a Death-Bed Regentance being sufficient for Salvation so far as this is allowed in the case of one who hath been a great Sinner all his life so far there must be an exception to all those and they must all stand by and be set aside to make room for his going to Heaven All the Laws of Religion and the whole Constitution of Christianity and all the ordinary Rules and the standing Method of Salvation by the Gospel must be past by and over-ruled to make way for such an Extraordinary President and whether God will do this is to me no more a question than whether he will release the Devils and the Damned out of Hell I think there is scarce any more ground or more reason to hope for one than the other and that 't is as much a limiting the Divine Grace and Mercy and Confining Gods Extraordinary Power of showing Mercy where he pleases and denying his Infinite Pity and Compassion to his Creatures and entring into his unsearchable Councils and diving into his unfathomable Judgment to deny the latter as the former If God in one case may act contrary to all Rules and to his own Threatnings Judgment and Sentence pronounced against Sinners he may do so so far as I know by the same Extraordinary Mercy and unbounded Prerogative in the other But what shall we say then to such a wretched Sinner when he is a dying and never repented till he was so is his case hopeless and desperate Is there no comfort to be given him is this hard and cruel Sentence to be pronounced upon him And is he to be thus tormented before his time Can nothing be done or said to him to give him any manner of hopes and comfort and is he to be cast into the deepest gulph of despair What a Miserable Comforter must a Minister whom he then sends for be to him who is of this Opinion and talks at this rate What will all his Prayers and Tears and strong Cryes then signifie if they can do him no good to the saving of his Soul I Answer the case is I confess very sad and I know not what to say to it I dare not pervert the Gospel to give him false comfort I must not be unfaithful to the great God and my blessed Redeemer whose Minister I am in saying Peace Peace when there is no Peace in loosing what is bound in Heaven and by a false Key or Picklock rather pretend to open the Kingdom of Heaven when God has shut it I must not by any sweet and poysonous Opiates give a short and stupifying ease to his mind and put him into a secure sleep till he awakes in his sad mistake and lifts up his eyes being in torments I must not corrupt Religion and sow Pillows under his Arm-holes to put him into a state of false ease and quiet and by some drops of Spiritual Laudanum some comfortable false Doctrines and Narcotick Principles of Divinity take away his pains for a moment and give him hopes contrary to the Gospel I must not lye for God much less against him and bring a pretended Message from him to such a poor Wretch which he never sent me with and forge a Counterfeit Pardon for him which Christ or the Gospel has not signed only to chear and delude him for a few hours I must not I dare not then say any thing contrary to the Truth or to this Doctrine which I believe to be such to deceive him or others It may not be then so seasonable nor am I bound at that time to preach this to him as I do now to the living that they may never come to this sad Condition but may take care to prevent it by a timely Repentance and a good Life I would not for Ten Thousand Worlds be in that lamentable Case and I here warn every one that Reads this in the Name of God to avoid it But what then shall such an one do shall he not pray shall he not cry mightily to God shall he not lament and mourn and be deeply sorrowful and penitent Yes by all means as much as is possible and should be directed advised and assisted to do this by the Minister and his Friends and all about him but what will it signifie according to the former Doctrine 'T will not save his Soul or get him Heaven I answer I cannot say it will nor can any Minister assure him of this but it will abate his misery and lessen his torments and be a great mitigation to his future punishment it will though not obtain a pardon for all the sins of his wicked life yet lighten his Sentence in some measure and make his sufferings to be something less than they would otherwise be There are many degrees of Torment and Punishment even in Hell it self as there are of Glory and Happyness in Heaven as there are many Mansions above in our Fathers House so there are many Cells in the Infernal Prison and some are beaten there with more stripes and more intense torments than others The fire of Hell is kindled seven times hotter for some more profligate and daring and presumptuous Sinners and especially for those who defie Heaven and with their last breath deny or affront God and openly scorn and disown Religion such bold Hectors against Heaven who stand out to the last against it and show no signs of Sorrow or Religion but brave Hell and Death these provoke God to the utmost and challenge him as it were to do his worst and they shall terribly feel the weight of his Power and the force of his Almighty Arme and the Effects of his most incensed and provoked Anger but now a Penitent and fearful and sorrowful Sinner who trembles at Gods Judgments and is afraid of his indignation and laments over his Sins and humbles himself under his hand and Repents as well as he can and bitterly grieves for his Sins and owns God is just and righteous in punishing him and that 't is the due desert of his ways and confesses them before Men and warns others from them and does all he can to undoe them and make reparation for them and thus owns Religion though he has before denyed and opposed it and gives Glory to God though he before dishonoured and disobeyed him in his life such an one though for the reasons before given he has not a sufficient Title nor sufficient Qualifications for Heaven because he has not performed the Condition on which 't is promised nor can acquire the Vertuous Habits that can alone fit him for it nor can come up to the full terms on which God has promised Pardon and Salvation and all this dying Repentance is not enough to make him a truely good Man nor beget in him that holiness without which he shall never see God nor root out those old sinful Acts and Habits that will condemn and make him miserable yet he shall have a very great Abatement and Mitigation to his
offer 4. Then Such a Repentance as the Gospel makes the condition of Pardon and Salvation is nothing less than a constant Obedience and an entire and universal Goodness of Life at least after a wicked one or after great failures and miscarriages for Repentance as I have often said is to the Soul like a recovery of Health to the Body after some great Sickness or Illness The whole Body or the part ill affected must be made perfectly well and restored to its former strength and soundness or else it cannot be said to be recovered The Disease must be throughly got off the sickly matter must be discharged the illness must be cured and removed and the Patient must get his former strength and be able to perform the proper and vital operations or else we cannot say he is well So a Sinner must wholly get rid of his past Sins must purge them all out by Sorrow and Contrition must have his Mind wholly freed from them and himself brought to such a Spiritual strength and soundness as to perform the Duties and Operations of the new Life or else he is not recovered by Repentance nor brought from a bad state to a good one He may be under a method of Cure indeed as a sick Man is under a course of Physick whilst he is under Sorrow for Sin and Contrition and Compunction and the like which are good means and instruments and beginnings of Repentance and so are mistaken for the thing it self but his Repentance is not finish'd nor is the great work perfect and compleat till from a bad Man in any kind he is become a good one till this is done which God knows is not the most easie nor the most speedy thing in the World but requires long time and great care and pains and labour there is no title that I know of to Pardon by the Terms of the Gospel nor is there any true Gospel Repentance such as we can give any warrant or assurance of remission to by the Covenant of Grace or the known and ordinary Rules of Gods Mercy Were Repentance only a sudden Passion or a transient Act of the Mind were it only an inward Sorrow Trouble and Compunction of Heart it might be quickly performed and no Sinner would be without it but Cain and Herod and Judas might be said to Repent thus far and after this fashion for thus the one repented and said I have sinned Mat. 27.3 4. the second was exceeding sorry for what he had done Matth. 6.26 and the other was so sensible of his Sin that he cryed out My punishment is greater than I can bear Gen. 4.13 But true Repentance is only known and made to be so by an habitual and lasting change both of Mind and Life by an actual amendment and reformation by a turning away from all our evil deeds and all our wickedness whatsoever that we have committed and doing that which is lawful and right which is the clearest and fullest Scripture expression that gives us the true Nature of Repentance which includes constant and actual Obedience and destroyes these foolish and wicked reserves of securing our selves by playing an after-game of Repentance They who design this have no sense of the true worth and excellency of Religion but are only for making use of it for a little turn at the last as Goal-birds learn to read meerly for the sake of their Neck-verse for though they like their Sins much better and would alwayes live in them it is plain if they were left to their choice yet they at last unwillingly bring themselves to part with them as Men throw over their Goods in a Storm for fear they should be lost and Shipwreck'd with them Thus miserably do they mistake and misunderstand the true Nature of Repentance which is a perfect changing the Habit and Temper and Frame of a Mans Mind and bringing other Thoughts and Principles and Inclinations into it which is called in Scripture a new Heart and a new Spirit and this producing an entire and permanent and universal change of the Life and Actions and making a Man become better in every particular and in the whole a very good Man 5. It is observable that Repentance is all along in the Gospel made a Duty previous and antecedent to Christianity and what was supposed to go before Baptism and what was necessary before-hand to fit and prepare Men to become Christians thus they were to repent and be baptized Acts 2.38 John the Baptist who was to prepare the way for Christianity did it by preaching Repentance for this reason Because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand Matth. 3.2 i. e. Christianity or the state of the Gospel which is agreed by all to be there meant by the kingdom of Heaven was now approaching and our Blessed Saviour upon that Principle and Argument preach'd the same Duty ver 17. From that time he began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And the Disciples of Christ preach'd this Duty Mark 6.12 when they were to prepare and dispose Men to receive Christ and to embrace Christianity and when any that were adult were received into the Church and Christianity by Baptism they were supposed to be Penitents before they were Christians It was a Duty and a Condition alwayes implyed and required that they Repented of their past Sins and sincerely promised and resolved upon a new course of Life That they who had their conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by Nature the children of wrath as the Apostle speaks Eph. 2.3 i. e. in the state they were in before they were Christians for the Gospel considers all Mankind as in a state of Sin and Guilt before they are admitted into Christianity which is a state of Pardon and Salvation that these when they were made Christians were to put off the old man with his deeds Col. 3.9 i. e. all the old Habits and Acts of Sin which they were guilty of in their unchristian state and were to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.24 and they were to become new creatures in Christ Jesus and were therefore then said to be regenerated and to be born again and are represented in Scripture as dying unto all sin in Baptism that they should not henceforth live any longer therein Rom. 6.2 They are buried with Christ by baptism into his death that like as Christ was raised from the dead even so we also who are baptized into his death should walk in newness of life ver 3. So that after Baptism we should reckon our selves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ ver 11. So that the body of sin is then to be put off and destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin ver 6. Thus though Men were considered as Sinners before their Baptism
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 And when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels he will take vengeance on all them that obey not his gospel who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord 2 Thess 1.8 9. And those Christians who do any such works of the Flesh as are mentioned Gal. 5.19 21. shall not inherit the Kingdom of God but for the sake of those the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience Colos 3.6 These things are as clear as if they were writ with a Sun-beam so that none one would think who reads the Gospel should suppose Faith alone without Obedience should justifie and save us or that Christ is a Saviour to any but those who obey him Heb. 5.9 since blessed are they who do his commandments for they only have right to the tree of life Rev. 22.14 From all which it is plain that Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel is the only and the indispensable Condition of our Salvation And indeed this is the very design of Christs giving us such excellent Laws that we should obey them and be happy for ever by doing so and if we do not but live wickedly we must be eternally miserable It had been in vain for God to have given us any Laws or commanded us any thing if he had not given them such a Sanction and obliged us to them by such Rewards and Penalties and therefore if Mens heads were not bewildred with odd schemes and disputes about decrees and strange methods of Salvation this would be the first and plainest Principle in all Religion as 't is the truest and there would never be any dispute about it that if Men live well here they shall be for ever happy if ill for ever miserable However ignorant Men call this a Legal Condition of Salvation and would have no such in the Gospel yet as I have shown Christianity requires it so does also the very Nature of Religion and of Divine Government and the belief of a Future Judgment and of Rewards and Punishments in another World do all suppose it For what are those Rewards for but for those who live Vertuously and those Punishments but for those who live Wickedly And what is a Future Judgment but to reward all Men according to their works where God as a Just and Impartial Judge shall without respect of persons judge according to every mans work 1 Pet. 1.17 And every one shall receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 For when the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels then he shall reward every man according to his works Matth. 16.27 In the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God he will render to every man according to his deeds Rom. 2.6 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But unto them that obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil ver 8 9. Nothing can be plainer than this in the whole Gospel that Men must expect to receive hereafter according to the goodness or badness of their Lives here and that the only Condition of their Salvation is Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel 'T is a wretched misunderstanding and a total destroying of Christianity to set up any loose Principles of Faith and Free-Grace or the like which are not consistent with this and to delude our selves with hopes of Salvation by Christ upon any other Condition or by any other Means than this of Obedience God indeed hath granted us this favour and priviledge by the Gospel that though we have disobeyed him sometime and some part of our lives yet if we come off from this Disobedience and return to our Duty in time and performe Obedience to him for the future that then he will forgive our former Disobedience and not charge it upon us nor punish us for it but graciously pardon it for the sake of Christ and his meritorious sufferings and that he will receive us again into his favour and reward us for our new Obedience as if we had never done otherwise but had been always obedient and never transgrest his Commandments This is the great grace and favour and priviledge of the Gospel and this is what we call Repentance for Repentance is the same thing with Obedience only it comes after Disobedience 't is a Mans living well after he has lived otherwise which takes in Obedience and a good Life though after a bad one 't is like a Mans setting up again after he had once broke when after his kind Creditor has been pleased to compound with him and instead of his whole Debt to wit an entire and Universal Obedience all his Life to accept of such a partial and broken one he may again thrive and grow rich and so get free from his former poverty or as I have often represented the Nature of Repentance 't is like a Mans recovering health and strength and soundness of body after he has been weak and ill or distempered in the whole or any part Health and Strength is the same to him that it was before though he had once lost it as Riches is to the other now he hath got them again after he was broke so 't is the same vertue of Mind which we ought always to have have had that Repentance restores us to and 't is the same Obedience to God's Laws which a Penitent performs upon his return to his duty that he should have performed before and 't is this only that commends him to God and gives him a title to the promises of the Gospel and procures Pardon and Salvation to him 'T is God's infinite Mercy in and through Christ to allow and accept of this After Obedience as the Condition of our Salvation when it is so broken and interrupted whereas the whole Obedience of our Lives is due to God and he might refuse to accept of this lame and after and imperfect one but still 't is Obedience to Gods Laws after we have broken them by our sins 't is this Obedience renewed ex postliminio as I may call it that recommends us to his favour obtains our pardon for what is past and entitles us again to the reward we had forfeited and without this we can never be reconciled to God nor received into Heaven for none shall go thither but the Vertuous and Obedient whither they have always been so or only after they have been otherwise but still they must be Vertuous and they must be Obedient or else they can never come thither for 't is certain Obedience which if after Disobedience in any instance is call'd Repentance is by the Gospel the absolute and indispensable Condition of our