us by our Baptisme he who may be supposed to have this inward Principle infused into him and stirring with his fears at the time of his Death yet for all that is but an Abortive Christian and hath neither the new Birth or Regeneration nor the Divine Life in him 4ly The great Prejudice against this Doctrine is this that 't is too severe and will tend to make us judge over-hardly of others and to throw dying Sinners into despair as being in an hopeless State by the Gospel and so hinder their Repentance at that time as being insufficient and ineffectual To which I answer That 't is no more severe than the Gospel is which shuts every wilful Sinner out of Heaven and pronounces Damnation upon every one that does not live a good Life at least after a bad one which is the true Notion of Repentance but we must make a new Gospel if we abate of this and come lower than is any way consistent with the Divine Wisdom and Government and with securing Vertue and Religion and not opening a wide door to Looseness and Licentiousness and encouraging Men in their Sins rather than bringing them off from them I believe indeed 't is more out of pity and tenderness than any good ground in Reason or Scripture that the other Doctrine has took place but we must not pervert the Gospel out of an unreasonable tenderness and by pretending to be more merciful than God is or has declared himself to be and 't is I doubt the greatest cruelty to our own and others Souls thus to deceive 'em into ruine by giving them hopes contrary to the Gospel and I account it the greatest charity to forwarne Men of their danger and to free them from such a fatal mistake It does not so much concern us to judge other Men and apply this Doctrine to them as to our selves God is their proper judge to whom we ought to leave them and to their own Master they shall stand or fall at the great day but 't is more dangerous to assume a sort of Power to dispense with the Laws of God by our pretended Charity and to give a relaxation to the rules of the Gospel and the conditions of Salvation out of undue Piety and in effect to blame and condemne God and think he deals more hardly with Sinners than he ought to do or then we our selves would do when he pronounces Damnation upon them for their bad Lives and will not save them for their dying Repentance out of this Principle of pity others have gone farther and denyed the Eternity of Hellish Torments and have thought it too hard that God should punish the sins of a short Life with never-ending pains and have therefore thought good in their great pity to release all the Damned and even the Devils themselves out of Hell within so many years but this is to understand the Measures and Reasons of the Divine Government better than God himself to prescribe new ones to him contrary to what he has lay'd down to set up a Court of Equity upon him in our thoughts and to correct the fixt Rules and declared Measures of his Justice and Mercy with some others of our own which surely is not to be allowed As to the driving Sinners into despair by this Doctrine this cannot be said of those who have time before 'em to repent and live better if they make use of it and nothing will more strongly excite them and more immediately put them upon this than the faithful and open telling them the truth as I have done and taking them off from all hopes and trust of a dying Repentance which has destroyed so many Souls As for the dying Sinner himself however I pity him I dare not give him hopes farther than I have warrant from God and Authority from the Gospel which no Minister can have to assure him of Pardon and Salvation from a mere late and Death-Bed Repentance He can only advise such an one to do all he can at that time which may help if not wholly to remit his punishment yet in some measure to abate and mitigate it which is a very great thing and commend him to the Extraordinary and Uncovenanted Mercy of God which is not limited by any thing but the recitude of his own Nature to which we must leave some great Cases not knowing what to judge of them our selves but as to the ordinary and covenanted Mercy of God which he himself has limited and which ought not be stretcht or extended any more than narrowed or confined to any other bounds than those of the Gospel such a Repentance has no title to it by any promise there that I know of and therefore I would not for all the world venture my Soul upon it nor would have any Man else to do so for besides all other hazards of a sudden Death and the like that attend such a Repentance 't is venturing whether God will not break the Rules and Measures of the Gospel or at least abate them and be more merciful than he has there promised to be which no Man has any reason to expect he should be but rather a great deal to question whether he can be Let none of us therefore trust to such a Late and Death-Bed Repentance which will expose us not only to infinite danger but to inevitable and certain ruine nor let us believe any such Doctrine which has no foundation either from the Thief on the Cross or from any thing else in Scripture to be relyed on but however severe the other Doctrine be let us consider it is true as I shall fully prove it is and I know no Mischief of its severiry but this which is the plain consequence of it that we must not delay our Repentance but take care to live a good life if we hope to go to Heaven SECT III. The Invalidity of a Death-Bed Repentance shown from the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins HAving Examined and Answered the Pleas and Pretences on behalf of a Death-Bed Repentance I shall show its Invalidity and Insufficiency by such plain and positive Proofs as shall take away that common error and fatal mistake on the other side and fully confirm and establish my Opinion against it The first whereof shall be that Excellent Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins Matth. 25. especially the latter part of it at the 10 11 12. verses for I shall not represent it entire in all the parts but only what is more full and home to my purpose in relation to the foolish Virgins of whom it is said That while they went to buy the bridegroom came and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut afterwards came also the other Virgins saying Lord Lord open to us but he answered and said verily I know you not Parables were an Eastern and Jewish way of instruction very frequently used by their wisemen and so made customary
Heaven though it be a gift is a reward too and shall be exactly proportioned in the degrees of it to the deservings and actions and behaviours of Men. The main foundation then of this Doctrine of the Efficacy or Sufficiency of a Death-Bed Repentance must be the case of the Thief upon the Cross i. e. the History or Relation of a Man who dyed as a Malefactor and yet certainly went to Heaven for that is the whole of it Now I doubt not but many hundred such Malefactors have gone to Heaven and many Thousand Sinners that were once bad Men but yet had they never Repented till they came to dye I do as verily believe that not one of them had gone thither but to another place where Men shall for ever repent at the same rate that most Men do who have not done so before that time To Ground and Establish this Doctrine upon this Historical Case and 't is I believe the only Doctrine that has such a foundation we must examine whether it certainly and exactly comes up in all the Particulars and Circumstances of it to the case of a wicked Mans living a very ill life till he comes to dye and then only repenting of it We must then enquire whether it plainly and certainly appears from the account the Scripture gives us of it 1. Whether he were a very ill Man in the whole or general course of his Life 2. Whether we are sure he did not Repent long before he came to dye for if these two are not certainly known nor do appear from Scripture the case may be very different and no way suit or answer the late and dying Repentance of a very wicked Man And 3. Supposing those two yet how can we tell whether this might not be an extraordinary case and such as belongs to no other Sinner whatsoever 1. Whether it do appear from the account Scripture gives us of him that he was a very ill Man in the whole or general course of his life The reason of which inquiry is this that a general habit of irreligion and wickedness through the whole course of a Mans life puts him into a more wretched and dangerous and deplorable state than any particular Act of Sin or then any one sin whatsoever for that like a Leprosie spreads over and corrupts the whole Mind lays the whole Conscience waste and roots up all the Principles of Religion and puts Men in the number of those who have no fear of God before their eyes and who live without God in the World but a Man may not be so far gone not be a Sinner of so high a rate but may be an imperfectly good Man and yet fall into a wilful sin by the suddenness or greatness of the Temptation by Surprize and Inconsideration and laxness of Thoughts by a remissness in Religion and not being duely upon his Guard and by the struggle that is in his mind between the Flesh and the Spirit between this World and another which makes the one now and then get the better of the other such an one is a kind of borderer upon Vertue and lives between the confines of that and wickedness and sometimes he is governed and brought under the power of one and sometimes is overcome and made a prey by the other Now though such an one is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven till he comes wholly off from every wilful sin and is more under the power of Religion yet he is nearer to the Kingdom of Heaven and may sooner by Repentance and becoming a good Man fit himself for it and so enter into it It does not at all appear in Scripture from the History of this Penitent Theif whether he had been a very ill Man or no in the general course of his Life only that he was a Thief which was enough to denominate him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and suffered as he himself owns justly and received the due reward of his deeds Luke 23.41 But who knows what abatements his sin might have either by extream necessity or some other circumstances which God might fairly consider and allow for though he was brought to an infamous Death here by the severity of Humane Laws Even a good Man who is so in the general course and habit of his Life may fall into a particular act of wilful sin as we see in David Moses and St. Peter and let him that standeth take heed lest he fall as the Apostle advises 1 Cor. 10.12 For no Man is perfectly out of danger whilst he is in this state of probation and infirmity and though every such Sin breaks a Mans good State and puts him into an ill one till he recovers himself by Repentance and Amendment for Mens States of Grace and Damnation are no way fixt here but are alterable in this World according to the temper of their minds and behaviour of their lives yet 't is more easie to recover from a single act than a long habit as 't is to cure a green wound than an old Ulcer or a Chronical Disease And where there is an habitual soundness within where the Mind is not vitiated with habitual Corruptions and evil Principles and irreligious Habits and Customs but has a pretty good Sense of Religion though it happens to be over-powred with a temptation there it will sooner recover it self and throw off the Disease and the Corrupt Matter by its own inward Strength and the assistance of the Divine Grace There the inward Sense and the Principles of Religion will unfold and expand themselves by the power of Restitution since though they have been prest down and overpowred yet they have not been quite broken and destroyed the Religious and Vertuous Sense will revive again in the Mind which was not wholly extinguished though very much Damped and Choaked and weakned and thus they plainly seem to be in thus penitent Thief by his Carriage to our Saviour which I shall consider by and by by his rebuking the other Thief who was railing at Christ with that most sober Reprimand Dost thou not fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation ver 40. and by the firm belief and full perswasion he had of the happyness of another State and his Devout and Religious Prayer to Christ to remember him when he came into his Kingdom These make it very probable that he was not a very profligate or ill Man in the general course of his Life but rather such a good one who lived not in the habit of many great sins but fell into a particular Act by a Temptation that might greatly lessen it before God though it made him an Example before Men But 2. Whatever his Sin was however great and however sinful a Man he had been yet who knows how long he had repented and how sincerely and what fruits he had shown of his Repentance We know not when the theft was committed and whether he did not immediately Repent of it and make
Baptism And therefore to suppose a Man may be saved upon Baptism though he is not a good Man is not allowable but if he dye just upon it God will judge him according to the present temper of his Mind and the past course of his Actions allowing him the Gracious Termes of the Gospel which he has now a right to by his Baptism but to think he can be saved without any Actual Goodness in his Mind and in his Life is I think very false though a less degree may save him that knows not Baptism or Christianity than him that does But as for the Baptism of Blood or allowing Martyrdom the priviledge of Baptism this is not founded upon ordinary right but presumptive equity and Salvation is allowed to them because no Man but must be presumed to be a very good Man and have a high degree of actual Vertue and Holiness who dyes a Martyr and prefers Religion before every thing in this World even his very Life And without this in some higher measure than meer Purposes and Resolutions and meer Sorrow and Repentance for not having it I deny that any Baptism or any thing else will save a Man This I say to prevent an Objection that it would not otherwise be easie to Answer which is this That if the Grace of Baptism will send a wicked and unqualified Soul to Heaven by vertue of a meer dying Repentance without any degrees of Actual Holiness without which the Scripture tells us no man shall see the Lord why may not the Grace of the Eucharist do the same by the like dying Repentance Or according to the Roman Principles the Grace of Penance and Absolution or of Extreme Unction which have all the same superstitious Error at the bottom SECT II. The Pleas and Pretences on behalf of a Death-Bed Repentance Answered HAving showed that there is nothing in the case of the Thief upon the Cross to support or justifie the validity and efficacy of a Death-Bed Repentance I shall now examine the other Pleas and Pretences which are brought for it and show how weak and ungrounded they are so that no Man may believe such a dangerous and mistaken Doctrine nor venture his Soul not only upon such an uncertain hazard but such a certain danger and inevitable ruine as that will bring upon him if he presume upon it and trust to it I shall consider and rectifie the common prejudices that are about it which are chiefly these following First That at whatsoever time a Sinner repenteth he shall find Mercy Secondly That if a Man do so heartily and sincerely resolve upon a good Life that God sees if he should live he would make this good then this Will shall be taken for the Deed. Thirdly That God may turn and change a Mans Heart on a sudden Fourthly That by denying the efficacy of a Death-Bed Repentance we throw Men into despair and take away the Arguments that should perswade them then to Repent and limit Gods Mercy and restrain his Grace and the like First That Expression Whensoever or at what time soever a Sinner repenteth he shall find mercy Now this though it be not express and in so many words in Scripture and therefore when the words in the Original would not fully bear such a Translation Ezek. 18.21 and some were offended at it as giving too much encouragement to the Doctrine I am opposing it was left out of the Sentences beginning our Morning-Prayer yet if we allow it to be true in the utmost and fullest sense and there is no great difference between when and whensoever or at what time soever yet it no way avails to the maintaining the efficacy of a late or Death-Bed Repentance for all that a Man can then do does not come up to true Repentance such a Repentance as has Pardon and Salvation promised to it by the Terms of the Gospel A Man may then be very sorry for his Sins and heartily troubled and concerned for them but this Sorrow alone were it upon never so good Reasons is not Repentance but that which may bring us to Repentance as St. Paul sayes Godly sorrow worketh Repentance 2 Cor. 7.10 and therefore it is not the thing it self We may as well suppose that feeling the smart of a Wound is healing it as meer Sorrow for Sin is true Repentance Few Sinners and few Malefactors but are thus sorrowful when they come near the place of Punishment and Execution They are sorry they must suffer for their Sins and the terrour of their Sufferings makes Sin very bitter to them but if that were removed they would love them and commit them perhaps as much as ever If Sorrow alone for Sin though never so deep and grievous were true Repentance then Cain and Judas were as great Penitents as any and so will all the damned be to all Eternity who will thus sorrow and thus repent for ever of their Sins but without any amendment and they will wish also a thousand times that they had been wiser and lived better and had not by their foolish and wicked courses brought themselves into such a miserable and wretched condition and would God but let them live over their Lives again oh how much better would they be how much otherwise would they live and how heartily would they purpose and resolve to leave all their Sins and lead a very good Life would God but give them opportunity and space and try them once more This is the language of Sinners both in this World and the next too when the day of Grace and the time of Tryal is over when it is too late to do all this which they now wish they had done but would not do it when God gave them time and so they have lost the only opportunity which it is impossible to retrieve Would God grant either the Sinner that is damned or the Sinner that is a dying opportunity to live again they would both be better perhaps but since he does not he will judge them not according to what they would be but what they have been not according to what they wish and resolve to do but what they actually have done since the Scripture no where tells us that Men shall receive according to their Wishes their Purposes and Resolutions but according to their Works and Actions whether they have been good or evil And therefore 2ly I believe there is no ground for that determination which has been often given about a Death-Bed Repentance n that if a Mans Purposes are then so sincere that he would make them good if he lived that then they may be sufficient to his Salvation Had God given him time to make them good and from a bad Man to have become a good one which is the only true Notion I know of Repentance then indeed he had fallen under the promises and the measures of the Gospel where God has declared Pardon to all Men that Repent and Amend but no where that I know
which we can never enjoy the true Happiness we were made for and to which our Minds are fitted Vertue alone can give that and all the Pleasure Peace and Joy that result from it whereas Wickedness will necessarily not only corrupt and impair the Mind and spoil its Faculties but disorder and wound and corrode it and make it very painful and uneasie and a Hell and Torment to it self 2. As none but good Men shall enter into Heaven so none can be made good on a sudden Those Vertuous and Holy Habits and Dispositions of Mind are not to be had or attained immediately in a little time and on a sudden hurry as is intimated here by the Virgins wanting Oyl and not being able to procure or buy it in their present distress when the Bridegroom was a coming We must be prepared and provided with those things that are necessary for our Future Happiness before Death comes and puts us on a sudden hurry and alarums us with its unexpected approach or else we shall be sadly disappointed and unprovided if we expect to procure or attain them then If we think to borrow of anothers Vertues and Merits to help out our own defects and wants at that time as they of the Church of Rome imagine something like these foolish Virgins or as others that the Bridegroom himself shall supply them in an extraordinary manner out of his stock though they have no Oyl at all in their own Vessels no Righteousness of their own All these vain hopes and expectations of idle and careless and foolish Sinners will then deceive and disappoint them and make them miserable If Men have not attained to the Vertues and Graces of Religion nor any degrees of Holiness and Goodness all their Lives and think to acquire them now on a sudden when they are near dying they may as well hope that a Tree that has bore no Fruit all the Year should on a sudden when it is just to be cut down and the Axe is laid to the root of it sprout and bud and blossom and bring forth Fruit. This would be a strange Miracle and it must be as great and unaccountable to have a wicked Man on a sudden become a good one and bring forth the Fruits of Vertue and Repentance All our Vertues are owing to the Grace of God as the growth of all Plants and Trees is to the Rain and warmth and influence of the Heavens but to think that Gods Grace which could not work upon a Man all his Life before will now in such an extraordinary manner change and convert him on a sudden as to make him immediately become a good Man is to suppose a Saint made as Adam was in full growth and perfect flature the first day he lived without passing through the degrees of Youth and Childhood as God thinks not fit to make Mankind so now but produces them by the ordinary and appointed way of his Providence so he makes good Men by the ordinary methods of his Grace and influences of Religion and the New Creature is formed by degrees and growes into a perfect Man and increases in Wisdom and Goodness till it comes to the measure of the stature of the fulness in Christ Jesus The Spirit worketh upon our Mind agreably to their Nature in a manner indiscernable from its own proper operation enlighteneth the Understanding and inclineth the will gently and kindly by the thoughts and considerations of Religion offering them clearly and imprinting them strongly upon the Soul and so in a rational way begetting right apprehensions and affections in it and so altering the temper and disposition of the Mind and by frequent acts and repeated practices bringing a Man to new habits and thus converting him from bad to good not in an instant but by long strivings and gradual operations upon him No very bad Man was ever made a good one on a sudden nor can any more be so by the Grace of the Gospel than a Child over night become a Man the next morning by the course of Nature and Providence or Seed sown in the ground spring up and ripen and bear Fruit in a few hours Such Mushroon Converts and Penitents have no good root but dye away and wither as suddenly and instantaneously as they came up with the first heat and tryal of a Temptation till Religion shoots deeper into their Hearts and gets better rooting in their Souls like the Seed that fell on stony ground it is quickly gone and does not grow at all nor bring forth fruit with patience as the Scripture emphatically speaks i. e. with due continuance Good Purposes and Resolutions and such like good Principles of Action must continue some time upon the Mind and exert their power and efficacy upon it by proper acts and tryals and experiments or else they are but like false conceptions that produce nothing like Clouds without Rain Blossoms without Fruit and abortive causes without any effects A sudden Sorrow upon a wicked Mind will no more make it good nor bring forth the worthy fruits of Repentance than a sudden shower upon the Sands of Arabia or Rocks of Caucasus will make them become fertile and good ground there must be long cultivation and great labour and pains taken with such barren ground before it will be a fruitful Soil and bring forth any thing by all the showers and influences of Heaven upon it A hardened Sinner who hath lived many years in the wretched courses and habits of Wickedness must by long time and great care and many methods of Gods Grace and Goodness have his Heart changed and his Life mended and his old Vicious Habits plucked up and new Vertuous ones planted in their place and these take root and grow up and bear Fruit in his Life before he can become such a good Man as is fitted for Heaven Such an one can never be made so in a little time just before Death but it must require at least a good part of his Life to become such and it should be indeed the business of our whole Lives to make our selves such as shall be thus fit for Heaven To think that great work can be done at the latter end when we are just a dying and may be dispatched in a very little time all on a sudden is as idle and unreasonable as for a Man that has a good dayes journey to take to lye loytering and never mind it till the Sun is near down and night is coming upon him and then to set out and think to reach it by a sudden start or by some unaccountable wayes to fly thither or be Magically transported and set down he knows not how at his journeys end Or rather to make the Case more exactly parallel to an old Sinner like one who hath travelled almost all the day in a wrong way and spurred and driven on very furiously in his vicious courses and is now to turn back and begin to take the right way when