repent and what will become of us then How long any one may delay his Repentance before it be too late in this sense no man living can tell him And therefore whoso is wise will not delay his Repentance at all Of this I shall say more afterwards at present I shall endeavour to make us all a little more sensible of the sinfulness of delaying and driving off our Repentance and the keeping of God's Commandments from day to day how contrary it is to all Scripture and Reason And truly this delay is so contrary to both these that it seems very wonderful how any one should not be ashamed as well as afraid to use it There can be nothing in the World more absurd than for a man at once to profess he believes the Gospel and owns the duty of Repentance as necessary and to delay this duty for this delay seems no less than a bold attempt to cancel and blot out the whole Gospel at one dash and to change the order and method which God hath prescribed for the bringing of Sinners to Salvation for a new one of our own contriving It seems I say the making of a new Gospel for our selves and a new way to Blessedness which God never approved of nor allow'd And is not this as absurd as to set our selves in our Saviour's stead and a taking upon us to make for our selves a new and easier way to Heaven That I may not seem to say this without good reason let it seriously be consider'd That Repentance is not only a duty but the special priviledge of the Gospel The good news which the Angels brought from Heaven was That God had sent us the Saviour whom he had in the beginning promised to Sinners and the good News that our Saviour brought us was That God would for his sake accept of the Sinner's Repentance and Faith in him And this was blessed Tidings indeed to a sinful World told 't is true before in the Old Testament and shadow'd forth in the Law but now most fully declared and gloriously confirm'd by JESUS CHRIST in the New Testament The Law of Innocence and Covenant of Works made with Adam allow'd of no such thing as Repentance All it said was this Do this and live do it not and dye In the day thou eatest thereos thou shalt surely dye Gen. II. 17. The first breaking of the Law was death There could be no safe delaying to keep it because every delay of keeping it was a breaking of it for it was a not doing of the Commandment and that was death And it must be kept from first to last for every ceasing to do what was commanded was a not doing of what was commanded and to this death was threaten'd No repentance therefore could have place under this Covenant It was the New Covenant of Grace that made way for Repentance and this is the Gospel-grace that Sinners who have broken God's Law and for that are by the Sentence of the Law doom'd to die shall yet if they repent find mercy with God through JESUS CHRIST This is the Gospel which the Apostle saith was preached before to Abraham Gal. III. 8. and therefore was before the Law of Moses so long that it was first preach'd by God in that gracious Promise of the seed of the woman Gen. III. 15. If Repentance had not been allow'd of from the first man 's sinning even all along to the coming of our Saviour into the World as well as after his coming then had all men during that long tract of time for about four thousand years perished in their sins But to prevent this it pleased God that so soon as the Law was broken the Gospel should be preach'd that men might believe and repent and be saved In a most astonishing condescension to the weakness of Sinners he mitigated the rigor of the Law and was pleas'd to accept henceforward of a sincere obedience to it instead of a perfect fulfilling of it Heartily a man must endeavour to do the whole will of God and whatever failings he finds in himself he must as heartily repent of them and believe that God for CHRIST his sake will not only forgive him his repented failings but also reward his sincere Obedience with Eternal Life This is the Grace of the Gospel but this admits of no delay of our sincere obedience or of our repentance but makes it our duty every day sincerely to obey and unfeignedly to repent and he that doth not so daily sinneth against the Gospel of Grace and he that hopeth for Salvation whilst he thus daily sinneth against the Gospel of Grace must needs frame to himself in his imagination some other Gospel than that which Christ hath preach'd as the foundation of his Hope The Gospel of Christ gives no man leave to continue one moment in sin and impenitence It shews an easier way to Heaven than the Law did and assures us of pardon and salvation upon our repentance which the Law did not but it hath not left Sin to be any part of our way to Heaven nor assured any one that delayeth to repent that he shall ever come thither Our Blessed Saviour came not to call Sinners immediately to Heaven or to assure them of Blessedness whether they lead a life of repentance or no but he came to call sinners to repentance Matt. IX 13. and so to put them into the new way to life which was opened unto them through him His Forerunner Iohn the Baptist he sent before to prepare his way by his Preaching and Baptism The substance of whose Preaching was this The kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe the Gospel Mar. I. 15. He preached the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins v. 4. And the first preaching of our Holy JESUS was to the same purpose He began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Matth. IV. 17. And sending out the Twelve to preach we find the Business they were sent about was the very same Mar. VI. 12. They went out and preached that men should repent For this was God's will That Repentance and remission of sins should be preach'd in Christ's name among all Nations Luke XXIV 47. When St. Peter's Auditors were moved with his Discourse on the day of Pentecost and began to be inquisitive what course to take for themselves he thus directs them Acts II. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins Now what doth all this signify but that as many Sinners as hearing this comfortable Gospel believe it and are thereupon willing to leave their former sinful course of life and to bind themselves in a new Covenant by Baptism to live a holy life in all sincerity and uprightness of heart always as they find themselves failing repenting of their faults and endeavouring to do better shall through the Merits of Christ in whom they have believed
even of the least valuable parts of our Estates in this World which yet it is not in our power to do tho we do all that ever we can to that purpose But alas we are so far from using any such diligence in endeavouring to make sure to our selves our Eternal Happiness tho we may be always as sure that we shall have power to do this as we are that we sincerely endeavour it that we hardly once consider that we are in any danger of losing it Surely it will be granted by all That a blessed Life for ever in Heaven after this very short and very troublesome Life on Earth shall be at an end is a very desirable thing and such as one cannot but desire when he hath well consider'd That there it may be had but here it cannot And tho' there may be some who do not yet believe that such a life of eternal Blessedness is to be had in Heaven after Death yet I dare say that even these seeing they know they must shortly die could heartily wish it might be so I cannot easily be persuaded to think that any one can hate Life for any thing else but the troubles and the miseries which he finds it cannot be without And therefore I believe that no Man would willingly die and be no more for ever supposing it possible that he may live again for ever without any such troubles or miseries Now every one knows that he must die and that it cannot be long ere he must live no more here and therefore no Man can chuse but wish that if it be possible he may live again Especially if he may be sure both to live a happy life and to die no more And blessed for ever be our Lord JESUS CHRIST who hath given us assurance that there is such a Life prepared for all that are his faithful followers He hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. I. 10. And being Himself the way the truth and the life Joh. XIV 6. hath pointed out unto us the narrow way which leadeth unto life Mat. VII 14. And this is no other but the way of God's Commandments Rev. XXII 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life Whosoever therefore desires an eternal blessed Life after Death and has a mind to make it sure unto himself must make haste to get into this way and be very careful to keep it so long as he lives He must get into this way because there is no other way to Life and he must make haste to get into it because Death follows him every day at his Heels and he knows not how soon it will be upon him and if he get not into the way of Life before it overtakes him he must die and be miserable for ever And he must be sure to keep it all the days of his present Life because whenever he goes out of it he is in the way to eternal Death The time of this present Life how short soever it may be is to be look'd upon as the only time of making an eternal Life sure unto us If we let this time pass over us before we are prepared for that Eternity it is like to prove unto us an Eternity of Sorrows Now are we travelling toward God our Happiness and those heavenly Mansions which the Eternal Son of God and our only Saviour is gone before to prepare for us and where we hope to be for ever with the Lord. Whilst we live we are but in the way and not at home in our Country Here have we no continuing city but we seek one to come Heb. XIII 14. And the same blessed JESUS who hath open'd the Gate of Life unto us by his own Death and Resurrection and is our only sure Guide unto it hath acquainted us with two ways and no more that we can walk in whilst here we live the broad way to Destruction wherein go the Multitude and the narrow way to Life wherein but few walk If then we step out of the one way we must needs be in the other for there is no middle Path to be found wherein we may walk and neither go to Life nor Destraction The broad way is that of Men's Lusts wherein there is Latitude enough and the narrow way is the way of God's Commandments and a Man must be very strict and upright in his walking therein and must not swerve either to the Right-hand or to the Left if he have a mind to be safe It seems I must needs say one of the strangest things in the World to me that we all should be so exceedingly concern'd as at every turn we shew our selves to be about our living safely and comfortably in this present World so that we cannot hear the least ill news but it puts us quite out of humour and we are all in fears what will become of us And yet so very few amongst us seem to have any concernment at all upon them what shall become of them when they die I confess if Men could be any way assured that there is nothing at all to be expected after Death I should the less wonder that their whole concern should be for this Life because I know nothing else that they should be concern'd for But seeing it is an impossible thing that any one should be assured of that and seeing we have all the assurance that Men can have of the contrary to wit That an endless state of either Happiness or Misery shall follow our short life here what an unaccountable madness seems this to be which has so generally possess'd us to be so concern'd how we shall fare for a few Days here and altogether as regardless for so the most of us seem to be how it shall go with us for evermore Whence can this proceed but from inconsideration or want of thinking on things as Men should do If we did really think in earnest what we are whence we came what we have here to do how soon we may and must go hence whither we are to go and what shall finally become of us we must needs become a little more serious and provident both than now we are and how little assurance soever we had of what is to come we would be concern'd a little so to behave our selves in this World as we might go out of it with this Comfort at least That if we can be sure of no good after Death yet we should not need to fear any evil Any one that is wise if he have no hopes to he Happy would yet take a course to be Safe And yet God knows the generality of People are far short of this Wisdom All we seem to mind is some little thing that we take pleasure in for the present and all our care is not to lose that whatever it be so long as we live But we so little think of
shall have an hereafter to repent in How know we that we shall not die before God hath not assured us of any such thing and Man cannot on what then do we build our hopes of living to any time hereafter We are well assured That it is appointed for all men once to die and after that the judgment Heb. IX 27. We are well assured that except we repent we shall all perish and die the second death and go into everlasting punishment But who hath assured us that we shall have any time at all after this that now is to repent in And if we be not assured of this what can it be to put off that which must be done before we die to another day which we have no assurance at all that we shall live to see but a rash hazarding of our Souls to all Eternity What is our life St. Iames hath told us and we all know it It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. IV. 14. And thence that Apostle very rationally dissuades men from the great folly of confidently resolving any otherwise than conditionally to do any thing hereafter Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow How foolish a thing is it to say to morrow we will do this or that Ye ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that V. 15. When we say we will repent to morrow do we know whether we shall be alive or dead to morrow If we do not what can we mean by saying so but this That if we live we will repent to morrow And are we content then to be damned if we die to night If not why are we so mad as to put it to the venture Boast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth saith the wise man Prov. XXVII 1. Alas a day an hour the least moment of time may lay the strongest and most confident of us all upon our backs in the dust and why are we confident we shall repent to morrow when we know so little what changes one single minute may produce Is it possible that any of us whilst we see so many every day dropping down into the grave round about us should need a Monitor to mind him that this life is a very ticklish thing to trust to What though we be young and lusty and healthful Were not some of them so too who died the other day and thought they not themselves as likely to live as any of us can be All their confidence is swallowed up of Death in a moment and I am sure we are all of us so many days the nearer to Death as we have out-lived them How many hundreds yearly die in the heat and wantonness of their youthful blood How many in the very fulness of strength and vigour How many in the very throng of their worldly business and whilst they are as busy as the Bee in gathering for old age How many in the midst of their mirth and jollity yea in the very acts of Sin in their drunkenness and gluttony their fornication and adultery their theft and robbery their anger and revenge How many in the height of their security and confidence sleeping in their beds riding merrily on the rode going busily about their common affairs It 's no news to hear of sudden and unexpected Deaths of many sorts and less strange can it be to any one to see those young people cut off by Death who thought it too soon to become good and serious and were unwilling to marr their juvenile pleasures with many thoughts of Piety and Religion Let us but think how many are already Dead who delay'd their Repentance with as much confidence as we can do to Repent hereafter till they had no time left them to Repent in And how fruitlesly they now lament their folly in doing so Think but what they would now be content to give that they might have their life to begin again on Earth and whether they would were that granted them venture again to delay their Repentance and hazard another sudden fall into those intollerable torments which now they feel O let us not stay till thinking of this will do us no good let us not go on till we fall into their condition and experience the Torments of vain and fruitless wishes Let us not indulge our infidelity as to these things till some come from the dead to make us believe lest we be made before we fear it to see and feel what we make no more haste to escape We say still we will Repent and become new men to morrow But alas we know not yet whether we shall live till then nay we know not but that our bodies may be in the Grave and our Souls in Hell to morrow and for this very reason because we Repent not to day Who then that is wise will venture one moment longer on such an uncertainty But suppose we may live and have the time we at present presume so groundlesly upon we may not be one jot the better for it when we have it We are to consider yet farther how many things may happen to us at that time or before which may as much disable us to Repent as Death it self We may live and yet be as good as dead unto all manner of Religious Duty and Exercise We may be we know not how soon in such a condition as we may not be able either to reflect on what is past or understand what is present or consider what is to come We cannot be ignorant how many Diseases suddenly surprise men which though they do not immediately deprive them of life yet destroy their memory and understanding and reason or so weaken them that they can be of little use for the exercise of Repentance May we not be suddenly taken with an Apoplexy or a Lethargy with a Phrenzy or Melancholy or Dotage May we not become mad or foolish and so distracted and crazed in our heads that we cannot at all consider either what we do or what we should do Yea suppose none of these things befall us yet are there other diseases and pains whereunto we are subject and which we may labour under a very considerable time before they kill us by which yet we may be brought into such a condition as we shall find it very hard to perform any Religious Duty as we ought We may lie under such continual and even intollerable pains of body under such daily languishings and faintings and decays of Strength and Spirits that we shall have very little freedom or strength of mind left us to Consider and do all that is needful to Repentance which till then hath been delay'd Why do not we think our selves concern'd to prevent all these evils Are we not sensible that such things often befal men who as little fear'd them as we do And may they not for ought we
that they would consider their latter end Deut. XXXII 29. An End will come and it seems strange that we should all know it and few of us consider it to any purpose We see every day in one or other what is the end of all our Pleasures and Honours and Riches and every thing that we here delight in All these are at an end when death comes and it is coming and at hand none of us knows how near We are sure it cannot be very far off and every day we are sure it is nearer than it was the day before and the longer we live the nearer it is still And though all the things we are now so fond of end in death yet death will not make an end of us for after death is the Judgment when we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 Neither is there an end of us then but according to the Sentence which shall then pass upon us Some shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Matth. 25.46 Now did we seriously consider this that our End is like to have no end but is an endless state of Blessedness or Misery surely we would come a little sooner to our selves and learn the wit to ask our selves some Questions such as these What is it that I am a doing in this World What am I spending my time and labour in Am I sure what my End will be Have I made my self ready for a blessed Eternity I have been labouring for the things of this World as if I could never have enough of them and yet I must shortly dye and all I have laboured so hard for will be gone and I shall carry nothing away with me I am continually caring for this Body and making a very Idol of it my business from morning to night is to feed it and to adorn it And am I not a very fool for this Must not this idolized Body of mine by and by rot in the Earth And am I taking all this pains to entertain the Worms Who can dwell with Everlasting Burnings And what care have I taken that I may not How stand my Accounts against the day of Judgment Do I nothing now but what I shall be able to answer for then Or have I blotted out by repentance all that will not pass then for good O let what will become of this World which is but for a moment and of this Body which will quickly be all rottenness and putrefaction my great care if I be not quite mad must be by a holy and vertuous life on Earth to be fitted for an eternal glorious Life in Heaven My days consume apace and when my Lamp of Life will be extinguished I know not This day is here but to morrow 's uncertain 'T is therefore high time for me to live well that I may live for ever 6. Consider as Holy David did Ps. CXIX 50. and as we are often call'd upon to do our own ways Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your ways Hag. I. 5 7. A man's ways are his thoughts desires designs delights hopes confidences loves fears or hatreds all his words and actions callings professions customs and in short his whole conversation privately with himself or abroad in the World This it concerns us much to think upon not as too many do with delight and pleasure in the very thoughts of their Sins endeavouring thus when the act is over to taste over the pleasure again in their thoughts of it and to continue the gust and relish of it as long as they can neither must we consider and contrive in our thoughts new ways of sinning how we may get into them how we may walk on most securely and most pleasantly in them or how we may compass our worldly carnal and devillish ends by them this kind of thinking on our own ways is God knows too common and many are so perfect in this art of considering their own ways that they can hardly do any thing else But this we are to consider That we walk by the Rule that God hath given us that we carefully mind what we do and how and to what end we do it and taking a review of our ways past examine whether they be such as God approves of We should be as vigilant over our selves and have as close an eye to all our doings as a most wary Master or Mistress are wont to have over their Servants whose either skill or faithfulness they most suspect Every night it would well become us to call our selves to an account for all our doings and let nothing escape us if it be possible without trial Thus might we discern what our present spiritual state and condition is and whither the ways we now walk in will bring us in the end Would we indeed well consider all our own ways and observe well whether they be the ways of God or the ways of the Devil and our own Lusts and whither they tend to life or death it were to be hoped we should see the World in time reformed and the ways of Piety and Holiness come in request again But alas whilst men consider so little what they do and live so carelesly and negligently as tho their doings in this life had no relation at all to their future state or as if they had no God to give an account to of what they do 't is no wonder that so many run headlong to destruction in the ways which they have chosen and persist in without any consideration what they are or whither they lead SECT V. The CONCLUSION HAving pointed out some few things very considerable for the help of those who have not been accustomed to this most necessary duty of Consideration I shall now conclude this Part with an earnest Exhortation to it Let us all as we love God and our own Souls awaken our selves to this Work Nothing can be of greater concernment to us than the things we ought to consider and therefore we must be every way inexcusable if we do not very seriously consider them Can it seem all one to us whether we have a God over us or none Is it all one whether we be under his Government or our own Masters under his power or at our own command Are we no way concern'd in God's Infinite Wisdom Power Goodness Justice Faithfulness Holiness his Providence or his Laws Are his Works and Word his Blessings and his Curse his Favour and Displeasure his Mercies and his Judgments all one to us Can we be wholly unconcern'd whether he see us or see us not whether he regard or neglect us Can we think it all a case whether we behave our selves towards him as Subjects or as Rebels whether he reward or punish us Is it no matter whether we live like Men or Beasts
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
stay as long as they have a mind to Sin and yet Repent at last Neither Ezekiel nor any other Prophet no nor Apostle hath left us one syllable in the Holy Scripture to encourage Delay though they have left much to encourage him that hath long delay'd to Repent To do the former were to encourage men to Sin To do the later is to encourage them to give over Sinning though it be late The former were to allow men to Sin that Grace may abound which the Apostle abhors Rom. VI. 1. The later is but to dehort men from continuing in Sin through despair of Mercy In short though an old Sinner may Repent yet was it his Sin to stay till he was old and he hath that Sin as well as others to Repent of and no Scripture encourageth him to grow Older in Sin before he Repent or to take what day he pleaseth for it before his Death or to hope he shall ever Repent at all if he do it not now We are call'd immediately to put off the old man and to put on the new Eph. IV. 24. I need say no more but that he who delays his Repentance imagining that to Repent afterwards will be enough must needs account an Holy life a needless thing as though that were not the principal thing that God requires but it would satisfie him if a man died well how ill soever he had lived when on the contrary God hath often Commanded us to live well and indeed all his Commands are to that purpose but hath never commanded us to die well and reason good for there is no other way to die well but to live well and as little danger that he who lives well should not die well Alas To what purpose was a great part of the Scripture written containing so many rules of Holy living if one may delay to live holily as long as he will Had it not been enough to have told us thus You that are Sinners must be sure one time or other to Repent that you have been so Though it be your duty to live an holy life yet you need not make all the haste you can to do it only you must take heed of this That you die not before you have Repented that you have lived wickedly A man that understands any thing of God or of the Gospel of Christ would tremble to hear such a sense as this put upon it and yet no better doth he use it that delays his Repentance in hopes of Repenting time enough hereafter And yet after all would the Gospel bear such a sense as this it would not excuse the delaying Sinner's either Sin or Folly For were he sure that a late Repentance would be accepted yet he cannot be sure that he shall live long enough to Repent if he delay it never so little and 't is a foolish thing to venture all upon an uncertainty And though he could be sure of this yet would it still shew the greatest basenss of Spirit and the meanest sense of God and of all those Obligations of Duty and Gratitude which he hath laid upon us that a man can have both which I shall endeavour to make very plain in these following Periods SECT III. The Baseness of Delay TO Delay our Repentance and our keeping of God's Commandments is an exceeding base unworthy and shameful thing and such as I am confident when any one throughly considers he cannot without blushing and great indignation at himself think he should be guilty of it I know we are all witty enough to invent excuses for our folly and to find covers for our Nakedness and something or other we have always at hand to hide our filthiness and vileness But we are not the less fools for being so wise as to deceive our selves and when we once have the wit to consider what we do we shall be ashamed of it When we have said all we can for our selves our Consciences if ever they awake will tell us that we have no regard either to the dignity of our own Nature as we are men nor to the good of others as we are Neighbours and Brethren nor to the Honour of God as we are his rational creatures whilst we delay our repentance but that all our delight is to live like beasts and all that we value is earthly and vile and all our care is how to feed our Swinish lusts and to humour corruption and can a man perceive this to be his own temper and not be ashamed of himself Yea can any one chuse but see that what he doth must needs be altogether as odious and abominable to God as it is base and reproachful to himself In the first place How shall a man be able to pardon himself for dealing so basely with his own Soul as for a great part of his life not to allow it the benefit of its Reason but to enslave it to the Tyranny of the Flesh How shall he be reconciled to himself for dishonouring his own nature and esteeming of it so vilely as tho it had no pre-eminence above that of the meanest Animals All the while that we delay our Repentance we chuse for our selves a condition below the worst condition that any of them can be in a state of Sin and Enmity with God wherein not the vilest of them ever are or can be How sensible are we in the mean time of the Dignity of our Nature as we are Men How can we chuse but blush to continue any time so very unlike to that which God at first made Man to be We cannot chuse but know what filthy leprous creatures sin hath made us And why are we in no more haste to be cleansed and made whole Why are we no more ambitious to retrieve the Honour and Glory which by sin we have lost When God himself to shew the value of our Humane Nature was pleas'd to send his own Eternal Son to take it upon himself and he who was ever God was not ashamed to be found in fashion as a man what a baseness is it in us to defile that same Nature in the drudgeries of sin which God thought not unworthy of a Personal Union with the Divine Nature in his only begotten Son What 's the reason we should delay to have Christ formed in us to be made Partakers of a Divine Nature in Holiness Doth not God in JESUS Christ most graciously invite us to this high honour Hath he not open'd unto us a fountain for sin and for uncleanness wherein the foulest sinner may wash freely and become as white as snow What a vile degeneracy is this that we are sunk into That we should fall so deeply in love with our own dishonour as to be loth to part with it We love our Sickness more than our Health our Filthiness more than Purity our Weakness more than Strength our Deformity more than Beauty our Chains of Slavery to the Devil more than the Liberty of the Children of
should hinder us from making what haste we can to be happy in hearkning to so good and gracious a God and Father Why not now as well as hereafter I am yet too young saith the young Sinner 't is yet but the time of blossoming with me let me flourish a-while in the days of my vanity to think too much of God and the other World of Death and Iudgment would make my Flower fade too soon and blast all my youthful delights to be religious so soon is to be old before my time would you have me turn my Spring into Autumn I will bear Fruit to God when Fruit-time comes I am too busie yet saith the man of full-growth my strength is but just come and fits me for man-like Exercises and the business of the World These are the things it now becomes men of my strength and vigour to be wholly employ'd in I must not yet unfit my self for the management of worldly Affairs by entertaining the melancholly Thoughts of preparing my self to go out of the World What Trade can a man drive on thrivingly in this World if he make his Conscience too soon tender and delicate My head is yet too full of Cares saith the old Sinner and I must not neglect the present opportunity of making all sure to Posterity seeing I have one foot already in the Grave So soon as I have set all straight for this World which I now make haste to do I will think of the next O how wise and provident are we all for this World and for our Lusts Let us seriously consider now what 's the plain English of all this Are we not afraid lest God should understand it And yet understand it he doth much better than we God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things 1 John III. 20. He knoweth very well that the meaning of all we can say for our delaying to keep his Commandments is this with what fine words soever we would cover it We will give the First-fruits and every choice part of our time our health our strength our wealth our parts and all we have to Sin and Satan and the vile and refuse and what we cannot tell how otherwise to dispose of we will give to God who gave us all things Whatsoever good thing he hath bestow'd upon us we will spend as much of it as we can upon his Enemies and then throw him back their leavings We are resolved to have our own will and to do our own pleasure whilst we are able and when we know not how to take our pleasure in any thing we will do what we can to please God We will do and submit to his Will when we can no longer do what we would our selves It 's enough to bestow that upon God which is good for nothing else or whereof we can make no other use We may come ere we die to be deprived of all the delightful things which this World affords we may come to be old and past all youthful pleasures and worldly business too we may come to be sick and cannot rellish any longer what before we loved and then will it be time enough to serve God We resolve to part with all our sins at last for God's sake but we cannot endure to do it so soon that is in truth we cannot endure to part with them at all and will never do it for his sake nor at all as long as we can keep them We perfectly hate God's Service and are resolved to keep out of it as long as we can or dare in plain terms we will never serve him if we can help it and when we talk of resolving to serve him hereafter we can mean no more but this We are resolved to keep out of his service as long as ever we can and to venture as far as ever we dare in the way to death Now when we consider what God is in himself and what he hath always been and would be to us I think it may be safely concluded that there cannot be imagined any higher degree of baseness whereof 't is possible for man to be guilty than this amounts to And therefore nothing can be more odious and provoking to Almighty God than this foul Sin of delaying our Repentance SECT IV. The First Danger of Delaying I Am sensible how hard a thing it is to make one who loves his sin to see the baseness of it If he be young it 's hard to bring him to that degree of seriousness as is needful to such a thorough consideration as must make him understand it and if he be old long custom hath harden'd him in it and taken away the sense of baseness But he that is grown too impudent to be ashamed may possibly be made afraid and an apprehension of danger may move him that hath lost the sense of Baseness Let us therefore now consider the great danger we are in by delaying our Repentance and the keeping of God's Commandments and we shall find it to be no less than that of perishing everlastingly We must repent before we die or at death we sink into Eternal Misery and therefore 't is certain that seeing none of us knoweth how soon he must die every delay of our Repentance which must be before we die or never is extremely dangerous We say we are resolved to repent and it behoves us to do more than resolve upon it for without doing it how fully soever we resolve to do it we must perish for ever When therefore will we repent that we may be out of danger Not yet but sometime hereafter Well but now consider it in earnest Is there not a great deal of danger in driving it off till hereafter Run we not a great hazard in doing so All we can hope for and all that we can fear our attaining to the one our escaping the other depends upon our actual Repentance and will we yet venture all upon hereafter Suppose That Hereafter never come but we die before then farewell to all possibility of Repentance and Salvation too Suppose we live till Hereafter but be then as unwilling to repent as we are now then shall we be no better but much worse than we are now and in more danger of dying in our impenitence and of Perishing Suppose we shall hereafter have some kind of willingness to repent but shall not be able to repent so as that God will accept of our Repentance then is there no remedy but we are undone for ever Here then lieth the danger of delaying till hereafter We know not whether we shall have an hereafter or no to repent in we know not if we have an hereafter whether we shall repent in it or no We know not if we shall in some sort repent hereafter whether our Repentance then will be accepted and do us any good or none How dangerous then must it be to put it off till hereafter What assurance can any of us have that we
can to ask them forgiveness and beg their Prayers to God for his forgiveness of us All this is necessarily implied in the Duty of Repentance And how easie is it then to see that many who think themselves Penitents are mistaken in their duty Yea how many of them who seem to be Persons not of the worst temper but far better than the most of us are never repent at all merely because they never yet well consider'd what Repentance is It is no less than hath been said So that no one that hath not well considered and unfeignedly resolved and is not always careful to avoid Sin and lead a holy life no one that loveth not God more than all things or that hateth not Sin more than all Evils no one that is not more desirous to honour God than to please himself none that examines not his own heart and his ways often or that studieth not the Word of God constantly or shuns not all Temptations carefully or resists them not stoutly none that is proud of himself or is not deeply and humblingly sensible of his own vileness none that continueth in any known sin or wilfully and ordinarily omitteth any known duty none I say that labours not as much as he can to be a good Christian in all things according to the Gospel of Christ is to account himself a true Penitent 2. And now if we find not our selves true Penitents yet let us as we value God's Honour and our own Salvation make haste to be so Oh what a wretched piece of folly is it to to cast our whole happiness upon a mere uncertainty What an unaccountable madness is it instead of making our Calling and Election sure to make them every day we live more and more uncertain to us Is this all the kindness that we can afford our selves that we will rather venture to be miserable for ever than take a little pains in time to prevent it Had we rather weep fruitlesly for our Torments than weep savingly for our Sins For a little brutish Pleasure which though we have to day we are not sure we shall have to morrow shall we hazard the unexpressible Pleasures of Eternity which we may make sure of to day but make it a very doubtful point if we delay to make sure of them to day whether we shall ever enjoy them do what we can hereafter Do we any of us know how soon the Door will be shut upon us and there shall be no entrance for us into Heaven Why then will we imitate the foolish Virgins and rather chuse to sleep away the opportunity than seek to have our Lamps furnish'd with Oil in due season If we be taken unprovided we know it will be in vain at last to cry Lord Lord open unto us Christ's Answer will be ready Verily I say unto you I know you not Matth. XXV 12. Those who have worn the Devil's Livery so long Christ will not own at last for Persons of his Retinue O why will we deal worse with God and our own Souls than we are wont to do with any thing else of the meanest concern to us When we are in any trouble of body or estate we are in great haste to be relieved neither delay we to accept of help when 't is first tendered to us When any one offers us a good gift or other considerable kindness we are not wont to bid him stay till to morrow What an untoward humour is this in us God made haste to restore fallen Man and to comfort him with the promise of a Saviour Our Saviour made haste when the time was come to shed his precious Blood for our Redemption The Holy Ghost hath not delay'd by the Word and Ministry to beseech us to be reconciled to God But we delay still as though whatever else be yet nothing that is meant to bring us towards Heaven and Happiness were worth regarding Whilst we delay our Repentance we give the Devil our Adversary all the Advantages he can desire to have of us The holy Angels of God would rejoice to see one of us repent Luke XV. 7 10. And had we rather gratify the Devil by our Damnation than have the holy Angels rejoice at our Salvation Whilst we delay the Devil needs not tempt us nor seek to devour us we take care to save him that labour by wilfully continuing in his power and if hereafter we shall think of repenting we have already taken care that he shall not want matter for a temptation from our long impenitence Yea we give him so sure hold of us that we shall not easily break loose from him We have given him so long experience of our yielding temper that he is never to seek how to fit our humour with a suitable Temptation neither can he doubt of always prevailing where he hath prevail'd so often Hitherto he hath befool'd us by persuading us 'tis always too soon to grow wise and having been fools so long he will the more easily persuade us hereafter because with a fairer colour of reason that it is then too late How many of our temper hath the Devil got into Hell already by persuading them 't is already too soon till they find it too late What would those miserable Souls who have been thus befool'd into Torments now give if they had it for such an opportunity of repenting as we now have O why then should we now lose the opportunity we have and giddily venture thereby suddenly to fall into that remediless condition they are now in The next day or hour for ought we know may lodge us for ever with them in Hell and then shall we have weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for evermore Those tears of Repentance which will not then quench might now prevent those unquenchable Flames from taking hold of us O that we could every day really imagine our selves just under the stroke of Death and that the apprehension thereof might awake us into a serious consideration of that Eternal State we then must enter into What haste would we then be in to make as sure as we could of escaping those dreadful Torments the very thoughts whereof seem torment enough What strange Agonies of Soul have many dying sinners fallen into who have lived jovially all their days What thoughts have some of us it may be had when in some fit of sickness we apprehended Death approaching near us How penitent how religious seem'd we then to grow all on a sudden How came we to be of such a different temper then from that which we were in before O we saw our selves in all appearance then just on the very brink of Eternity we thought our selves just stepping into Hell if we repented not and then we thought it time to repent indeed and that it stood us upon as much as our Souls were worth to make haste And may we not be this moment for ought we know in the very same danger that we then thought
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