Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A47525
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An exhortation to a personal and national repentance a sermon / preached at St. James Church, Westminster, Feb. 5, 1688/9 by Tho. Knaggs ...
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Knaggs, Thomas, 1660 or 1-1724.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing K663; ESTC R36232
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11,547
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38
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be displeasing to him but always be doing that which shall be well pleasing in his sight The best of us may blush to think how often we have done that which has occasioned grief in the Court of Heaven What odious scents arise thither daily from bloody murthers beastly uncleannesses and cruel oppressions which like the blood of Abel cry aloud to Heaven for vengeance Even sins that grieve the Holy Spirit of God and cause a sadness in the blessed Trinity For so sure as Repentance pleaseth God and causeth joy in Heaven so certain it is that sin continued in and not repented of gives occasion of grief and sadness to him 2ly Repentance is well pleasing to the Blessed Angels Luke 15.10 There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Those tears which run down the cheeks of a true penitent are the Angels heavenly banquet There shall be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety nine just persons that need no repentance But tho repentance be well pleasing to the Blessed Angels tho they are ministring spirits for our good rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner do many good offices for the godly on earth and be a communion between them yet we are not to think that they interpose their Merits for us and therefore we are to perform Religious Worship to them This is a fond conceit of the Papists the invention of mans brain and wants warrant from the word of God See thou do it not Rev. 22.9 are express words in Holy Scripture 3ly Repentance is matter of joy to the penitent himself O what joy and tranquility of conscience has that man whose eyes are opened and in whose heart by Gods Grace a change is wrought And no wonder that he is so pleased with himself for being sensible that he is withdrawn from sin and brought back again to God that he who once was a servant of sin and running headlong to perdition is now a child of God and making Provision for his immortal soul these thoughts speak comfortable things to him and leaves upon his soul a a sweet taste a pleasant relish St. Austin after his conversion when he had repented and began a new life made this sad complaint I have loved thee too late O God O thou beautiful Being I have 〈…〉 too late He repented he had not served God sooner that his conversion was so long delay'd and that he was so long a beginning to be acquainted with God How sweet and delightful O Lord was it made to me presently to want those pleasures of the world which before I doted upon Thou O Lord didst cast them out of my heart and didst thy self enter in their place which I find now to be more sweet than all pleasures and sweetness it self Lib. 9. Cons ch 1. Thus having shewn how joyful and well pleasing it is to Father Son and Holy Ghost that men shu'd repent how acceptable to the blessed Angels and how grateful to the Penitent himself I come 4thly To offer to your consideration what great Danger and Unreasonableness there is in impenitency whether in particular persons or in a publick Nation And 1. As to particular persons John the Baptist in his first Sermon exhorted his Auditors to bring forth fruits meet for Repentance And except ye repent ye shall likewise perish was the Doctrine Christ preached to his Disciples Now the longer men delay their Repentance the more they are hardened in their corruptions and confirmed in their sins and consequently more indispos'd every day for that great and necessary work The longer men live in sin the more strongly they are inclin'd to continue in it Sin being once rooted in the Soul the labour will be great in plucking it out The young man in his Youth and Strength is apt to say that it is not yet time to busie himself about Reformation and amendment of life and that it will be soon enough to repent of his sins when he comes to be old and then and not before he 'll become penitent and serious But how know'st thou O young man that thou shalt live till old Age Death is a tribute we all owe to Nature and Experience teacheth us that the young man is as suddenly taken away as the grey head The strongest man can call no time his own but the present He cannot prolong his days as he pleaseth All his futurity is in the hands of God and how he will dispose of him whether for life or death he cannot tell And yet alas how securely do such men live How eagerly do they run through all the stages of their youth in a rebellious obstinate course and commit sin as if they were not flesh and blood subject to a dying stroak Certainly nothing hath made more ample Harvest for the Devil than the deserring of Repentance upon such a vain consideration as this For how often have many men lain down in their strength at night and that night has clos'd their Eyes and sent their Souls into another World to answer for what they have done in this But suppose God out of his unconceivable Mercy doth not cut off a sinner in the strength of his years suppose he lets him alone to live as he lists to walk in the ways of his heart and in the sight of his eyes and therefore is resolved to sin on till old age overtakes him yet I have three Arguments to lay down before him which if rightly considered wou'd make him think and bring him to a right understanding of himself First Repentance requires the strength and vigour of our minds and therefore 't is a sad design to lay all the sins of our youth upon feeble old age Our bodies are then decay'd our limbs feeble our understandings shatter'd all the parts distemper'd and our infirmities so many that we are altogether incapable of every thing but dying In the midst of so many Distempers as old age brings along with it 't will be a difficult matter to go through with Repentance For then pains are apt in an high measure to seize upon us which will so disturb our minds and deprive us of the use of Reason that we cannot pray to God with that fervency or spread our fins before him with that hearty sorrow that is requisite to procure an absolute pardon Old Age is an unfit time to have the great work of Repentance to do and therefore my second Argument to shew the Danger and Unreasonableness of putting it off till that time is this Secondly The little hopes they can have that God shu'd be pleas'd with those men who never drew nigh to him by Repentance till they themselves were drawing near to the grave Mankind must needs think the Almighty a tame Being an easie God if they perswade themselves that every sin is as soon expiated as confess'd Let men have a care how they flatter themselves with such vain hopes as
these God that searcheth the heart who knows all things and understands the greatness of our crimes expects that our sorrow for their commission shu'd be greater than the delight and pleasure we took in them If a bare Acknowledgment and Confession of sin were enough to put it away Judas might have as good a plea for himself as any Saint in Heaven and might justly be plac'd in the Catalogue of Penitents 'T is very unreasonable to believe that God shu'd be pleas'd with that mans Repentance who never forsakes his sins till he had no more time left him to sin in There can be little of godly sorrow in such a Repentance and as little hopes that it will be acceptable to God I know there are two passages in Holy Scripture much read and remembred and to which some men fly as a refuge for a Death-bed Repentance The first is that of the Labourers that came into the Vineyard at the Eleventh hour Mat. 20. and yet receiv'd Equal Wages with those that had born the heat and burden of the day But alas this Example is misus'd and misunderstood for these Labourers came in assoon as they were call'd and the reason why they stood so long idle was because no man had hired them Had work been offered them sooner they wu'd not have refus'd it Thay came in assoon as the Lord of the Vineyard commanded them and therefore were not faulty Besides that Parable of our Saviour's relating to the Labourers is rather a representation of a Heathen man that never heard of Christ till a little before his Death whose late Conversion shall not render him unworthy of a full Reward But this is a quite different case from Christians who made a Covenant with Christ in Baptism and enter'd into vows and promises to serve him to keep his holy will and commandments and walk in the same all the days of their life Who notwithstanding that Covenant neglect to perform it all their life long and do then only repent when they have no time left to repent in He that came in at the Eleventh hour wronght one hour but he who comes not in till the twelfth the time of working then is past and no reward in justice is to be expected where no service is done The other instance which some men lay hold of to shew the validity of a Death bed Repentance St Luke 23 is that of the good Thief who was sav'd even at the last hour and was in Paradice the same Day with Christ This is brought as a binding Argument by such who put off their Repentance till the last hour The Case is plainly thus Christ was then at the point of Death and therefore to manifest his power and glory and to convince the World of his Godhead when even the Apostles themselves either doubted or did not believe it did upon the Thiefs confessing it and saying Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom make this Answer Verily I say unto thee to day thou shalt be with me in Paradice This was a particular Act of Christ and the whole of it miraculous and ought not to be made a general rule nor do we find in all the Bible the like promise made to any man Because Christ received the Thief into favour at the last hour upon such a wonderful Repentance and Faith as his was therefore we may hope for the same is a Dangerous Conclusion and whoever doth it endangers the loss of his Soul It is not a bare sorrow for sin that brings us to Heaven but a walking in newness of life which inclines God to pass by our former misdoings The Thief upon the Cross had this purpose which surely he would have put in execution if Death had not prevented him Tho he was accepted because he ador'd Christ when he saw him dying there is no reason for other men to presume for the like favour at the last hour who have despis'd him now he is reigning in Heaven If men will presume to live profanely because they think 't is possible they may dye as happily as that Thief did then he may murder more souls by his Repentance than ever he did bodies in all the Robberies that ever he committed Seeing then there is great hazard and danger in late Repentance it is our wisest way to make it an early business and so to live that when we come to die our Souls may be receiv'd into Heaven that where Christ is there they may be also Thirdly The danger and unreasonableness of impenitency will appear in this Some there are when sickness and pain seize them then they resolve against their sins and purpose to be holy and good men if God will be so merciful as to restore them to their former health and set them upon their Legs again Purpose and Resolution are indeed very necessary towards Repentance but are most lame and imperfect and signify nothing without performance and consummation He that resolves against his sins when he is sick and after God has restor'd him to health sins as much as before is a vain man but no true penitent To resolve to repent and not to repent is to break our resolution and faith to mock God and to play at fast and loose with the Almighty To see a man in his sickness smiting on his breast and complaining of the wickedness of his heart and seeming so sorry for it that one who sees or hears him wu'd think his heart is broke within him and yet assoon as he is well again to take no care to lead the residue of his life either in the fear or to the glory of God Such a mock Devotion such a pang of Piety will be so far from appeasing the Almighty or disposing the man for pardon that it even justifies the sentence of Condemnation out of his own mouth The promises we make to God of Amendment of life are due debt The promise one man makes to another may be made good either one time or other either in his life time by himself or after his Death by one that he shall appoint But if we make a promise to God of Amendment and Reformation we ought to do it ourselves This is a concern that cannot be left to the care of an Executor to perform for us when we are dead and gone He who says I do repent but turns to his sins again repents of his Repentance and makes his latter end worse than his beginning For a man to be truly penitent he must lament his sins in lamenting he must punish them in punishing he must hate them and that this severity may not be counterfeit it must last as long as he lives A forsaking our sins with a perseverance in all that is good must be the certain proof of the truth of our Repentance From the danger there is in impenitency as to particular persons let us pass to that of a publick Nation Jerusalem wu'd not know her