is good councell that one gives us Omnia ista contemnito quibus corpore solutus non indigebis Timely despise those things in the body of which thou hast no need out of the body despise and deferre all other things as unworthy the expence of a moment but thy repentance put not off from day to day do that Now least perhaps you do it never And sure I am that the Devill hath no greater pollicy to circumvent us then by benumming of our zeale by this hanging weights upon our soules by the delay of our repentance and I dare be peremptory to conclude that more perish this way then any other For the Devill can worke on few so farre as to perswade them that they never neede Turne to God at all but alas who doth he not endanger by delaying it Saint Augustine found this in himselfe as he tels us in the Eight Booke of his confessions Chap. 12. For there finding the Devill flattering his soule with perswasions to delay his repentance at that time when he was most resolved to performe it he had much strife in himself but knowing that now the Divill had no other Engine to batter his soule withall so much was his resolution for the maine strengthned by assisting grace and knowing the Divill's plot by this procrastination was onely to bind him faster in the custome of his sinne Now at last he violently breakes the snare and complaines and cryes bitterly to his God Vsque quo domine quam diu quam diu cras cras quare non modo quare non hac hor a est finis tâ—rpitudinis meae Oh my God saith he how long wilt thou suffer me thus How long shall I say to morrow to morrow why should I not doe it now and this minute end that filthynesse of life which otherwise will betray me to a life of woe for ever But beside the example of this godly Sainct give me leave to present you with the reasons why we should Now without any delay turne to our God First because by delaying our repentance sin is so fortified by custome and continuance that every day drives the nayle in further till 't is hard to be removed and so our conversion becomes a task of greater difficulty Againe the longer we continue in our sinnes the more God calls backe his grace and assistance from us so that the bancke breaking which did defend us the full streames of temptation breake in and overflow us Thirdly By continuance sinne takes deeper rooting and so the weede which had but little fastning before requires more strengh and violence to pluck it up Lastly all the good motions and inclynations of our wills by the strength and growth of sin are more infeebled That plant pines where elder stronger weâ—ds attract all the moisture Passions grow bold where reason dares not stirre against a custome When sinne shall be fast rooted in the habit of it when the Divill shall be neere to assault and God farre from assisting O how diffiâ—ult will our conversion be He that but standâ— in the way of sinners is in a posture of to unhappy constancy he that goes on thrives to fast in that trade which will undoe him and is never no true a proficient as when he goes backward but if once it come to sitting in the seate of the scornfull quasi ad hoc vacans as Saint Augustine glosseth that place having nothing else to doe but to sinne To sit at ease upon the Stoole of wickednesse and imagine mischeife as a law this is to give sinne a cushion which is loath enough to rise from the uneasiest constancie Saint Augustine Commenting on that miracle of Iesus in raysing Lazirus from the grave when he had beene dead foure dayes searcheth the reason why Iesus begun that worke with a Prologue of teares why he groaned and troubled himselfe so much when as he rais'd others with facility without those saddâ—r Prefaces and from the Consideration of this extracts this mortall Divinity That there are foure degrees of a sinner corresponding to the foure dayes of Lazarus his interment The First is a voluntary Delectation the second is Consent the third is Accomplishment the fourth is the Custome and Continuance of sinne and he that hath layne out these foure dayes in the grave of sin buried thus is hardly raised to life againe saith that Father No lesse then a miracle can call backe such a man he must have teares and sights and groanes inward trouble and consternation and when these are growne to perfection the dead man is rais'd indeed And though I will not conclude as some have done that Lazarus thus rais'd dyed no more yet sure I am that from this spirituall resurrection no death of sinne shall relap's us and therefore Lazarus must leave off his grave clothes and be unbound forsaking all relations to the grave to shew that those very sinnes being dead that killed him he lives by their mortality Saint Augustine Lib. 6. de Civitâ—t Dei cap. 10. makes mention of an old Comedian a constant actor in those Comedyes which the blinde Idolaters of those times instituted to the honour of their false Gods that he was so innamored of the applaus the people gave him that playing for the Gods he acted all as for men but being old and forsaken of his usuall troope of auditors he would crawle to the Capitoll and feebly act his Comedyes before the Statues of his false Gods doing all as he said then for the Gods nothing for men And do we not act our parts thus when we dedicate the first fruits of our time to our own sensuallity give God in whom we live but the gleanings of our lives Beginning then to serve God when feeble age hath made â—s unapt for the service of sin Never trembling in the sense of Gods wrath nor shaking in any thing but our palsie Are we then fit to run the path of Gods Commandements when we cannot goe without a staffe And truely we doe not unfitly to take the helpe of more leggs to carry us out of the world then we had to bring us into it who by a long life have contracted a greater burthen of sinne upon us Then only to cease from beholding vanity when we have not faculty enough left to see to frequent the house of God with deafe eares Then onely to come to heare when with Davids idolls we have Eares only not to Heare Not to sin because of the innabâ—lity of age is impotency not innocency for the taynt habit of our youthfull sins remaine though the act be wanting O miserable condition of sinne never to grow old not in Age it selâ— Never to dye whilst we live when we can do nothing else to be able to do that Strange power of impotency to be able to do nothing but sinne and stranger life of sinne that lives in us onely to kill us alive and lives when we are dead in the
guilt and obligation to eternall punishment and lives with us in Hell to keepe us everlastingly living or dying for I cannot tell whether it be life or death to live in nothing but torment and dead to nothing else but happinesse I beseech you thinke Now what will be Then and let the thought of that Thâ—n teach you how to prize the Prophets Now for Ex hoc mâ—mento pendet aeternitas the eternall Condition of your soules depends upon it O now for the Tongue of Angells to perswade you but miserable man that I am I check that holy ambition knowing that to be so excellent that I cannot attaine unto it but such as I have I give unto you and beseech you as you vallue the joyes of Heaven as you dread the paines of Hell by those Soules of yours to redeeme which cost Christ himselfe his blood and by that precious blood the priâ—e of your soules redemption by the love of that God who was before all 〈◊〉 lasting beyond all time being the Eternity it self to make a true use of this time Now O let not this day passe with out some reformation let not this dayes Sun set and the wrath of God still upon us but draw neere unto him now so neere that you may kisse the sonn for if his wrath be kindled yea but a little Blessed are all they that put their trust in him Let me expostulate with the prophet doth not the Suâ—llow and the Crane know their time yet poore man for whom these were made knowes it not Happily sometimes we feele Agripâ—as ague some motions and groouings of repentance but we are still at a stand for a Conuenient season and so the fit goes off for the soules ague Contrarie to that of the body beginns with a hott fitt and ends in a Cold Truely though no time be amisse in respect of God for at what time soever a sinner doth repeâ—t that is the acceptable time that is the day of saluation yet Esaw's teares when the time was past the Virgâ—ns knocking when the dores were shut these shew what Solomon said that there is a time for every thing if we loose that time we shall weepe and knock as foolishly as they Opportunitie is it self a favour and t' is a second favour to discerne it but the greatest is to lay hold fit and from the want of these spring the causes of our Procrastination which is the common error of repentance I beseech you marke it eyther our Ignorance in not discerning the time or our Negligence that when wee doe discerne it do not yet embrace it This Christ laments with bitter teares and of that God himself complaines Ier 8. verse 7. Even the Storke in the ayre the Turtle the Crane the Sâ—allow observe the time of their comming but my people knoweth not the Iudgement of the Lord God useth not thus to complaine but in â—reat cases to slight his so graciously offered opportunity he accompts no triviall matter T' is a point of the greatest consideration in all Christianitie else God would not have complain'd nor Christ so passonatly have bemoaned Ierusalem for the losse of it O saith he If thou hadst knowne that this day had bin the day of thy visitation and what then there he breakes off the teares comming so fast that he was forc't to weepe out the rest of his meaning O those teares silently tell us what the losse of time is for therefore did he weepe then because they wept no sooner But mee thinkes I heare flesh and blood begin to pleado May I not lay by the consideration of my repentance a little I am yong and healthy and gladly would I befriend my youth with the pleasures of the world a little longer and then I will turne to God with all my hart O be not deceaved a suddaine death may snatch us hence and send the soule into the other world with all our sins upon it and what the condition of that soule is I dread to tell you But suppose the best that Death send his harbinger by some languishing sicknesse kindly gives us warning of our departure yet lett me tell you that infinite are the perplexities which disturbe the repentance of the death bed Our owne paines will disquiet us and make us roare for uery anguish and so to cry to God is rather passion then repentance Can we be fitt to turne unto God when we can scarce turne our selues in our bedds the thought of the poore widdow we shall leave behind us will make the soule forget her spowse and swetest bridgrome Christ the feare of death will horribly affright us and a trembling dread so over whelme us that fearing to die we think not how to dye and so loose the life of the blessed the enemie will then raise Deuils in our consciences and present our thoughts with a sad Idea of hell and shew us all the torments we have deserued torments so intollerable so immarcessible that the damned soule would be glad to be but a Deuill and thinke it a high preferment to be nothing And to shew fâ—ll malice in the conclusion at our very departure he will shew us all our sinns in such a shape that despairing we may grow mad and die Tell me then is this a fit time for repentance Is the death bed a conuenient Altar to offer up our bodyes a living saâ—rifice and then to when we lie a dying O God giâ—e us grace to thinke of this betimes and lett me add that the Conuersion of our last time is seldom free but inforc't by the feare of hell but in that feare there is no loue and with out loue there is no hope of heaven To feare him onely for his iudgements and not as sonns is to find him a Iudge and not a Father Besides the actions of vertue performed then are not of that vallue with God as those which come to him wing'd with cheerefullnesse in our health and prospeâ—ity What great mercy is it to pardon an enemy when we have no power to hurt him or what great charity to distribute ouâ— goods when we cannot keepe them Alas in this estate Peccatâ—te dimiserunt non tu illa thy sinnes forsake thee Thou dost not forsake thy sinnes And let me argue the unsoundnesse of late repentance by the usuall experience of sick men who make protâ—tations of great contrition but restored to health returne to sinne as the dogge tâ— his vomit and so as they mend grow worse But sinne I know is full of flattery and now I call to mind the Thâ—ife on the Crosse was not he saved the very last hower of his life though he scarcely ever thought on God before was not he prefer'd from the Crosse to Paradice without the trouble of more râ—pentance Vnhapily argued but shew me such another example and sinne on till you lye a dying and truely that soules hardly put to it that hath no better shift then to make that a ground
A SERMON PREACHED AT St. MARGARETTS in VVestminster On Sunday the sixt of February last before many of the worthy members of the Honorable House of Commons in this present PARLIAMENT By Iohn Marston Master of Arts and Rector of the Parish Church of Saint Mary Magdalen in Canterbury Printed upon the importunity of many Auditors LONDON Printed by F. L. for Io. Burroughes and Io. Franke and are to bee sold at the signe of the Golden Dragâ—n neere the Inner Temple Gate in Fleetstreet 1642. To the Reader READER IF thou bee'st Courteous thou hast heere a fit obiect of â—hy mercy If Criticall heer 's worke enough to make thee thine owne plague as well as mine you must adventure to your owne perrill if you denie me pittie Accept then a leane discourse shuffled over hastily into the pulpit and thence spurr'd on in a full speede unto the presse The importunity of no meane hearers hath extorted this and they can testifie I was almost a Rebell to perswasion But conquered at last with the kindnesse not the Cause I now stand upon the stall to haile the passengers And if thou beest ihtrap't to a small expence thinke not that deere which will invite thee to repent I hope of all thy sinnes at least of this that thou layd'st out this money no better 'T is a scribling age and the unhappie comfort is imperfections could never flye abroad with lesse inconvenience to their authour Vse me Charitably and I am Thy Servant Iohn Marston A SERMON PREACHED at St. Margrets in Westminster on Sunday the Sixt of February 1642. IOELL 2. 12. and part of the 13. VERSE Therefore also now saith the Lord Turne unto me with all your heart with fasting and with weeping and with mourning And rent your harts and not your garments and turne to the Lord your God THE Gospells glad tydings are not now in season Something to make us sad suits these times best I finde a woe pronounc't against those that laugh Now then hang we up our Harpes and sit wee downe by the waters of Babylon where we shall not choose but weepe if we but remember this our Syon And to compleate our woe let 's measure greifes lay our calamities of England against those calamities which God heere threatens against Iâ—dea Calamities able to fright the reader and make him considering them forget his owne Such Calamities as must live when they for whom they were provided are dead for the old men must leave the storie of them as a sad legacie to their children so we reade chap. 1. ver. 2. But the newes of this Iudgement must come first which invades them with such horror as makes the judgments come before they come in the apprehension of them And so the newes was to them like the presence of our Saviour to the Devills to torment them before the time For God under an Alegorie of the Locust and Canker worme threatens a future destruction by the Invasion of the Caldeans A lyon like Nation shall destroy their vines and the drunkards must weepe for the losse of them ver. 5. So that now their cupps must be empty or they must fill them with their teares The trees must bee undrest and stand naked without their barke that so they may wither and dye and for their death the whole land mourn'd at the 10. verse Nay such scarcity did succeed that the meate and drinke offerings were cut off from the house of the Lord and therefore do the Priests mourne and lye all night in sackcloth ver. 13. And now in the second chapter all their Iudgements are proclaimed by the sound of a Trumpet nay the day is so neere at hand that the very allarum sounds and the dismâ—ll day may beseene at the Second verse though it be onely seene in this that it cannot bee seene for a day of darkenesse shall it be and gloominesse saith the Prophet And just it is that they in their distresse should want the light who in their prosperity whilst they had the light were the children of dark nâ—sse Now horror invades the people who through feare and affrightment are so transformed that their faces gather blacknesse the blacknesse of a Poâ—s-out-side for so the Hebrew word theâ—e signifies and so were maskâ— in the livery of their owne terror and distructions all things as blacke as their owne thoughts â—reade of one who 〈…〉 at onceboth with enemies and darknesse dâ—sired God onely so much light as might serve to see himselfe dye valiantly He loved light well that was so loath to dye without it But heere Sion hath it not Heaven winkes at their ealamitie and drawes a curtaine of darkenesse before all her eyes the Sunne and Moone shall be darke and the Starres shall withdraw their shinning ver. 10. Nay the Lord himselfe shall bee Generall of the forces that come against them and shall vtter his voyce before his armie to encourage it the day of his venâ—ance is terrible and who can abide it And in this horror and distresse whether shall they got whether shall they â—â—ye their darknesse cannot cover them for the darknesse is no darkenesse with him all their power summon'd together cannot withstand his wrath for who can stand whâ—n he is angry There is no way to turne from these dismall and approching evills but by turning unto him that brings them and that by repentance But Quid ad nos what 's all this to us would God it were not doe not dangers threaten us also and such dangers that if we paralell them with these we shall soone see they doe exceed God threatned to destroy them by their enemies but we have beene in danger to be destroyed by our friends for what could it be lesse then the judgement of God upon us that thus one Nation should rise against another both professing the same true religion both the dutifull Subjects of the same King both having the same ground of quarrell to maintaine Religion will not this make riddals in the Chronicles And truly was not the day of the Lord the day of 〈◊〉 judgement neere at hand when these loving enemies were ready to send the messages of death to one another in the dreadfull language of the Cannon and their distresse picture out the horror of the last day in blood and Fire and vapour of smoke And what a day of black confusion had followed had the warre proceeded when two valiant Nations united hitherto both in love and religion should have beene united onely in the mixture of their blood but in this respect I confesse the hand of the Lord is not still stretched out for he hath removed far from us the Notherne armie and our friendship I hope like a fracture of a bone in our bodies is the stronger knit for being broken But though that danger 's vanisht a worse now succeeds it and under the feare of that we groane more then did Iudea heere for feare of the Chaldeans if a forraigne foe did
Now saith th the Lord In the Precept 2. things 1. Duty Activè Turne Objectivè adme to me 2. Direction with all your heart with fasting c. The Direction is double 1. Extrinsecall 2. Intrinsecall The Extrinsecall part is considered 1. Positively with fasting and with weeping 2. Privatively not with rending your garments Secondly Intrinsecall with the heart with all the heart with mourning and a rent heart Then for conclusion followes an Anacephalaiosis or summarie recapitulation of the whole Text by a patheticall ingemmination which makes the Text a turning Text for it goes round in a Circle and ends where it began And turne to the Lord your God Where we note the earnestnesse of the Prophet in that Itteration and have two arguments to perswade us to turne 1. Of Iustice and powre the Lord 2. Of mercy and love our God These are the parts and I shall prosecute them plainly speaking to the soule no lesse then to the eare And I beseech thee O God of power so to assist me with thy Spirit that thy words in my mouth may forcibly enter the stoniest heart heere and make it yeild and turne to thee And so I begin with the first part c. The Proclamations we receive from the King are usually prefaced thus a Proclamation by the King c. And why so but onely to beget in all a more awfull attention for the present and a strickt performance after But a greater then the king is heere T is nunc diciâ— Dominus now saith the Lord and give me leave to say what the Lord himselfe said elsewhere He that hath eares to heare let him heare what the Lord saith Heare with his heart as well as with his eares for the word in the Hebrew Haazjnu and the word in the Greek {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} both signifie percipite from per Capio to take it in thoroughly to our very hearts for with the heart we properly perceive And if wee but remember the Author and that 't is a message from the King of Kings I hope we will call up our hearts into our eares and heare just as we must turne with aâ—l our heart Ipse dixit among the Pythagoreans begot a Catholike observance to tell them that Pythagoras had said this or that made it no lesse then Oracle And certainely from such an auâ—hor as the Lord nothing can proceede but matter of extraordinary concernment The phrase promiseth no lesse now saith the Lord not now the Lord spake For the Critticks put a difference betweene loqui and dicere Speaking is generall and belongs to the whole community of men that have the Organs of speech rightly disposed but saying is more speciall and foretells some weightie matter to ensue Tully in his Rhetorickes gives the difference Solius est oratoris dicere loqui autem communis vulgi Nor hath this scap't the Graetians {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And truly should we forget the Author of this message the very gravity of the phrase will draw our thoughts to the subject of it 'T is a Proclamation of peace and pardon to all that will performe it so that this Prophet prophesies good to us and not evill For now God having must'red up his judgements against Iudea to take veniance for their sinnes and the day of wrath neere at hand yet hee will not take them in their disadvantage but blowes his Trâ—mpet in Sion excitare dormientes to rouse up them that sleepe in their sinnes as saith the praefâ—ce to this Prophesie in Saint Ieroms Bible that so they sleepe not in death God indeed prepar'd the Instruments of Death but as yet he withheld the execution he had one thing more to doe when everie thing was ready and that was to send to them to sue to him that so he might do nothing Strange mercy in an offended God to threaten a people with destruction that so he may not distroy them T is reported of Tamberlayne that in all his enterprises of warr before the furie of the sword began that he hung out first a white flagg to intimate that if now they would sue for mercie with submission they might be secure from crueltie all the sad effects of Conquest but if upon this they yeilded not then he hung out a red flagg in token of displeasure and that he would now write the storie of their disobedience in their blood And if they yeeld not at that then he hung out a blacke flagg of defiance to show that now nothing was to be expected but utter ruine devastation which truely was a mercifull discretion well worth so brave a spirit But Iuda heere had the white flagg last and that displayd the greater mercy for first God displayed his blacke flagge by threatning a darke and gloomy day of desolation yet onely in terrorem to awe them to convertion Then a red flagge to shew the meanes of this destruction by fatall and bloody warre and when all things were thus ready to their confusion when hope languished and dispaire grew bold then he hung out a white flagg in the offer of his grace and mercy that if yet they would turne unto him and repent he would cease to be angry and that very wrath it selfe should consume that was kindled to consume them Thus God dealt with Hezekiah he sent him word that hee should die onely that he might live for Hezekiah repenting wept and prayd and then the message of his death was the very death of that message for Hezekia had not lived so long if he had not beene told he should die so soone Thus God dealt with Ninivie Ionah must prophesie that within fortie dayes Ninive shall be destroyed but upon their repentance the Prophesie was destroyed and not the City and 't is singularly observable that t' was the consideration and forecast of Gods mercy that begot Ionah's disobedience in flying to Tarshish as you may see Ionah 4. verse 2. For he knew that God being mercifull and slow to anger would soone repent him of the evill and then the message of truth from the God of truth should seeme a lye and put Ionah in hazard to the losse his of reputation if not his life And therefore wee reade that upon Gods sparing the City Ionah was very angry Gods mercy to them stir'd up his wrath to see how kindely God had deceived them and in that mercy he thought the credit of a Prophet lost Nor is God by this alteration inconstant to himselfe for his resolutions of punishment are ever ushered with condition if not expâ—est yet understood The rule of sinners is that they shall perish but this rule as generall as it is hath an exception for 't is except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish but if they repent they are as farre from perishing as God is from Injustice For aliud est mutare voluntatem aliud velle mutationem 't is one thing to alter the will
importance of the message he expects it Now not any time this yeare for we may dye this Moneth and bring our yeares to an end now in the beginning of this not any time this moneth for we may be benighted in our graves before the next Moone gives us light Nay not any time this Weeke for this night our Soules may be reqâ—ired of us and so we change our bed for a grave But Now this minute this very moment for we cannot promise to our selves the enjoyment of another and this lost can never be recalled Time is a thing that 's lost before we have it and if learned men have found such difficulty to discover what time is for Saint Augustine a rare wit strugleth in this question as a bird in a string Quid est tempus si nemo ex me quaerat Scio si quaerenti explicare velim nescio 11. Book of his confession Chap. 14. He knowes enough to hold his peace but not enough to speake And if he could not give a certaine definition of it by reason of the uncertaine and vicissitudinarie Nature of it how shall we thinke to possesse it This Nunâ— of so little lasting that 't is lost while we speak it how then can we be Masters of that whose very being is not to be Like a swift river it comes not but to passe away And yet so necessary is this time that measures allour actions that Pythagoras calls it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the very soule of all things but the neglect of this soule to often ensnares our soule and so two Soules perish both together How many are over-whelmed for want of the true imployment of time with anguish with remorsse and sadnesse when as time well imploy'd makes a man without arrogancy reioâ—ce in the workes of his owne hands This is one of the great confusions which at this day swayes the lives and actions of great men who are so over-whelmed with the multiplicity of affaires from morning untill night that they have leasure to thinke of every thing but themselves Others rowle themselves in vaine occupations never understand the principall businesse of their time which is to turne to our angry God {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} wee labour in the maine point as if it were but an accessorie and take the accessories as if they were the choicest principalls All the petty trifles which concerne the ease accommodation of our bodyes have their regulartiâ—e and seldome are forgotten as to eate when we are hungry to drinke when we are thirsty to sleepe when we are weary to sport when the Iocound fiâ—t comes on us we give to all thâ—se their time but for the great affaire of Salvation we set apart no time as if that were not worth the wearing out a day God hath reserved to himselfe the Government of the worlds great Dyall Time he alone determines the howers and will give this commission to no man If the Sunne were stayed in the timeâ— of Ioâ—uaâ— it was done saith Saint Chrisostome in honour to Iesus of whom this great captaine was a figure And if it recoâ—led baâ—kâ— 10. Degrees in the time of Hezekiah it was to â—ignifie the 〈◊〉 of the Incarnation when the eternal Word abased â—imself below the 9. Quires of Angels and united himselfe with humane Nature the Tenth and last of reasonable Creatures Time indeed went backward when Etâ—rnity came into the world but the course of Time was never stop't unlesse for some speciall mistery of our faith To dreame then that such a change should be produced for us to repaire our Precious losâ—es were such a mad folly that whosoever thinkes it shall finde his error to soone that is when it is to late If a Iâ—well be lost iâ— may be found if a house be buâ—nt downe it may bee reedified and perhaps flourish most after ruine But O God why should we loose that which we can never finde Let 's catch the time while the Sunne striketh upon our line or we are lost for ever Antigonus spake wisely when he said his was the warefare of time as well as of armes for truly all our Christian warfare Consists but in well managing our time then to haue the brest-plate of righteousnesse when the diuill thrusts at us then to haue the Sword of the spirit when we need to resist then to haue the helmet of saluationâ—hen our heads are quite under water that so we sinke but to Death not do Despaire this is to suite the time well and punctually to employ it Gregory Nazianzen tells us â—agely {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. that life is an open fayre for all the world to trade in where we may barter a Vale of teâ—res for a Paradice of ioy earth for heauen a moment for Eternitie but reason rerequires that we should com while the fairâ— lasts before the shops are shut before the tents of our bodies be pulâ—d downe before the Night of Death approacheth or we lose our market But O wretched men that we are sin robb's us of our time to preuent our repentance 〈◊〉 cheates us at last of heauen One man spends his time in plotting misâ—heife against another wâ—â—n as that time 〈◊〉 employ'd might haue saued his â—oule Another bestowâ—â—â—im selfe wholy on his pleasure as if he would flie at heauen with his Hawke to which he seldom lookes but in his sport Do we not see Ladies who in the morning when they should offer to God the first fruits of the day will Consult an howre or two with their looking glasse and scarse a minute with their prayer booke as if they louâ—d the shaddow of their owne face which allwayes is not the best better then the vision of God himself These are houses still at reparations the face which is the forefront of the house and next the street must be new painted this or that wrâ—nkle in the wall new plaâ—stred over to which they add so much of the Tyre-woman till at last they are quite lost in lime and haire and the whole fabrick strew'd with sweets shewes that the powder quite forgets the dust Is this to spend the time well Can this trifling to call it no worse fit us for eternity Will not the Saints of the primitive times who as if the day were to little destin'd the nights to devotion in their Vigills will not these rise up in judgement against us who make our whole life a trade of sinne or doing nothing Thinke I beseech you and tremble while you thinke how many damned soules are now broyling in hell fire which the whole Ocean cannot extinguish for the contempt and misuse of time who because they have ill and vainely spent their time are now swallowed up of the worst Eternity And thinke againe what time can there be imagined for repentance the most needfull worke of all when all our life is swallowed up of impiety And therefore 't
of presumption which onely is a helpe in despaire This was a particular act of Christ as Saint Augustine notes and so can make no generall rule if a Prince pardon one malefactor at the place of execution a thousand others dye without it This was to display the power of Christ on the Crosse then in his greatest infirmity that when he would not save himselfe from a temporall death yet he would save him from an eternall death 'T was a rare thing that a Theefe should confesse Christ when his neerest friends forsooke him and the reward of this was as rare as his goodnesse Truly the point is of such consequence I know not how to leave it and thereforâ— let me inferr further that this late repentance must needs be very dangerous when as repentance at the best withall advantages of life is a worke of the greatest difficulty why then should we post off that to the last minute for which all our life is to little Converse with a soule newly loos'd from â—infull slaveâ—ie and it will tell you that She sayl'd in a calme while she went the Devills voyage but when once she begun to thinke of returning home and leave that Sea so full of Syâ—ens then the storme arose temptations multiplyed like the Waves every billow striving which should first devoure her And truly I have spent many thoughts upon that storie of him in the 9. of Marke possest with a dumbe and deafe spirit and I thinke it wonderfully remarkable that the Devill would neither heare nor speake whilst he had a quiet possession of that body but when Christ went about to turne him out of dores charging him to goe out of him then the mercy of Christ to the man wrought an unpleasing miracle on the Dâ—vills for the deafe heard presently and the dumbe spake and now forced to depart he tore and rent him and tormented him into such a trance tha◠〈◊〉 spectators thought him dead 〈◊〉 heare the Wise man in this My sonne when thou 〈◊〉 come to the service of God prepare thy soule for temptations though perhaps we feele not the Devill in us before yet when holy resolutions come upon us then he begins to strive and struggle presently And would it not make one afraid to pray with David Creatâ— in mâ—e O Lord a cleane heart humanum dico I speake now afâ—er the manner of men when as the â—ouse iâ— the Gospell was no sooner swept but â—ight Dâ—â—vills rusht in at once but the Text there gives the reason they found it empty but if God be in thy heart if the Trinity keepe house there wee neede feare no Devillish intrusions But to prosequte the point in hand See it figured out in Pharaoh who when he found in the Children of Israel a disposition to depart then his boyling rage ran over in the multiplication of afflictions If Saint Paul have a motion of the law of the spirit presently the Divill urgeth his statute law in the law of his members to resist the law of the spirit you see then repentance is not without strife and conflict it stirr's up warre in the soule and blessed is he who in this strife can get the Victorie and I hope we shall thinke it a hard worke ere we have done it will be a signe we are the neerer to it Much more might be added to this purpose The Fathers are full of it but I le shutt up the point with some breife collections out of the conversion of Saint Augustine in the eight booke of whose confessions 1. and 2. Chap we find his flesh and spirit in a dreadfull conflict God drawing on one side the world the flesh and the Divill pulling him backe on the other In this Agonie of temptation he repaires to Simplicianus a learned and a devout man then to Saint Ambrose these were his Councell of warre in these assaults of his soule But after consultation with these he was more furiously encountered then before The Divill it seemes was loath to loose this great witt Then he retyred him selfe to privacie and then Saith he what did I not say against my selfe how did I beate and whipe my Soule forward to make her follow thee O God but like a â—ullen jade she hung backe loath to leave her old path of sinne Heere insued a grievous conflict and then some truce made for a time he goes into an Orchard ' I le not dispute the conveniencie of that place but if Saint Augustine come off heere he will doe more then Adam did But heere all his Carnall pleasureâ— past begun to Court him Dimittesne nos a momentâ— issto non erimus tecum ultra in aeternum wilt thou forsake us and must we part with thee now for ever And then as the same Father tells us the Devill bayted his hooke with all his sinfull pleasures past and truely t' was doubtfull but he might then have swallowed some of them but contrary at the thought of these a suddaine tempest of teares shrow'rd from his eyes and whilst he was thus weeping and talking to God in deepe contrition of spirit he heard a voyce from heaven Tolle lege Tolle lege Take up and reade Then opening his booke the first Scripture that presented it selfe was that of Saint Paul Not in chambering and wantonnesse c. Which hit Saint Augustines disease right and then denying all worldly lusts he accomplish't his finall Conversion and in exultancie of Spirit sends forth his soule in thanksgiving O Lord I am thy Servant thou hast broken my bonds in sunder let my heart and my tongue praise thee O Lord and let my bones crie unto thee and say who is like unto thee O Lord and say thou to me I am thy salvation And now to summe up this Repentance is a worke of warre many assaults stâ—ong resistance It wants first councell then grace to follow it it requires private an often conferrence with God by prayer an over-maâ—â—ering force of zeale to spurre the sluggish soule forward a contempt of former pleasures which will now againe flatter us for entertainement It requires â—â—ouds of teares and the voyce of God to call us though not thus miraculously yet by the still voyce of his spirit and all this considered now tell me whether it be so easie a thing to repent that it should be left to the last Whether we can retreate backe to God in an hower that have strayed froâ— him all our lives whether a few dropps at the end of our dayes are sufficient to cleanse that soule to whom sin hath contributed the staines of many yeares No no And therefore for this shall every man that is godly make his prayer unto thee in a time when thou mayst be found but in the great water flouds they shall not come nigh tâ—ee Now then doubtlesse is our time to seeke and I pray God we be not neere our time not to find The waters of afflâ—ction are risen indeed the flâ—â—ds