is the reason why it remains with many so discouraging a Difficulty all their days they never proceed further than to a few lazy Wishes or at most to a few short and faint Endeavours They are good sometimes when they meet with no Temptation or Provocation to be otherwise But whenever these Assault they presently yield and renew their Sins 2. It is easie to keep the Commands of God with that Assistance which the Grace of God affords them who diligently seek it 'T is good and safe for a Man to despair of succeeding by his own Strength and Endeavour alone but it is also foolish and absurd to conclude from our own Weakness the utter Impossibility of keeping the Commands of God because we may obtain sufficient Assistance from above He that hath said his Yoke is easie hath as we may say therein bound himself to make good his own gracious Word and we need not doubt but he will do this Our great and kind Saviour we may be assur'd is ready and able to help us in all our Difficulty and Weakness We have not an High-Priest says the Apostle of him that cannot be touched with a feeling of our Infirmities but was in all Points tempted like as we are yet without Sin Heb. 4. 15. And from thence he adds in the 16th Chapter Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Since we have such an High-Priest such an Advocate in Heaven we are not to doubt but upon earnest and sincere seeking we shall obtain sufficient Grace We may come boldly for this may ask with an assured Expectation to receive Accordingly St. James tells us If any Man lack Wisdom he may ask it of God who gives to all Men liberally and upbraids not Jam. 1. 5. But let us also know since we are bid strive to enter in at the strait Gate that we must not expect the Grace of God will inable us to enter in without our Striving As the Grace of God must make our Striving successful so our Striving is necessary to the obtaining the effectual Grace of God Let us take notice to this purpose of what God says by his Prophet concerning the People of Israel in Ezek. 11. In the 18th Verse of that Chapter he mentions their earnest Application of themselves towards the making a Reformation among them and then in Vers 19. and 20. he says I will give them one Heart and I will put a new Spirit within you and I will take away the stony Heart out of their flesh and will give them an Heart of flesh That they may walk in my Statutes and keep my Commandments and do them If then we apply our selves in great earnest to be Religious the Spirit of God will put this new Spirit into us and we shall be renew'd in the inner Man as the Scripture speaks and then it will be easie to us to keep the Commands of God And the Grace of God restores our decayed Powers and rectifies our Nature and makes us suitable to the Divine Law When this is wrought in us so far as it prevails it will be as agreeable to us to perform good Actions as it is for the Sun to shine and the Waters to flow These will be as agreeable and easie as natural Actions to a Man that is in perfect Health and Strength The Graces wrought in us in this rectifying of our Nature do altogether conduce to the easie Performance of our Duty I shall instance only in Love which in the proper Exercises of it is the fulfilling of the Law and all the Exercises of Love are sweet and easie Love to God will make us ready and inclin'd to perform all the Duties which we owe to God and Man There is Strength in Love it can do more than without it we could think possible to be done It rises against Difficulties and will never cease till it surmounts and overcomes them This makes crooked Ways strait and rough Places plain It is very laborious and diligent and does alleviate and sweeten Labour and Diligence It delights to do whatever is pleasing to God and to express by all possible ways an Honour and Esteem of him Hence 't is said by our Saviour If a Man love me he will keep my Commands Thus if our depraved Natures were but rectified we should find it easie to perform the Commands of God And this shews that they are easie in themselves To him that is born of God and does truly love him his Commandments are not grievous as the Apostle plainly intimates in the 1 Epist of John and the 5th Chap. by the Connextion of the 3d. Verse there Those then that apply themselves seriously to the Performance of their Duty and wait for the good Motions of the Spirit of Grace and carefully obey them when they are offer'd they will find the Spirit of God ready to assist them and after he has wrought in them to will he will inable them to do It is according to his good Pleasure to do so And it may be also concluded and expected from this which he has declar'd concerning himself That he does not delight in the death of a Sinner but had rather that he should turn to him and live 3. Religion is easie in comparison to Vice and Wickedness or is truly much more easie than that It is indeed more suitable to the Frame and Constitution of our Nature than Wickedness is Vertue however seldom it can be found and though it be accounted difficult is for all that agreeing and suitable to the Essential Constitution of Humane Nature and Wickedness however common and familiar it is is an adventitious and adverse thing The former is that we were made for and suited and fitted to the Practice of it and then the latter must by Consequence be contrary to the Frame and Contrivance of our Nature Religion is the Rectitude of our Nature Wickedness is the Disorder of it Vice is an Aberration from Nature and the Deformity and Corruption of it All the Motions of vehement Passions and unlawful Lusts are Departures from true and right Nature But from hence it must needs be that Wickeness is the most difficult and troublesome of the two What is most natural must needs be most easie and Vertue is in truth most natural Accordingly how does a violent and furious Passion disorder the Mind confound our Thoughts and dissipate and spend the Spirits Is not an excessive and inordinate Motion of the Mind more troublesome than a calm and gentle one And is it not easier and sooner done to use with Moderation and Temperance the Pleasures of Sense than to use them with Excess the one sooths and cherishes Nature the other weakens frets and hurts it Besides may we not observe that Vice must be Learnt that no Man can arrive at a great Degree of Wickedness without taking some Pains with himself for this Further it
them Vouchsafe to direct sanctifie and govern both our Hearts and Bodies in the way of thy Law and in the works of thy Commandments Cleanse thou the Thoughts of our Hearts by the Inspiration of thy Holy Spirit that we may sincerely love thee and duly magnify thy Holy Name truly serving thee with Soul and Body which are thine Lord have mercy upon us and write all thy Laws in our Hearts we beseech thee Enlighten our Darkness cure our Ignorance with all necessary Knowledge of thee and of thy Christ Change our Wills and turn the biass of them from this World towards thy Self from empty and vain Goods to full and Substantial ones from the pleasures of Sense to the accomplishments of the Mind Make us more indifferent about our outward Circumstances and more concern'd about the inward State and Disposition of our Souls and to account it our greatest Felicity to do well to please thee and approve our selves unto thee Make our vain and light Minds serious and wise furnish us with the Gifts of thy good Spirit for every good work for thou alone art the Giver of every Good and every perfect Gift it is by thee alone O Lord that we can be inabled to please thee we alas are not able of our selves to think a good Thought Help us to set thee always before us in the frequent Thoughts of thee and an habitual reverence and fear of thee that a sense of thy continual presence and observance may restrain us from all evil and encourage and quicken us to mind and do our Duty We humbly implore thy Mercy upon all Men Convert unto thy Self all Jews Turks and Heathens bring them from their several Ways of Vanity to know and worship thee the only true God by Jesus the true Christ and Mediator Give the Heathen for an Inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for a Possession to thy well-beloved Son Give unto thy Church all that is necessary to it to amend and purge away what is amiss and to supply what is defective in it and to make it fruitful in all good Works and that all who profess and call themselves Christians may have their Conversation such as become the Gospel Bless we pray thee and defend these Nations in which we live Bless us with a continuance of wise and kind and righteous Governours and of loyal peaceable and obedient Subjects Give peace in our Days we humbly beseech thee for there is none we rely upon to fight for us but only thou O God Establish Truth among us for all Generations bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived Remember in Mercy all that are dear and related to us Give them things necessary for Life and Godliness Guide them O Lord by thy Counsel through this world and bring them at last unto thy Glory Sanctify us by thy word which has been this day spoken to us and promote in us thereby all Vertue and Godliness of living Forgive the wandring of our Minds in our attendance upon thee and all other defects in our Duty and comfort us with the light of thy Countenance Be thou our gracious Protector this Night for in thee alone do we put our Trust And if it please thee to allow another Day and yet a longer time on Earth Grant that it may be spent in thy fear and in a diligent and unwearied application to all that which is our Duty This we humbly ask and whatever thou seest to be most expedient for us committing and resigning our selves entirely to thy Conduct and disposal and hoping in thy Mercy through Jesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost we desire to ascribe all Praise and Glory and Domihion for ever and ever Our Father c. OF True Happiness Wherein it lies DEMONSTRATED Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Psalm 4. 6 7. There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my Heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine encreased IT is the natural and common desire of Mankind to be happy and is the End which they aim at and propose to themselves in their several Pursuits and Endeavours But as the Psalmist speaks here There be many that say who will shew us good The Many the most of men are at a great loss in this Matter and do not know where their true Happiness lies nor in what course or way to attain it Their uncertainty in this Matter is represented by these words of the Psalmist and is too evidently seen in the common Practice of the World The Human Nature is the same in all Mankind we have all of us reasonable immortal Souls we have all the same Capacities And our Happiness rightly and truly considered must be to all the same The same Object must make all men Happy and they must obtain that in the same way But alas how is the World distracted and divided in the pursuit of Happiness Some of them running one way after it and some another and the most of them neglecting and diverting from the true Object With some there is no Felicity like the heaping up of Wealth like the sight of full Bags or great purchases and they delight in nothing so much as in gainful Bargains With others there is nothing so pleasant as to spend and they delight in this as much as the others do in getting The Pleasures of this World are their beloved Felicity to eat and drink and rise up to play With others there is no Heaven like Honour and Command the having Authority and Power among Men the being courted and sought to respected and obeyed With some how great a Felicity is it to be fine and to have all things about them so To have Themselves their Houses their Entertainments and all that belongs to them gaudy and pompous and much adorned Thus are Mankind disperst thus they wander in the pursuit of Happiness And thus the Many are taken up and employed in this great Concern Having exprest the Uncertainty and intimated the wandering of the Generality in this Affair The Psalmist next expresses what he sought as the Object of Happiness in these words Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Which is as much as to say Lord let us have an Interest in thy Favour regard us with kindness and Love let us enjoy the Exercises and Benefits of thy peculiar Favour and Mercy It might be shewn you by the use of this Phrase in other places of Scripture that this is the sense and meaning of it When he had made this Request he adds
the Reason of it in the following words of the Text Thou hast put gladness in my Heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine encreased Which words intimate that he had received more Joy and Gladness from what enjoyment of the light of God's Countenance had been afforded him that any others could ever derive from their Corn and Wine or from the greatest Encrease of them He intimates that God is the true Object of our Happiness that the Favour of God exprest and exercised towards us is a far better Spring and Source of Content and Comfort than the Profits and Pleasures of this World can be We may reckon that this is what we are taught in these words It shall be the Business of the present Discourse chiefly to prove this which is here intimated to us To shew that David was certainly in the right and was well directed when this was his choice and the chief desire of his Soul to enjoy an Interest in the Favour of God The proof of this we shall abundantly derive from these two Heads of Discourse 1. From the Person Loving 2. From the Benefits which his Love in the Exercise of it does bestow First let us consider well the Person Loving and we cannot chuse but conclude That it must be the greatest Happiness imaginable to be the Object of his peculiar Favour He is the Great God the Creator of all Things the Fountain Good the Owner and Lord and the Disposer of all things As he is Owner and Disposer of all things every Creature has such a Portion of Good as he is pleased to allot it and so we depend upon him for to be as happy as this World can make us since 't is he that does unalterably assign to every one of us our measure of this World's Goods But if we have an Interest in his peculiar Favour who is Owner and Lord of Heaven and Earth This includes at least all the Goodness of Heaven and Earth If God be ours as he is if we are his peculiar Favourites then all else is ours too The Apostle speaking to such Persons says Whether the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come All are yours 1 Cor. 3. 22. That is you have such an Interest in them by your Interest in the Favour of God that ye shall not want any of them that is good and convenient for ye In this is the Satisfaction of all our just Desires contained and the Supply of all our Wants This is Rest to the Weary Eyes to the Blind Feet to the Lame Company to the Solitary From him all other Beings derive all their Worth and Goodness He then is the Sufficiency of All and it must be from his Blessing upon them that they have any Goodness and Suitableness or Comfort in them So that if we could have any thing else without his Favour we shall if he pleases have but little help or comfort from it But since all the Creatures and whatever we can enjoy besides him have all their Goodness from him He must have in him more than all and the Enjoyment of him in his Love must needs bemore than any number of them we can get together It is the Love of him who is Infinite in Power who is an unexhaustible Fulness Who after all his Communications to Creatures remains still the same Infinite Source of Good The Love of God then is richer than Ten thousand Worlds If we want any thing else which this World cannot afford towards our Happiness and many such Wants indeed is our wretched Nature subject to He can bestow it We can want no good thing which he cannot give The Love of God can supply the defect and want of any thing else and make us happy without it This is Light without a Sun Strength without Food Health without Physick Altho the Fig-tree shall not Blossom neither shall the Fruit be in the Vine The Labour of the Olive shall fail and the Fields shall yield no meat The Flock shall be cut off from the Fold and there shall be no Herd in the Stall Yet will I rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation said the Prophet in the name of those whom God regards with his peculiar Favour and Love Hab. 3. 17 18. From the Love of God we cannot expect too much This is a Blessing which exceeds and does not fall below our Expectations we may rest in that for we cannot imagine any thing beyond it that we can desire We may find more delight in that than we can conceive it is so full and able to bless that we cannot desire so much as it can afford God is able to do for us exceeding abundantly beyond all that we are able to ask or think What bounds can be set to Infinite Attributes and the Exercise of them so as to say hitherto they can go and no further And what a boundless Pleasure and Content must the Soul take who is a Favourite of such Love As God is Incomprehensible his Love is Incomprehensible and he whom it favours may say I cannot conceive how rich I am in his Love I am not able to conceive all the vast Felicity it contains and gives me an Interest in Further the Love of God is also like himself Eternal This is a most lasting Portion then it is durable Riches As long as God endures who is Everlasting and his Love which is Unchangeable and the Soul of Man which is Immortal so long may we enjoy the Felicity of his Favour and the blissful Exercise of his Love This is not a thing of a frail or fading Nature It is not one of those things which perish in the using which make themselves wings very often and fly away which we cannot certainly enjoy all our Days on Earth or which we must be certainly stript of when we lie down in the Dust This may certainly render us happy all our Days in this Life O satisfy us early with thy Mercy so shall we rejoice and be glad all our Days says the Psalmist Psal 90. Intimating That if they had an assured Interest in the Love of God this would be a certain ground of Satisfaction and Content for all the Days of this their mortal Life This is true and besides when we go away from this World when we must leave for ever all that we enjoy of it This may be our Portion still and can bless us with the Goods of Eternity And what Security and Peace is there in the Thought that this may be an Everlasting Source of Blessings How pure and perfect and high is the delight in this while it is not allayed with the fears or expectations of losing that which makes us so happy Thus we may see that the Person loving does mightily recommend the Love of God and that we may from thence conclude the Happiness of those who are the Objects of it Now let us see
this Exhortation we may consider that without doubt the Pleasures of Religion are the strongest and sweetest of any They sink deeper into a Man than any other and affect him more as they enter into his Mind and put all the inward Powers of that into a pleasing Exercise and Motion They possess more of a Man than those that touch only his Body and Senses The Mind of Man is the most and as we may say the greatest part of him It has most Desire and greatest Capacity of Pleasure It is much more sensible both of Pleasure and Pain than the duller Body The Psalmist speaks the greater Sweetness and Excellency of Religious Pleasure when he says of the Law of God If it sweeter than the Honey and the Honey-comb Psal 19. 10. He means the practice of Religion and Vertue the doing any Duties commanded by the Law of God afforded him a far greater Pleasure and Delight than e're he could by his Senses receive from the most pleasant things of this World 2. Since there is so much Pleasure in well-doing this may justly persuade Men off from the guilty Pursuit and Enjoyment of the Pleasures of this World Why should a Man suffer himself to be guilty for the sake of any Pleasure when he may enjoy that which is very Rich and Sensible without being so It is most certain that Guilt will greatly allay the briskest Pleasures of this World In the midst of guilty Laughter the Heart is sad These are always best and sweetest to him that regularly and soberly uses them that uses them according to the Rules of Religion Thus he shall hurt neither his Body nor his Soul nor his Estate nor his Neighbour while he pleases his Appetites and gratifies his Senses and so he avoids the unpleasing Farewell of a troubled Conscience He does not destroy the Appetite while he pleases it but keeps himself in a capacity to have always a very lively Relish and Sense of his Pleasures The irregular and intemperate Man makes a Drudgery of those of this World and turns their fine Relish eager and four And the other sort that is the high and delicate ones of Religion he utterly deprives himself of In a vertuous and religious Course of Life a Man may enjoy both sorts but in that which is guilty and irreligious he cannot well enjoy either This is the First Use may be made of this Discourse 2. A Second is this It ought to persuade Men to betake themselves steadily to a religious and good Course of Life It was said by the Spirit of God that the ways of Religion are ways of Pleasantness with Design to recommend them to the Sons of Men. He spoke this in a kind Condescention to our Nature and Inclination to make a Bait of Pleasure which we are so apt to dote upon And this surely should be a very powerful Argument to this purpose This ought much rather to induce Men to be Wise and Vertuous to act as becomes them and pursue their true Happiness than to make them guilty of Folly and Sin of what is shameful and hurtful to them and of what will incur their everlasting Misery And how great an Obligation to Obedience is it that the Laws of our Religion are thus contriv'd that the Universal Sovereign has made the Instances of our Duty so reasonable and so good that we may delight in our Duty and the Performance of it will reward it self They would exceedingly aggravate our Wickedness and shew a strange Obstinacy in Sin and Enmity to God if we should rather refuse all this Happiness and Pleasure than submit our selves to the Laws of Religion And thus I have far enough urg'd this Argument in our Text to shew that they who will do wickedly do obstinately refuse their own Interest And to furnish the Consciences of Sinners with such a Conviction as will at one time or other prove a sharp Sting and Torment if they will not suffer it now to restrain them from Wickedness THE PRAYER MOst Great and Glorious Lord God! the Infinite and Perfect Being The greatest Excellency among thy Creatures lies in their greatest Likeness and Conformity to thee We give thee Thanks O Lord for that thou hast made us capable of so great Honour as the resembling of thee in our Actions for that thou hast laid upon us such Laws as guide us to a noble Conformity to the Divine Nature Thou didst of thy bounteous Goodness make Man upright inclin'd to such Actions and suited to thy excellent Law But alass we have defiled and polluted our selves with Sin and are become averse and unwilling impotent and unable to keep thy Commandments Our carnal Minds are Enmity to thee and are not subject to thy Law nor can be till they be Renewed Sanctified and Created again in Christ Jesus unto Good Works O Lord open thou our Eyes to behold the wondrous and alluring Excellencies of thy Law Work in us to will and to do according to thy good Pleasure Rectify the Apprehensions the Relish of our Souls that we may find thy Commandments to be sweeter than the Honey and the Honey-comb Lord make us so steddy and diligent in our Duty so practised and inured to it and so in love with it that we may find thy ways to be to us as they are in themselves ways of Pleasantness Shew and convince us of the Equity and Reasonableness of all thy Service that it is perfect Freedom that it is our greatest Honour that the Wisdom of good Living is our best Ornament even as a Chain of Gold about the Neck Encourage us we beseech thee to our Duty with a constant Sense of thy Presence with us of thy gracious Eye and Regard to all we do Let us know thou dost accept our sincere Endeavours and imperfect Performances through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ Inable us to hope in thy Mercy and assure us that if we put our Trust in thee in Well-doing we shall not be confounded But especially we pray thee O Lord shed abroad thy Love abundantly in our Hearts Let Love possess us Love move Love direct and byass us make us to love thee with all our Hearts and our Neighbours as our selves so shall we be reconcil'd to thy Commandments so shall we run and not be weary we shall ever walk before thee and not faint in that blessed way Renew us O Lord after thine Image and make us Holy as thou art Holy and Good as thou art Good Merciful as thou our Heavenly Father art Merciful and Forgiving as thou art ready to Forgive Let our Lives and Conversations shew forth the Vertues of him that has called us to his Kingdom and Glory Look down in Mercy upon all Mankind rescue the miserable Slaves of the Devil who is the Ruler of the Darkness of this World from their sad Bondage under him and bring them into the happy Liberty of the Children of God Save thy People O Lord and bless thine
alleviate our present Pains and a sence of favour and reconcilement with God would conquer the fears of Death and make us ready and willing to appear before our Judge 3. But if a man has the warning of a lingring and slow Sickness to repent of his Sins and prepare for his Death 't is yet a very great Hazard whether he will repent under it or not If he has not such a Disease as will necessarily hinder this yet many other things may and often do so We do not seldom see men that deferred their Repentance till this time as far from performing it then as ever they were before A man may think while he is in health and engaged in the World and exposed to the Temptations of it that the danger of that time and the confinement and separation from the World will mightily help him to do this necessary work then and put him upon it but alas the contrary to this does very ordinarily come to pass With some the very pain and trouble of their Disease though it does not take away their Sences and the use of their Reason yet it is able to distract their minds and divert them from all Thoughts of Repentance and making their peace with God Does not daily experience teach us that a severe pain if it be but at a tooth and that even in a Person habitually pious and good is able to disturb the mind and unfit one for any exercise of Devotion and so detain the Thoughts that they can fix on nothing but that All that we are commonly sensible of in such a case is the present pain and all that we can be concern'd about is to get rid of the present importunate grievance And is it not much rather likely to be thus with a man under the pain and trouble of Sickness If so little an inconvenience can divert even a good man from fixed and good Thoughts how much more likely is it that greater pain and uneasiness will divert him from such who is habitually wicked who has lived all his Life an utter stranger to such Thoughts has never tasted the pleasure nor found the benefit of them Besides as the delaying Sinner has been wont to love his Body better than his Soul to contrive the satisfaction and convenience of that rather than the everlasting Happiness of this he must needs be apt in this distress to be still in the same disposition and to be so busied about the griefs and pains of his Body as to neglect his Soul still as he has done all his days before And if so what a madness is it for a man to expect and wait for the very worst disposition and state of his Body that he may then perform the greatest and most important business of his Soul Again the very fear and apprehension of dying quickly may happen to take away all thought or concern of preparing for Death This may seem unlikely but yet it does sometimes come to pass I knew a man says one who had been wont to visit sick and dying Persons and he not altogether a careless Liver neither who being at the point of Death when he was admonisht by a Minister to prepare himself for his departure was so possessed and overwhelmed with the Thought that he was in danger of speedy Death that he could think of nothing else but of sending for this and the other Physitian of taking this and the other Medicine and all the care and thought that he could be possest with was only how he might recover and escape the present and imminent danger and in the midst of such thoughts he breathed his last And thus it is very likely to be with many men he who has great affairs upon his hands and especially if they be a little entangled he who leaves a Family but ill provided for or likely to need his presence among them He who would fain see a Son or a Daughter well disposed of and setled as we call it will be apt to be wholly devoured with the same care Thus sure it is very likely to be with a great lover of the World with him that loves nothing but what is here that has no treasure in Heaven nor expectations of any thing comfortable in the other World When he apprehends himself in danger to leave all at once what he has here to leave it for ever and go he knows not where and he knows not to what but fears exceedingly a great deal of ill such a man must needs be liable to a great Consternation at the Summons of Death and to think of nothing but by what means he may avoid it for the present and gain some more time to make a better preparation for it than he has done And further it may be the sick man is not in danger of a speedy Death or perhaps if he be so he will not believe it as it is with a great many He hopes perhaps to recover this Sickness and promises himself after it many years of life when he has but a few moments to live And the Flatteries of Friends will be apt to encourage this conceit and the Physitian must give him it may be more hopes than himself has to support this sick mans Spirits and assist his own prescriptions And then though the concern to avoid Death does not put him by his Repentance yet the hopes of longer Life may do it he will think he needs not yet repent the dangerous period before which he purposes to do it is yet a great way off and thus he goes on to cheat himself into everlasting perdition And it is no wonder if a man who has been habitually wicked and lived many years in his Sins does take any encouragement to put off his Repentance still and can hardly find in his Heart even upon his Death-Bed to do this The custom of sinning is like a second Nature and is not but with the greatest difficulty and labour overcome It will hardly ever forsake a man Of the habitual Sinner is that for the most part true which is said Job 20. 11. His Bones are full of the Sins of his Youth which shall lie down with him in the Dust How unlikely indeed is it that a man should in a moment so fall out with his Sin as to hate it and throw it off for ever when he has many years loved and cherished it or that he should now all at once be possest with an hearty Love of God and Goodness which for many years he has neglected and hated Accordingly we often see Persons upon their Death-Bed still the very same that they were before as they lived so they die there is no change or alteration in the least appears in the state and disposition of their minds We find them exercising the beloved Sin in their Discourse when they cannot do it in their Actions it appears to have still a fast possession of the Soul even when the opportunities of
entertaining Covetousness instead of Prodigality spiritual Pride instead of carnal Security Envy Malice Sedition Faction in commutation for Lust or Drunkenness and Swearing And it deserves to be considered whether it be not most likely that the delaying Sinners repentance on a sick Bed will be false and dissembled When he has all his Life-time proposed to himself not to repent but when Death summons him into another World is it not very likely that he now keeps to that which has been his setled Resolution and that his Repentance has no other Principle now than his Apprehensions of the nearness of Death and Judgment Is it not very likely that he who would never fear punishment till he came to think it near does now fear it only because he thinks it near and that all the Principle of his Repentance is the fear of approaching Punishment This then is all the Repentance that such an one is likely to practice at such a time and such as this will never be accepted with God nor bring a man to Heaven with only such as this he may perish everlastingly How foolish and extravagant is it then for a man to put off his Repentance through all that time when it is most likely to be true and wherein he may have the proof of its truth in fruits meet for Repentance And that he should put it off to that time wherein it is most likely to be false and cannot be proved true by answerable Fruits 5. From what has been said last I may frame another Argument against our relying upon a Death-Bed Repentance and that is It is at the best but uncertain and uncomfortable The change of mind which God requires must proceed from a deep sence of the vileness of Sin in it self of that ingratitude injustice and rebellion which is in it towards the great God There must be a hatred of it upon these accounts and earnest resolutions to forsake all Sin for the future And this change must proceed to the loving of God more than this World to the chusing and preferring Heaven before Earth and the pleasures of Religion more than those of Sence and Sin And if the Principle of our Sorrows and Vows were such a change of mind as this they would then continue if life were continued and would be put in practice in the Course of a godly righteous and sober Conversation even when the danger and fright were over And in that case God will accept the will for the Deed if it be a firm and rectified Will Ham. Ib. though the man does not live to put his resolutions in practice when it is his misfortune not his fault that he does not live a good Life after it because he has no more time granted him to live not because he would not live well But now whether the dying Sinners repentance be such as this or not no man can tell This late repentance may prove sincere and sufficient to find favour with God who searches the Heart and tries the Reigns but it is very unlikely to be such as the former Argument has demonstrated and it very seldom does prove such and no man that dies in it can possibly assure himself or be assured by any one else that his Repentance is sincere and acceptable with God and therefore at the best it is uncertain and uncomfortable No man can tell the Truth of his Repentance till it is put to a Trial till it meets with Temptations and conquers them and brings forth the Fruits of Vertue and Holiness And since without Holiness no man can see God but the Holiness of the Heart must be demonstrated by the Life and Conversation as our Saviour says a Tree is known by its Fruitt it cannot then be certainly pronounced concerning any man what shall become of him who has lived a vitious and ungodly Life all his days and only comes to some Sorrows and good Protestations and Vows on his Death-Bed We may hope well in Charity but cannot determine And though we cannot positively say there is no hope in such a case yet we must say there is very small hope And this is according to the Sense of the Ancients in this matter whose opinions to confirm what has been said I shall produce Augustin lib. 50. Hom. H. 41. speaks thus He who in his last extremity of Sickness seems to repent and departs this Life I confess to you I do not deny him what he asks by which he means Absolution or the blessed Sacrament that is I treat him as a true penitent because he may be so for ought I know but I cannot presume to say positively that he has made a good departure A good man living well says he goes out of this World secure And he who practices repentance in his Health and afterwards lives well he may be secure but he that repents only at last at the point of Death whether he be secure or not I am not secure Again he says to this Case Wouldst thou be free from doubt would you avoid uncertainty in a matter of such importance then practice Repentance while thou art in health for if thou dost so thou art secure when thy last day comes upon thee If you ask why I say because thou hast then practised thy Repentance while it was yet in thy power to have sinned longer But if thou then do this when thou canst sin no more thy Sins have forsaken thee rather than thou them And he adds I therefore grant thee repentance because I know not what may be the will of God concerning thee If I certainly knew it would not profit thee I would not grant it If I certainly knew it would profit I would not thus admonish I would not terrifie thee Chuse then says he that which is certain and do not rely upon that which is uncertain Thus speaks he Another Isidorus de sum bono says thus if any man repents while he could go on in Sin and while he yet lives cleanses himself from all Iniquity there is no doubt but when he dies he shall be translated to Eternal Rest But if a man spends his whole Life in Wickedness and then comes to repent at the point of Death as his Damnation is uncertain so his Pardon is doubtful I shall only mention one more and that is Salvian de Avariâ— l. 1. cap 5. What to say in this case I know not says he what I may permit I am utterly ignorant To discourage and with hold a man from seeking and using this last Remedy were hard and impious but to promise and assure him any thing in so late a Repentance were also rash It is his best course in this condition to leave nothing untried rather than to do nothing towards helping himself especially because though I know not whether this may help at last yet we may be certain that to attempt nothing is pernicious Thus much they have said and thus much at least must be said to
let us betake our selves to repent and turn to thee to mortifie all carnal and corrupt Affections to cease from all Evil and to Good Make us O Lord seriously to consider the great uncertainty to us of what is to come let us not presume upon thy Mercy and so encourage our selves to continue in our Sins lest we thereby put an end to the Exercises of thy Mercy towards us Let us not be so foolish as to provoke thee by our unnecessary delays to cut us off by a sudden and untimely Death or to Doom us to a final and judicial Hardness let us not put off our Repentance to such a time as is not convenient to do it in or to such a time when we are likely to be deceiv'd and imposed upon by our own false Hearts in the doing it but make us now to set about it while thou callest us to it and art ready to assist us and to make us sincere and art certainly willing and ready to accept it O Lord thy ready Grace should find us always ready to receive it and thy pardoning Mercy should find us always ready to seek it Let this O Lord we pray be the Day of thy Power upon every one of us and make us willing to renew our baptismal Covenant now to devote our selves to thee again and to resolve that we will not henceforth live to our selves but to thee to make thy Holy Laws the rule of our Actions and to endeavour in all things to Honour and Glorifie thee And do thou Graciously accept us according to thy Promises declared unto Mankind in Christ Jesus and give strength and stability to these our Resolutions Extend we humbly beseech thee thy Goodness to all the Heathen and Infidel Nations let a mighty and powerful Call go forth among them and turn them to the knowledge of thee the only true God and of Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Be mindful of thine ancient People the Jews and bring them to the acknowledgment of the true Messiah Pour out an abundant measure of thy Spirit upon thy Church that we may see and understand what is evil among us and may repent and do our first Works Lord in thy Mercy reform these Nations wherein we live from Atheism and Profaneness from Pride and Schism from Envy and Malice and all Uncharitableness from Luxury and Riot and Sloth and Idleness Uncleanness and Intemperance Let us not go on to provoke thee by these our Sins lest our Iniquity prove our ruine We pray thee to Bless abundantly our King and Queen and all that are in Authority under them in Church and State make them a Terrour to all that is evil and a Praise to them that do well that we may be all Happy in a great increase of Vertue and true Godliness amongst us Bless all our Relations and Friends and Acquaintance and keep their Hearts and Minds in the Knowledge and Love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. In whose Name we humbly beg the Mercies of the Night we thank thee for those of the Day past for all that we have received and for our good hopes of more to come To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory World without End Our Father c. FINIS Books Printed for John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul 's Church-Yard A Practical Exposition on the Ten Commandments by Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-Derry An Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some difficulty in them with a probable Resolution of them By John Edwards B. D. Sometime Fellow of St. John's Colledge Cambridge in 2 parts Octavo An Enquiry into the Constitution Discipline Government Unity and Worship of the Primitive Church that flourished within the first three Hundred Years after Christ Faithfully Collected out of the Extant Writings of those Ages in 2 parts by an impartial hand The Christian Virtuoso shewing that by being addicted to Natural Philosophy a man is rather assisted than indisposed to be a good Christian by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esquire The History of the Life of Katharine de medicis Queen Mother and Regent of France or the Exact Pattern of the Present French King's Policy The Subjects of the following Discourses Sermon I. THE Great Excellency of the Soul of Man demonstrated and improved Pag. 1 Serm. II. Of Vain Thoughts or Inconsideration with the Mischiefs and Remedies p. 27 Serm. III. Of true Happiness wherein it lies demonstrated p. 49 Serm. IV. The Heavenly Mind described and urged p. 75 Serm. V. The Necessity of Obedience to the Commands of God proved and stated p. 98 Serm. VI. The Great Duty of Thankfulness urged directed p. 116 Serm. VII The Pleasantness of Religion demonstrated and improved p. 134 Serm. VIII The Easiness of Religion explained and improved p. 152 Sermon IX The Unprofitableness of Sin demonstrated p. 177 Serm. X. God's Hatred of Sin demonstrated and improved p. 201 Serm. XI The Meanness of this present Life proved and applied p. 225 Serm. XII The Usefulness of Early Religion to Old-age demonstrated p. 249 Serm. XIII Of a Death-Bed Repentance shewing how unreasonable it is for any Man to rely upon it p. 273 Jer. 10. 25. Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not on thy Name Joshua 24. 15. As for me and my House we will serve the Lord. Deut. 6. 6 7. 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