Life the Thief 's Repentance was as late as it is possible that of the most loytering of us all can be even as late as Death it self yet in respect of the time when he came to the Knowledge of God it was very early even as early as Faith began he no sooner beheld the Glory of Christ's Majesty but he humbled himself under the sense of his own vileness so soon as he knew God he renounced the World and in a Penitential Confession humbly besought Christ's merciful Remembrance in his Kingdom Now if we reflect upon these Circumstances what can we discover in them which any ways relates to our own Case who have long enjoyed the Knowledge of God's Truths and yet long lived in an habitual Neglect of all the present Opportunities of Salvation wilfully confiding in the imaginary Hopes in the vain Uncertainties of a future Repentance I say the vain Uncertainties of a future Repentance for that there is nothing but Vanity Danger and Uncertainty in a future Repentance from the very first to the last Circumstances of it I shall farther make appear in these following Considerations First What certainty can there be in that which depends upon so uncertain a Foundation as the Life of Man or rather let the Quaere go thus With what Wisdom shall any Man depend upon the certainty of that which is not now and which that it ever be must depend upon the certainty of our time to come in this World which may never be who as we are not able to add one Cubit to our Stature to make one Hair black or white so much less can we presume that the certainty of Life is in our Power If thou wilt repose the certainty of thy Life in a Repentance hereafter must it not then become thee to ensure an Hereafter for thy self to Repent in If this be beyond thy reach then consider thou hast shuffled off thy Salvation to that which is beyond thy Power thou hast only purpos'd to Repent then when for ought thou knowest thou shalt be no more I see but one thing with which impenitent Men may satisfie their Consciences against the force of this Reasoning and it is this A Perswasion that God is a Being essentially too kind and gracious to take Men out of this World before they have Repented that is whilst they are unfit to Die but is not this also vain and an uncertainty inconsistent with the most certain Doctrines of God's Holy Spirit which frequently acquaint us that the Wicked namely such as the Deceitful and Blood-thirsty Men shall not live out half their days And to argue this upon the common Principles of Reason Can we in reason believe that there can lie any Obligation upon God to prolong our lives when it is our contemptuous Neglect of God's Grace our daily Violations of God's righteous Judgments which now renders us unfit for Death Can any Man hope thus to put off Death by his Rebellions against the Lord of Life 2. As Life is uncertain so is the continuance of God's Grace uncertain also nay according to what our Lord hath taught us in the Parable of the Talents 't is almost certain That if we neglect or misuse it now it shall not be continued to us for there our Saviour plainly tells us From him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath that is that Man that shall not apply in the blessed Works of Holiness and good Living the Portion of God's Grace this Day tendered to him to Morrow he shall be left Graceless And then what certainty can there be of our Repentance where there can be no certainty of the Grace of God without which 't is impossible we shou'd Repent at all Repentance being the kindly Operation of his heavenly Grace which softens the Heart and melts all our frowardness into contrition II. And thus I pass to the Second Thing propounded and that is to shew how improper the times resolv'd on by delaying Men to Repent in will be for the Works of their Repentance We must either all resolve upon a present Repentance and oh that any thing I now speak may be able to effect such a blessed Resolution in us all or else we must fix upon such Seasons as these to Repent in That is to say either the time of Sickness the time of Old-Age or the time of Death I shall therefore distinctly examine each of these and particularly shew how very improper any one of them will be for the Performance of our Repentance 1. Then As for the time of Sickness can this be a proper time to begin Repentance when one of the most comfortable Effects of a sincere Repentance indeed the only Comfort it can afford us in this Life is to refresh and sweeten our Consciences upon our Bed of Sickness Can Sickness be the proper Season for Repentance which requires a calm and sedate Soul a free and apprehensive Understanding that may either occasion such heats as will distract such Fumes as may oppress or those affrighting Apprehensions which may both confound our Senses and terrify the most judicious Faculties of our Souls Shall we then be best fitted to make our Peace with God when we may be all Agony and Distraction when all the Faculties of our Souls and Bodies are in Confusion and Disorder Let us but reflect with our selves how every little Indisposition of Body indisposes our Souls also how often we have excused to our own Consciences if we have lived with any Conscience of doing our Duty to God the Omission of our Prayers and other religious Exercises upon this very Plea of the Illness of our Bodies and if these ordinary Interruptions of our Health do so far affect our Souls as to divert us from the blessed Works of Faith and Holiness can we imagine That a Sickness even unto Death whose Malignity lays hold on all our Powers whose Rage or Stupefaction stops or employs all the Faculties within us shall prepare or dispose our Hearts with more than ordinary Inclinations for the Works of Righteousness Certainly we must all think Repentance an easy Task indeed if we can judge our selves strong enough for that when we shall be disabled for every thing besides Whether we shall have a time to be sick in I mean such a Space of time as may be proportionable to the Occasions of our Transgressions is such an Uncertainty which no mortal Man can assure himself of But put the Case we might presume upon a fit of Sickness which I must confess to be the very Subject of the Argument I am speaking to yet after all methinks it must be a most unaccountable Piece of Discretion in any Man to cherish one mortal Disease nay such a Foulness in the Soul as is Impenitence which tendeth to Death and everlasting Destruction To deferr I say and put off its timely Cure till another fatal Distemper shall seize and so the more desperately endanger him Were there
't is neither he that willeth nor that Man that now resolveth but of the Grace of God that we Repent at all And will it not be just in God whom thou hast so contentedly forgot thy whole Life either to forget thee at thy Death or by withdrawing his Grace leave thee to be forgotten by thy self Again Why wilt thou deferr till Death Dost thou think the time of this Life which is given us on purpose that herein we may make our Calling and Election sure too early for us to be working out of our Salvation Will not Consolations be more seasonable in the Hour of Death than Sorrows and Remorse Will it not be more comfortable to reflect on a sincere Repentance past than to depend upon such a sudden Repentance which may either not come or if it do have no Sincerity at all in it none I am sure which any wicked Man that hath not before either actually set upon a good or reflected upon an evil Course can possibly be assured of And my Reason is because our Repentance may be as sick and weakly as our Bodies we may easily mistake the Weariness of our Limbs for the Uneasiness of our Souls our present Impotency and want of Strength to Sin for a real Aversion to Sin nay for the very Reformation of our sinful Inclinations therefore I shall conclude this Particular with the Opinion of St. Augustine who being ask'd his Thoughts of those who did then what too many now do deferr their Repentance to the last Moment answers his Friend who put the Question to him in these Words I avouch not that he can be saved nor positively that he shall be condemned but if thou wouldst be saved O Friend let me advise thee be thou sure to Repent now thou art well III. And thus I come to the last General Head of my Discourse to shew how every Pretence or Excuse which Men may now make in Favour of their Delays must if seriously considered even in Wisdom oblige them to hasten their Repentance One of the Excuses with which some Men countenance their Delays is this That upon the Examination of their own Ways they find their Sins are yet but small and such as they may easily cast off at Pleasure But give me Leave to reason against these Deluders of their own Souls Are thy Sins small Then why wilt thou deferr since the Work of thy Repentance will be the lighter May they easily be cast off Then why wilt not thou immediately part with them since the least Grain is infectious and every wilful Detainment tendeth unto Death Again consider though they may be light now yet the shortest Continuance will make them heavier their Guilt increases every Moment and the longer they possess thy Soul the more violently will they keep Possession Another Excuse is the contrary to this namely the Greatness of our Sins and the mighty Difficulties in Repentance But may we not consider here That though the Work be great and difficult indeed yet still 't is necessary and again That the longer we deferr the more difficult we shall find the Task For does the Burden of thy Sins feel heavy to Day and canst thou think to Morrow's Weight will make it lighter Is it not in this very Case of our Transgressions that we may apply that of the Holy Spirit sufficient to the Day is the Evil thereof and then must not every Day add to thy Tale and so the Portion of thy Repentance increase daily But further if it be really so hard and difficult to subdue them now whilst thou art in full Strength and Vigour and as thou may'st fansie hast length of Days before thee canst thou imagine that they will the easilier be removed under the Faintings of Sickness Decays and Impotencies of Age or the surprizing Pangs of Death Dost thou now fear their Greatness and wilt thou not by thy Repentance endeavour to prevent their growing greater or canst thou believe that whilst thou sinnest on thy Account will the easier be made up at last Is not such a Conclusion as this much more rational that Work which is so hard and difficult to Day may if we do not immediately set about it indeed grow invincible to Morrow Another Pretence still with which Men seem to satisfie themselves under their Delays is The necessary Imployments of Life the indispensible Occasions of this World These say they often divert us from the Work of Holiness these are those things which ever interrupt us in our Attempts this Way But to answer this no doubt whilst we are in this Life subject to those Decays and Infirmities which require a Supply of the things of this World for our Support we must be allowed so much of them as is necessary for our Replenishment and consequently so much time as is convenient for the Obtainment of them Yet after all this World certainly is not the Christian's Business nor our time in it so much our own that we may imploy it upon the World as we please No every Day of our Lives is so much God's that in no part of any Day we may forget him but then in some part of every Day we must needs forget all things besides him The necessary Occasions of the World we may give Room to but then we must remember withal that we ought not to make more Necessaries than God has appointed For Instance we must not shorten the Hours of our Devotion to gain Time to spend upon our Lusts or to secure to our selves Opportunities wherein to enrich our Stores with Superfluities whatever we may think of it whilst we are in our eager pursuits after this World we shall all certainly find at the last that God will never accept of such an Account of our time from us as this spent upon my Pleasures upon the occasions of my Ambition in the prosecution of my excessive Gettings Ten Twenty perhaps Thirty Years these God knows are too often the indispensible Occasions which prevent us in our Holy Duties They are these Excesses in our Labours these superfluous engagements of our Pride whereof we ought all seriously to Repent which chiefly hinder us in the business of our Repentance Let us consider That every Day nay every Moment consumes somewhat of the Thread of Life and that of all Business and Employments none is more requisite than our making Peace with God of all Necessaries this one thing is most necessary in us Christians to mortifie our Affections which are upon the Earth to cleanse our Hands and purifie our doubt Minds to lay up Stores in Heaven and be every Day in the Works of Faith Charity and Obedience securing and improving our Interest in the Kingdom of the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ the Sum and Substance of whose Gospel is this If we do now whilst he gives us time for it turn unto God in a true Faith and with a hearty Repentance we shall at his Coming be made Partakers of his Eternal Kingdom where there shall be no time to terminate our Enjoyments of him To which Bless'd State vouchsafe O blessed Father to bring us all through the Merits of Christ Jesus thy Son to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS Mr. Bramston's Sermon of the Necessity of a Present Repentance Preached before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen at Guild-hall Chapel on March 10 th 1694 5. Printed for William Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul 's Church-Yard
no other Considerations to convince us in this Partilar yet in this one we may discover how improper Sickness must be to be fix'd upon for the Performance of our Repentance namely because no Man can be certain what Operations Sickness may effect in him whether its Anguish may not harden or its Gentleness prevent his holy Resolutions to Repent We have daily Instances of such Distempers which deprive Men of their Hopes and Wits together and of others too whose indiscernable Decays too often lull them in Impenitence And now can Sickness be a proper Season for Repentance which contains our Sorrows for our past Irregularities which is our actual returning into the Paths of Health and Wisdom when Sickness many times puts us but still more besides our selves Can that be the proper time to qualifie our Griefs for Sin which has so many Uneasinesses and Distractions of its own And thus I pass to the Second time in which many purpose to Repent and that is the time of old Age Where I shall not stand now to consider the improbability whether One in Five hundred of those who fix upon this time ever live to be old nor yet that Observation which daily Experience seems but too constantly to instruct us in namely That a vicious and impenitent Youth too frequently concludes in a hardened and an unrelenting old Age but I shall now suppose That by the good Providence of God we may all here live to be old and so reason upon this Supposition Now then Shall old Age be proper for this Work What Shall that be mastered with seeble Joints and trembling Knees which has so long been victorious over all our strongest Resolutions Shall the Dregs and refuse of Life be the properest Sacrifice for our God Shall we then be best qualified to set forth the Greatness of his Mercies when all those excellent Endowments which God has bless'd us with on purpose that we might glorifie his Heavenly Majesty have been consumed on Sin and are worn out in the Works of Unrighteousness Shall that be our fit time for the Fear of God which is the beginning of Wisdom when we are reduced to the Weakness of Childhood Can that be the fittest Season for us to take the Review of our Lives past when we have lost our Memories that a time to look back when we shall scarce be able to see before us In a word Shall that be a fit time for a free voluntary and conscientious forsaking of Sin wherein true Repentance does consist when Sin it self will forsake us 'T is wonderful to observe how Men act contrary to those received Principles of Wisdom which directs them in other Matters in this greater Business of their Salvation if we examine them as to their Concerns relating to this World this Excuse they make for their present Cares Cravings and immoderate pursuit after the Things of this World is this To keep and refresh them when they shall be unfit for Cares to make old Age happy and easie How insatiable are they in securing the greatest Stores against that time when the least may satisfie But as for those Heavenly Treasures which will be the more needful the nigher we approach the Grave they think it time enough to be seeking these when they shou'd actually enjoy them They think there is no Necessity to be careful for these which are most necessary till by the inveterate habits of their Vices they are indeed rendered unfit for all the watchful Cares of true Devotion What a Contradiction is here That Men shou'd pretend they wou'd have their old Age happy and yet load it with all the Pains and bitter Labours of Repentance Can old Age thus be happy when all this may be too little when we may cry and not be heard when we may weep and languish and Repent and yet like Esau find none to Comfort none to restore the Blessing When that God whom now in the Beauties of our Youth and Perfection of our Age we have contemned shall in his Wisdom and Justice contemn our craziness Wou'd'st thou be happy when thou art old thou must then needs be Godly now thou art young That which often disturbed the Soul of David was the sence of his Sins tho' he lived in an habitual Repentance yet we find this frequently wounded him in the midst of his Enjoyments Let me therefore earnestly beseech ye that are young or in the Strength of your Years to Remember your Creator now in these Days of Youth and Strength And that as for many others so especially upon these two Considerations First Because If ye will not Serve God now whilst ye are fit for the Services of the World ye can expect no Blessings from God then when ye shall be past Transgressings Secondly Because If ye will not Serve God now ye will not be Able to Serve him hereafter there being no Service at all in that it will be the effect of Impotency and Necessity it being no Service at all to God that thou wilt abstain from Sinning when the vicious humour has been fulfilled before and thy Natural Decays render thee unfit for Sinning Consider 't is now in these Days of Youth and Strength that Temptations flow about thee 'T is now that Ambition pricks and the World besets thee with Enchantments 'T is now that the unruliness of thy Blood and the evil propensities of thy Flesh prompt thee to Rebellion against thy God and therefore it must be now that is the properest Season for all the holy Actions of true Devotion If thou cast off the care of thy Soul now think not that God will take it up think not that He will accept thy refuse much less in Wisdom or Religion can'st thou imagine that notwithstanding thy present contempt of so precious a Treasure he will at last Exalt and Glorifie thee Old Age shou'd God bless us with it will be the beginning of our Harvest the time when we shall in some Measure reap the bless'd Fruits of a present Piety and Repentance and therefore very improper to be appointed by us for the time of Seed i. e. for the time of begining of our Repenting And thus I am brought to speak to the third Time resolved on by too many Men for the Work of their Repentance which though it be a Time which all must come to yet certainly a later Hour they cannot think on for 't is the Hour of Death Now is not this a monstrous Resolution I will begin then to live righteously when I may conclude with my self I shall live no longer I will there fix the Assurance of my Eternal Happiness where I am taught will end all the Opportunities of making sure my future Happiness Wilt thou say'st thou Repent at Death Wilt thou indeed trust all to one Moment then give me Leave to represent unto thee how desperately the State of thy Salvation standeth thou wilt Repent Alas It will not be in thy Power to Repent at Pleasure