compassion to a Complacency He that pitied them in their wretched Pollution loves them into loveliness He so shines upon them with the Light of his Countenance as to communicate Light and Brightness to them so as to adorn them with the bright Rays of his own Glory and then he takes delight in them But how great the Happiness of this Effect is let us see This is an Exercise of Divine Love which is exceeding Fruitful and full of Joys and Blessings A world of new Delights this brings a man acquainted with that he never knew before nor was capable of knowing till this blessed Change was wrought in him The Rectitude and Order of the Soul which this introduces is as pleasant as Health after Sickness There is now Ease for Pain Strength for Weakness Freedom for Confinement a comfortable Enjoyment of good things without loathing of them Life and Activity without faintness and weariness in well-doing and the Pleasure of an useful Life to our selves and others instead of that which was a Burden and a Trouble to both He that is sanctified has so far a well composed Mind He has calm Passions regular Appetites right and true Thoughts good and wise and safe Inclinations He can do that which is good which his Mind tells him he ought to do which his Conscience may applaud him for doing That which will please God and bring him Everlasting Advantages He can delight in Good and Vertuous Actions these have a great deal of a pleasing Lustre and Beauty in them and he has Eyes to see this now He has a mind capable of and exercised in the discerning of Spiritual things Wisdom Goodness Justice Faithfulness in the exercises and expressions of them are as pleasant to the Observation of a good Man as the most lovely and curious Colours are to a sound Eye or the most harmonious Sounds
serious enquiring Thought whether they are in Favour with God or not Whether the Almighty be to them a Friend or an Enemy That never did set themselves down seriously to examine into this Matter or that would continue the enquiry till they came to a well-grounded Determination concerning their State And do such indeed desire an Interest in the Love of God Are there not also many that take no care to please God who follow their own Inclinations without any regard to his Will and Laws and so do daily affront and displease him And and are these concern'd for an Interest in his Favour These that live in gainful or pleasant Sins and will not be persuaded to leave them for the Favour of God Or they that live in the habitual constant Practice of the most needless Sins such as Swearing Cursing Backbiting Slandering or in the most mischievous and hurtful Sins such as Intemperance and Prodigality and will not leave them for the Favour of God Are they concern'd for an Interest in that How many besides are there that put off this Concern and Care and bid it stand by till they have accomplisht some other Designs Do they not think that they may accomplish Designs which will be of Advantage to them without the Favour and Blessing of God upon them Do they not think those Designs more necessary and advantagious to them than that And is not this to slight and undervalue that To account it but a needless or an indifferent thing Thus it is but too evident that a great many neglect this Blessedness And by these things we may understand our selves if we will compare them with our own Carriage and may see whether we have been in this Folly or not And indeed it may hereby appear that the best of us may charge our selves with having been too deep in it that we have followed the things which are seen too much and the unseen things too little We have loved and sought the Creature more than the Creator But we must not observe this without making our selves sensible of the Guilt and Folly of it and Resolutions to be careful for the future that we may avoid it Let this then be the Matter of our Shame and Sorrow Let us consider how we must needs have offended God herein That we have been guilty of the Idolatry of the Heart in loving and seeking more the things of this World than the enjoyment of God that we have been herein very ungrateful to his Creating Goodness in despising and neglecting that Happiness which he made us capable to enjoy that we have despised the Blood and Death of the Redeemer whereby an Attonement has been made for our Sins and Salvation purchast for us at a costly Rate even the Salvation which herein we have neglected Let us own then that we have greatly sinned so far as we have been guilty in this Matter and have deserved the most terrible Punishment We have deserved that God should put us off with any thing rather than his Love while we have been seeking any thing more than that We deserve to feel the everlasting Terrors of his Anger if we despise his Love and may reckon it an amazing Instance of his Mercy and Patience that we are yet spared and have time to recollect and amend our selves Let us confess our Sin and resolve to amend it Let us by frequent consideration of the Necessity the Usefulness the Happiness of God's Favour bring our selves to have a mighty esteem and value for it and raise in our selves the most earnest desires and longings after it Let us readily put far away from us all things that will forfeit and lose the Favour of God Let us be diligent and industrious in our Duty in doing the things that will please him And then let us ask for this and we shall receive it Let us seek and we shall find let us knock and this full Treasury of Blessings shall be opened to us THE PRAYER INfinite and Almighty Lord our God Thou art he who hast made the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and all that is in them Thou art the Fountain Good and the sufficiency of every Creature in Heaven and Earth We acknowledge O Lord it is in thee that we live move and have our Being and all our fresh Springs are in thee Thou art an Infinite Good and after all thy Communications to thy Creatures dost remain the same In thee still does all Fulness dwell To thee O Lord do we poor and miserable Creatures make our humble Addresses Thou alone hast the words of Eternal Life Thou only canst make us happy In thy Favour is Life even Eternal Life and thy loving kindness extends beyond the bounds of our present mortal Life Oh Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us and bless and be merciful unto us Enlighten our darkness strengthen our weakness sanctisy our unholy and polluted Natures communicate of thy fulness to the supply of all our wants that we may rejoice in thy Goodness and always live to thy Glory Lord we humble and abase our selves before thee for that we have heretofore so little valued thy Favour or concern'd our selves to enjoy it We foolish Creatures have been ready to prefer any thing before it we have valued the gratifying of impertment and unreasonable desires the getting a little worldly Gain the enjoying a little sensual Pleasure above the matchless Blessings of thy Love We have not believed thy Goodness nor been able to trust thy Favour and Love to take care of and provide for us Thus are we exceeding guilty and while we remain thus estranged from thee we can never be happy We beseech thee O Lord deal not with us after our Sins neither reward us according our to our Iniquities When we humbly confess our Sins do thou graciously forgive them and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness Make us for the future to value thy Love above all things and therefore to set our selves with great care to do those things that are well-pleasing in thy sight and to avoid whatever is offensive to the pure Eyes of thy Glory Let us be sensible that it is only the pure in Heart that can see thee and therefore be industrious to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in thy Fear Lord we give thanks for thy Forbearance and Patience towards us that thou hast not yet cut us off and sent us to Eternal misery that we have yet Means of Grace and Hopes of Glory Let thy Goodness and Forbearance lead us effectually to unfeigned Repentance and end in a full remission of all our Sins Transform us into thy likeness by the renewing of our Minds and let the light of thy Countenance beautify and adorn us Love us into loveliness Oh thou Almighty Love that thou mayest then delight in us and we as we ought may have our chief delight in thee We pray thee
according to his Divinity and whence according to his Humanity what things he suffer'd and why what is the Vertue of his Resurrection what Gifts of the Spirit he promised and gave to the Faithful But it should also be taught what sort of Men the Members must be to whom he may and will be the Head What sort he requires and makes and loves and redeems and brings to everlasting Life When these things are insisted upon says he then Christ is preached Christus Evangelizatur Aug. de Fide Operibus Tom 4. This Preaching then does not take men off from relying upon Christ it does not tend to make them depend upon themselves for Salvation but it shews them in what way they must rely upon Christ for Salvation that they may certainly succeed in the doing it 2. To improve yet a little further what has been said we may thence learn the Vanity and Deceitfulness of their hopes of Salvation who lead wicked and ungodly Lives they that live in their Sins and yet hope to be saved expect to come to Heaven by the way to Hell they depend upon the Mercy of God and the Merits of Christ without taking the only course to have an Interest in them 3. There is not only folly and deceit in these Hopes but also there is great guilt and provocation in them For this is to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness which is that St. Jude Ver. 4. earnestly condemns when we encourage our selves in Sin from the undertaking of the Redeemer What is said of him in the Gospel is an encouragement for Men to forsake their Sins but not to continue in them This is the greatest abuse that can be of redeeming Love it is contrary to the end and design of it The Mediator took the Name Jesus to signify that his purpose is to save his People from their Sins And indeed his design had been a very strange one if he had come to procure a Dispensation for our Love of infinite Goodness for our Reverence of an infinite Majesty and of our Obedience to the Creator of all things if he had come to dispense with the Laws of Equity and Justice of Mercy and Charity of Truth and Faithfulness towards our Neighbour This is a design unworthy of the Holy Jesus this had not been to glorify the Father and how can it be but highly displeasing to impute to him such a Design as this Opinion and Practice must be reckon'd to do And yet further This is contrary to the Obligation of redeeming Love as well as to the Design of it and must needs be upon that account very displeasing It was the greatest Instance of divine Love to give his Only begotten Son to Die for us and then it is the greatest Obligation to the Love of God And is it not a most enormous and unjust requital to make this an encouragement to the living in hatred against him To live in constant rebellion and contempt This must needs give the highest and most guilty Aggravation to the Sins of Men that can be Let us consider then how much we are obliged by the Love of God to love him and that if we love him we must keep his Commandments The PRAYER OH most merciful and gracious God thy mercy is everlasting and thy truth endures from Generation to Generation Thou hast helped us in our low Estate through the greatness of thy Mercy When we had rendred our selves deserving of everlasting Misery and utter Rejection from thy favour and care thou didst then take care for us and laidst help upon One that is mighty and able to save to the uttermost Oh who can conceive or express the Love of God to us in Christ Jesus It passes knowledge We give thee O Lord most humble and hearty Thanks for this thy unspeakable Gift We thank thee for our Saviour's excellent Doctrins and Instructions whereby he shews us the way to happiness for his most holy and good Life whereby he leads us in the way to it and is become an encouraging Pattern and Example of Well-doing We bless thee for his meritorious Death whereby he has made an Attonement for our Sins has purchased for us thy sanctifying Grace and thy infinite eternal Favour Oh what reason have we to say what shall we render unto the Lord for all his Benefits How many ways O Lord hast thou deserved our highest praises our supream Affections and our best Obedience But Oh how unsensible have we ungrateful wretches been of this thy great Mercy How backward and slow to comply with the just and reasonable Terms of Salvation We are loth to part with our Sins even for the Love of Jesus or to wean our Affections from this World for the hopes of Heaven Yea we are apt to fall into the guilty and pernicious folly of turning the Grace of God into wantonness of encouraging our selves to continue in our Sins upon presumption on thy Mercy in Christ Jesus and of expecting Salvation by him while we have neglected the terms and conditions of obtaining it O Lord awaken us at length to a due and wise Care of our own Souls Of thy infinite Mercy pardon our past Neglects and give us for the sake of Jesus Christ what thou requirest that we may be partakers of the great Salvation Give us an unfeigned Repentance for all our past Transgressions stedfast and sincere purposes of new Obedience Give us an humble lively Faith in him such as may engage us to follow him make us love and chuse his Commands ready to deny our selves for his sake and to devote our selves entirely to him to live to him that died for us let it bring forth much fruit in a diligent and industrious Obedience and seek and expect our acceptance and reward only by Vertue of his Merits and spotless Righteousness Let such a Faith we pray thee be formed or promoted in us by the Ordinances we have this day enjoyed Let us lie down in peace with thee this Night and repose our selves under the protection of thy Providence If it please thee that we shall awake again in this World let our Hearts be full of a thankful Sense of thy Mercies and a Concern to shew forth thy Praise in the Course of our Lives We humbly recommend to thy Mercy and Favour all Mankind beseeching thee to enlighten those that sit in darkness and in the shadow of Death to bring into the way of thy Truth all such as have erred and are deceived To replenish thy Church abundantly with the Gifts and Graces of thy good Spirit to comfort and relieve any of thy Servants that are desolate and afflicted to prosper those that seek the Peace of thy Jerusalem We implore thy Mercy upon the Land of our Nativity Lord let Peace and Righteousness Charity and Piety setle and abound among us Rule and guide thou our Rulers in thy Fear Teach our Teachers Bless comfort and encourage thy Ministers both in Church and
Malice we can see with satisfaction and pleasure the Happiness and satisfaction of others tho we are not so happy our selves especially may this please us in those that are vertuous and good and in those that are dear to us Besides while a Man lives tho it be in an afflicted State he has that important term and space lengthened to him wherein alone he can make his peace with God and fit and prepare his Soul for Heaven The time of this Life is the only space allowed us for the seeking and serving the Interest of Eternity And if our Life be continued tho in the midst of continual or succeeding vexations and miseries as these give us opportunity of exercising long Patience an invincible Trust in God the most commendable love to him and the most difficult resignation and submission so we have herein opportunity to gain the greater applause hereafter the brighter Crown of Glory and the more excellent degrees of reward by a patient continuance in well-doing We have reason then to be thankful for the continuance of our Being even in such a State as this Further There is no Man but does enjoy at one time or other and in a greater or less measure the comforts of this present Life Those things which do for the time elevate and chear him and make him joyful and merry Every man has some intervals of bright and calm Weather no one's day is always clouded and stormy This Life is to none a State of pure misery We are born to trouble in this World yet none do meet with only trouble and affliction Besides there is commonly a mixture of Good and Evil in every Condition Every inconvenient State has some conveniencies to allay it These we may find out if we will impartially consider our Circumstances And from thence we shall always have some reason to be thankful Lastly The Death of Christ is without doubt in some sense an universal Benefit Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners He by his one Oblation of himself once offer'd has made a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World He has by his Death brought it to pass that every Man upon his Repentance and Faith in him may be saved that Salvation may be offer'd to all therefore he bid his Disciples go and preach the Gospel to all And this Salvation may be obtained by all to whom it is offer'd if they are not wanting to themselves None of them perish but by their own perversness All in the Christian Church are beholden for the Knowledge of God and Christ which is offer'd to them for the Means of Grace and Salvation Thus it appears that all Men are in some measure Partakers of the Divine Benefits 2. Another thing that makes this an universal Duty is that God has with such admirable Wisdom distributed his Gifts among Men that every one almost has in some respects or other the Advantage of some other Men. As none are in this Life perfectly miserable so we can see none that are perfectly and compleatly happy No man shall have good reason to think himself worse dealt with and harder used by God's Providence than all Men besides him There is hardly a Man but may say If I want what others have I may also see some at least of others wanting what I have and what I delight in what I would not be without and perhaps would not exchange with many for theirs If the Rich have greater Dainties the Poor have usually the stronger and better Appetites The Labourer has greater strength and more health many times than he that lives at ease If one Man has less Honour than another he has less care and trouble too an obscure Station is blest with greater safety is exposed to less Envy than the contrary How many Cares and Griefs and Fears do attend Riches and Greatness of which the mean and poor Man may say I have none of these to trouble me It pleases God many times to lodge a vertuous and brave Soul in a deformed and contemptible Body and oftentimes are great Beauty or Strength and great Folly joined together It was very sitly replied by the Philosopher who being pitied by one for the Loss of a Farm answer'd his Condoler thus You have but one Field and I have yet three left and why should not I then rather pity and grieve for you If our mind is apt to grow sick with Envy or discontent at seeing the advantages in some respects which others have of us we should cure them again by reflecting on those which in other respects perhaps we may have of them or of some other Persons And thus may every man see something in his Condition to be thankful for upon a fair comparison of it with that of other Men. 3. It is yet another ground of Thankfulness common to all Men That the Gifts which we receive from God are undeservedly and freely bestowed upon us As he is the Sole Fountain of all the good we enjoy so he is the absolute and free Dispenser of all his Gifts God is a Debtor to no man We cannot draw any of his Blessings from him by previous Merit It was the meer and free Goodness of God which mov'd him to give us our Being Certainly before we were we could not oblige him All our Faculties and Powers then are free Gifts and render us indebted and obliged to him Therefore no exercise of these in any service of him can merit any thing from him for in all we do we only pay our own Debt if indeed we could do so much as that Well might the Apostle make that Challenge Who hath given any thing to God and it shall be recompenced to him again Rom. 11. 5. He can receive no advantage from his Creatures and therefore he designs none to himself in what he bestows upon them He may then very justly expostulate with our murmuring and discontent as the Housholder in the Parable Friend I do thee no wrong Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own We should always consider he is at liberty whether he will give what we ask of him or not What we want is his and what we have is so too even whilst we have it and so he is at liberty also to take that away We are entirely beholden to him for all that we have And should not this make us always thankful He deserves this from us if he gives and continues any thing to us since he does this freely Since God is kind Let us be ashamed to be unjust since he gives us the good Things which we do not deserve from him Let us not be so guilty as to deny him the Praise and Thanksgiving which he does deserve from us Should we not thank him for those things which we cannot demand of him which he gives and needs not give us Tho we have not all that we desire
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
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