at last upon this as the greatest felicity of humane life and the only good use that is to be made of a prosperous and plentiful fortune Eccl. 3.12 I know that there is no good in them but for a man to rejoyce and do good in his life And a greater and a wiser than Solomon hath said that it is more blessed to give than to receive Thirdly To employ our selves in doing good is to imitate the highest Excellency and Perfection It is to be like God who is good and doth good and to be like him in that which he esteems his greatest glory and that is his Goodness It is to be like the Son of God who when he took our nature upon him and lived in the World went about doing good It is to be like the blessed Angels whose great employment it is to be ministring spirits for the good of others To be charitable and helpful and beneficial to others is to be a good Angel and a Saviour and a God to men And the Example of our blessed Saviour more especially is the great Pattern which our Religion propounds to us And we have all the reason in the World to be in love with it because that very Goodness which it propounds to our imitation was so beneficial to our selves when we our selves feel and enjoy the happy effects of that good which he did in the World this should mightily endear the Example to us and make us forward to imitate that love and kindness to which we are indebted for so many blessings and upon which all our hopes of happiness do depend And there is this considerable difference between our Saviour's charity to us and ours to others He did all purely for our sakes and for our benefit whereas all the good we do to others is a greater good done to our selves They indeed are beholden to us for the kindness we do them and we to them for the opportunity of doing it Every ignorant person that comes in our way to be instructed by us every sinner whom we reclaim every poor and necessitous man whom we relieve is a happy opportunity of doing good to our selves and of laying up for our selves a good treasure against the time which is to come that we may lay hold on eternal life By this principle the best and the happiest man that ever was governed his life and actions esteeming it a more blessed thing to give than to receive Fourthly This is one of the greatest and most substantial Duties of Religion and next to the love and honour which we pay to God himself the most acceptable service that we can perform to him It is one half of the Law and next to the first and great Commandment and very like unto it like to it in the excellency of its nature and in the necessity of its obligation For this commandment we have from him that he who loveth God love his brother also The first Commandment excels in the dignity of the object but the Second hath the advantage in the reality of its effects For our righteousness extendeth not to God we can do him no real benefit but our charity to men is really useful and beneficial to them For which reason God is contented in many cases that the external Honour and Worship which by his positive commands he requires of us should give way to that natural duty of Love and Mercy which we owe to one another And to shew how great a value he puts upon Charity he hath made it the great testimony of our Love to himself and for want of it rejects all other professions of love to him as false and insincere If any man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Fifthly This is that which will give us the greatest comfort when we come to die It will then be no pleasure to men to reflect upon the great estates they have got and the great places they have been advanced to because they are leaving these things and they will stand them in no stead in the other world Riches profit not in the day of wrath But the conscience of well-doing will refresh our Souls even under the very pangs of death With what contentment does a good man then look upon the good he hath done in his life and with what confidence doth he look over into the other world where he hath provided for himself bags that wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not For though our estates will not follow us into the other world our good works will though we cannot carry our riches along with us yet we may send them before us to make way for our reception into everlasting habitations In short works of Mercy and Charity will comfort us at the hour of death and plead for us at the day of Judgment and procure for us at the hands of a merciful God a glorious recompence at the resurrection of the just Which leads me to the Last consideration I shall offer to you which is the reward of doing good both in this world and the other If we believe God himself he hath made more particular and encouraging promises to this grace and virtue than to any other The advantages of it in This World are many and great It is the way to derive a lasting blessing upon our estate Acts of charity are the best Deeds of Settlement We gain the prayers and blessings of those to whom we extend our charity and it is no small thing to have the blessing of them that are ready to perish to come upon us For God hears the prayers of the destitute and his ear is open to their cry Charity is a great security to us in times of evil and that not only from the special promise and providence of God which are engaged to preserve from want those that relieve the necessities of others but likewise from the nature of the thing which makes way for its own reward in this world He that is charitable to others provides a supply and retreat for himself in the day of distress For he provokes mankind by his example to like tenderness towards him and prudently bespeaks the commiseration of others against it comes to be his turn to stand in need of it Nothing in this World makes a man more and surer friends than charity and bounty and such as will stand by us in the greatest troubles and dangers For a good man says the Apostle one would even dare to die 'T is excellent counsel of the Son of Sirach Lay up thy treasure according to the Commandment of the Most high and it shall bring thee more profit than gold Shut up thy alms in thy store-house and it shall deliver thee from all affliction It shall fight for thee against thine enemies better than a mighty shield and strong spear It hath sometimes happened that the obligation that men have laid upon others by their Charity hath in case of danger and extremity done them more kindness than all the rest of their Estate could do for them and their Alms have literally delivered them from death But what is all this to the endless and unspeakable Happiness of the Next life where the returns of doing good will be vastly great beyond what we can now expect or imagine For God takes all the good we do to others as a debt upon himself and he hath estate and treasure enough to satisfie the greatest obligations we can lay upon him So that we have the Truth and Goodness and Sufficiency of God for our security that what we scatter and sow in this kind will grow up to a plentiful harvest in the other World and that all our pains and expence in doing good for a few days will be recompensed and crowned with the Joys and Glories of Eternity FINIS Bishop Sanderson Juven Vell. Patere Seneca * Tully * Aristides Antonin lib. 10.
us to a vigorous and speedy resolution in this matter let us consider that we have engaged too far already in a bad course and that every day our retreat will grow more dangerous and difficult that by our delays we make work for a sadder and longer repentance than that which we do now so studiously decline Let us consider likewise that our life is concerned in the case that except we repent and turn we shall die and that the evil day may overtake us while we are deliberating whether we should avoid it or not that vice is so far from being mortified by age that by every days continuance in it we encrease the power of it and so much strength as we add to our disease we certainly take from our selves And this is a double weakning of us when we do not only lose our own strength but the enemy gets it and imploys it against us The deceitfulness of sin appears in nothing more than in keeping men off from this necessary work and perswading them to hazard all upon the unreasonable hopes of the mercy of God and the uncertain resolution of a future repentance I do not think there are any here but do either believe or at least are vehemently afraid that there is another life after this and that a wicked life without repentance must unavoidably make them miserable in another world and that to cast off all to a death-bed repentance puts things upon a mighty hazard And they have a great deal of reason to think so For alas how unfit are most men at such a time for so great and serious a work as repentance is when they are unfit for the smallest matters And how hard is it for any man then to be assured of the truth and reality of his repentance when there is no sufficient opportunity to make trial of the sincerity of it I deny not the possibility of the thing but it is much to be feared that the repentance of a dying sinner is usually but like the sorrow of a malefactor when he is ready to be turned off he is not troubled that he hath offended the Law but he is troubled that he must die For when death is ready to seise upon the sinner and he feels himself dropping into destruction no wonder if then the mans stomack come down and he be contented to be saved and seeing he must stay no longer in this world be desirous to go to Heaven rather than Hell and in order to that be ready to give some testimonies of his repentance no wonder if when the rack is before him this extort confession from him and if in hopes of a pardon he make many large promises of amendment and freely declare his resolurion of a new and better life But then it is the hardest thing in the world to judg whether any thing of all this that is done under so great a fear and force be real For a sick man as he hath lost his appetite to the most pleasant meats and drinks so likewise his sinful pleasures and fleshly lusts are at the same time nauseous to him and for the very same reason For sickness having altered the temper of his body he hath not at that time any gust or rellish for these things And now he is resolved against sin just as a man that hath no stomach is resolved against meat But if the fit were over and death would but raise his siege and remove his quarters a little farther from him it is to be feared that his former appetite would soon return to him and that he would sin with the same eagerness he did before Besides how can we expect that God should accept of his repentance at such a time when we are conscious to our selves that we did resolve to put off our repentance till we could sin no longer Can we think it fit for any man to say thus to God in a dying hour Lord now the world leaves me I come to thee I pray thee give me eternal life who could never afford to give thee one good day of my life Grant that I may live with thee and enjoy thee for ever who could never endure to think upon thee I must confess that I could never be perswaded to leave my sins out of love to thee but now I repent of them for fear of thee I am conscious to my self that I would never do any thing for thy sake but yet I hope thy goodness is such that thou wilt forgive all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of my life and accept of this forced submission which I now make to thee I pray thee do not at last frustrate and disappoint me in this design which I have laid of sinning while I live and getting to heaven when I die Surely no man can think it fit to say thus to God and yet I am afraid this is the true interpretation of many a mans repentance who hath defer'd it till he comes to die I do not speak this to discourage repentance even at that time It is always the best thing we can do But I would by all means discourage men from putting off so necessary a work till then 'T is true indeed when 't is come to this and a sinner finds himself going out of the world if he have been so foolish and so cruel to himself as to put things upon this last hazard repentance is now the only thing that is left for him to do this is his last remedy and the only refuge he has to fly to And this is that which the Minister in this case ought by all means to put the man upon and earnestly to perswade him to But when we speak to men in other circumstances that are well and in health we dare not for all the world encourage them to venture their souls upon such an uncertainty For to speak the best of it it is a very dangerous remedy especially when men have designedly contrived to rob God of the service of their best days and to put him off with a few unprofitable sighs and tears at the hour of death I desire to have as large apprehensions of the mercy of God as any man but withall I am very sure that he is the hardest to be imposed upon of any one in the world And no man that hath any worthy apprehensions of the Deity can imagine him to be so easie as to forgive men upon the last word and intimation of their minds and to have such a fondness for offenders as would reflect upon the prudence of any Magistrate and Governour upon earth God grant that I may sincerely endeavour to live a holy and virtuous life and may have the comfort of that when I come to die And that I may never be so unwise as to venture all my hopes of a blessed eternity upon a death-bed repentance I will conclude all with those excellent sayings of the Son of Syrach Eccles 5.6 7.16.11 12.18.21 22 Say not
the World for his sport and pastime nor set on one part of his Creation to bait another for his own diversion He does not like some of the cruel Roman Emperours take pleasure to exercise men with dangers and to see them play bloody prizes before him Nay he does nothing that is severe out of humour and passion as our earthly Parents many times do Indeed he is angry with us for our sins but yet so as still to pity our persons And when his Providence makes use of any sharp and cutting instruments it is with this merciful design to let out our corruption If he cast us into the Furnace of affliction it is that he may refine and purifie us from our dross So that though the Judgments of God be Evils in themselves yet considering the intention of God in them they are no real objections against his goodness but rather arguments for it as will appear if we consider these three things 1. That the Judgments of God are proper for the cure of a far greater Evil of another kind 2. They are proper for the prevention of far greater Evils of the same kind 3. They are not only proper to these Ends but in many cases very necessary First The Judgments of God are very proper for the cure of a far greater Evil of another kind I mean the Evil of sin We take wrong measures of things when we judg those to be the greatest Evils which afflict our bodies wound our reputation and impoverish our Estates For those certainly are far the greatest which affect our noblest Part which vitiate our understandings and deprave our wills and wound and defile our souls What corrupt humours are to the body that sin is to the souls of men their disease and their death Now it is very agreeable with the goodness and mercy of the Divine providence to administer to us whatever is proper for the cure of so great an evil If we make our selves sick that is our own folly and no fault of the Physitian but we are beholden to him if he recover us though it be by very bitter and unpleasing means All temporal Judgments which are short of Death are properly Medicinal and if we will but suffer them to have their kindly operation upon us they will work a cure and how grievous and distastful soever they may be for the present they will prove mercies and blessings in the issue Upon this account David reckons afflictions among the happy blessings of his life Psal 119.72 It is good for me saies he that I have been afflicted And he gives the reason of it in the same Psalm ver 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I learn'd thy precepts So that though all afflictions are Evils in themselves yet they are good for us because they discover to us our disease and tend to our cure They are a sensible argument and conviction to us of the evil and danger of sin We are commonly such fools as Solomon speaks of who make a mock of sin and like Children will be playing with the edge of it till it cut and wound us We are not sufficiently sensible how great an evil it is till we come to feel the dismal effects and consequences of it And therefore to rectify our apprehensions concerning it God makes us to suffer by it Thus Elihu describes to us the happy effect of afflictions upon sinners Job 36.8 9 10 If they be bound in fetters and held in cords of affliction then God sheweth them their work and their transgression that they have exceeded He openeth also their ear to discipline and commandeth that they return from their iniquity God doth but invite and entreat us by his mercies but his Judgments have a more powerful and commandng voice When he holds men in cords of affliction then he openeth their ear to discipline In our prosperity we are many times incapable of counsel and instruction but when we are under Gods correcting hand then are we fit to be spoken withall Secondly The Judgments of God are likewise proper for the preventing of far greater evils of the same kind I mean farther punishments In sending of temporal Judgments upon sinners God usually proceeds with them by degrees First he le ts flye several single shots at them and if upon these they will take warning and come in they may prevent the broad-sides and volleys of his wrath But the great advantage of all is that temporal Judgments may prove to us the opportunities of preventing the miserable and unspeakable torments of a long Eternity For all Judgments which are not final leaving men a space of Repentance have in them the mercy of Reprieve which by a serious and timely return to God may be improv'd into a Pardon Besides that adversity and afflictions do usually dispose men and put them into a fit temper for Repentance They fix our minds and make us serious and are apt to awaken us to consideration and suggest to us such thoughts and meditations as these If temporal evils be so grievous how insupportable then will be the extreme and endless torments of the next life If in this day of Gods grace and patience we sometimes meet with such severity what may we not look for in the day of vengeance If these drops of Gods wrath which now and then fall upon sinners in this world fill them with so much anguish and affliction how deplorably miserable will those wretches be upon whom the storms of his fury shall fall Who would venture to continue in sin when the greatest miseries and calamities which we feel in this life are but a small and inconsiderable earnest of those woful wages which sinners shall receive in the Day of Recompences Thirdly The Judgments of God are not only proper to these Ends but in many cases very necessary Our condition many times is such as to require this severe way of proceeding because no other course that God hath taken or can take with us will probably do us good God does not delight in the miseries and calamities of his Creatures but we put him upon these extremities or rather his own goodness and wisdom together do prompt and direct him to these harsh and rigorous ways May be we have brought our selves into that dangerous state and the malignity of our distemper is such that it is not to be remov'd without violent Physick and that cannot be administred to us without making us deadly sick So that the Judgments of God which are many times abroad in the earth are nothing else but the wise Methods which the great Physitian of the World uses for the cure of Mankind They are the Rods of his School and the Discipline of his Providence that the inhabitants of the world may learn righteousness They are a merciful invention of Heaven to do men that good which many times nothing else will and to work that blessed effect upon us which neither the wise
to it but they hope hereafter to be in a better temper and disposition and then they resolve by Gods grace to set about this work in good earnest and to go through with it I know not whether it be fit to call this a Reason I am sure it is the greatest cheat and delusion that any man can put upon himself For this plainly shews that thou dost not intend to do this which thou art convinced is so necessary but to put it off from day to day For there is no greater evidence that a man doth not really intend to do a thing than when notwithstanding he ought upon all accounts and may in all respects better do it at present than hereafter yet he still puts it off Whatever thou pretendest this is a meer shift to get rid of a present trouble It is like giving good words and making fair promises to a clamorous and importunate creditour and appointing him to come another day when the man knows in his conscience that he intends not to pay him and that he shall be less able to discharge the debt then than he is at present Whatever reasons thou hast against reforming thy life now will still remain and be in as full force hereafter nay probably stronger than they are at present Thou art unwilling now and so thou wilt be hereafter and in all likelihood much more unwilling So that this reason will every day improve upon thy hands and have so much the more strength by how much the longer thou continuest in thy sins Thou hast no reason in the world against the present time but only that 't is present why when hereafter comes to be present the reason will be just the same So that thy present unwillingness is so far from being a just reason against it that 't is a good reason the other way because thou art unwilling now and like to be so nay more so hereafter if thou intendenst to do it at all thou shouldst set about it immediately and without delay 2. Another reason which men pretend for the delaying of this work is the great difficulty and unpleasantness of it And it cannot be denied but that there will be some bitterness and uneasiness in it proportionably to the growth of evil habits and the strength of our lusts and our greater or less progress and continuance in a sinful course So that we must make account of a sharp conflict of some pain and trouble in the making of this change that it will cost us some pangs and throws before we be born again For when nature hath been long bent another way it is not to be expected that it should be reduced and brought back to its first strenghtness without pain and violence But then it is to be considered that how difficult and painful soever this work be it is necessary and that should over-rule all other considerations whatsoever that if we will not be at this pains and trouble we must one time or other endure far greater than those which we now seek to avoid that it is not so difficult as we imagine but our fears of it are greater than the trouble will prove if we were but once resolved upon the work and seriously engaged in it the greatest part of the trouble were over it is like the fear of children to go into the cold water a faint trial increaseth their fear and apprehension of it but so soon as they have plunged into it the trouble is over and then they wonder why they were so much afraid The main difficulty and unpleasantness is in our first entrance into Religion it presently grows tolerable and soon after easie and after that by degrees so pleasant and delightful that the man would not for all the world return to his former evil state and condition of life We should consider likewise what is the true cause of all this trouble and difficulty 'T is our long continuance in a sinful course that hath made us so loth to leave it 'T is the custom of sinning that renders it so troublesome and uneasie to men to do otherwise 'T is the greatness of our guilt heightned and inflamed by many and repeated provocations that doth so gall our consciences and fill our souls with so much terror 'T is because we have gone so far in an evil way that our retreat is become so difficult and because we have delayed this work so long that we are now so unwilling to go about it and consequently the longer we delay it the trouble and difficulty of a change will encrease daily upon us And all these considerations are so far from being a good reason for more delays that they are a strong argument to the contrary Because the work is difficult now therefore do not make it more so and because your delays have encreased the difficulty of it and will do more and more therefore delay no longer 3. Another pretended encouragement to these delays is the great mercy and patience of God He commonly bears long with sinners and therefore there is no such absolute and urgent necessity of a speedy repentance and reformation of our lives Men have not the face to give this for a reason but yet for all that it lies at the bottom of many mens hearts So Solomon tells us Eccles 8.11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil But it is not always thus There are few of us but have seen several instances of Gods severity to sinners and have known several persons surprized by a sudden hand of God and cut off in the very act of sin without having the least respite given them without time or liberty so much as to ask God forgiveness and to consider either what they had done or whither they were a-going And this may be the case of any sinner and is so much the more likely to be thy case because thou dost so boldly presume upon the mercy and patience of God But if it were always thus and thou wert sure to be spared yet awhile longer what can be more unreasonable and disingenuous than to resolve to be evil because God is good and because he suffers so long to sin so much the longer and because he affords thee a space of repentance therefore to delay it and put it off to the last The proper design of Gods goodness is to lead men to repentance and he never intended his patience for an encouragement to men to continue in their sins but for an opportunity and an argument to break them off by repentance These are the pretended reasons and encouragements to men to delay their repentance and the reformation of their lives and you see how groundless and unreasonable they are which was the first thing I propounded to speak to II. I shall add some farther considerations to engage men effectually to set about this work speedily
tarrying 6. Lastly consider what an unspeakable happiness it is to have our minds settled in that condition that we may without fear and amazement nay with comfort and confidence expect death and judgment Death is never far from any of us and the general Judgment of the world may be nearer than we are aware of for of that day and hour knoweth no man And these are two terrible things and nothing can free us from the terror of them but a good conscience and a good conscience is only to be had either by innocence or by repentance and amendment of life Happy man who by this means is at peace with God and with himself and can think of death and judgment without dread and astonishment For the sting of death is sin and the terror of the great day only concerns those who have lived wickedly and impenitently and would not be perswaded neither by the mercies of God nor by the fear of his judgments to repent and turn to him But if we have truely forsaken our sins and do sincerely endeavour to live in obedience to the Laws and Commands of God the more we think of death and judgment the greater matter of joy and comfort will these things be to us For blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing Let us therefore as soon as possibly we can put our selves into this posture and preparation according to that advice of our blessed Saviour Luke 12.35 36 Let your loins be girded about and your lamps burning and ye your selves like unto men that wait for their Lord. And now I hope that enough hath been said to convince men of the great unreasonableness and folly of these delays nay I believe most men are convinced of it by their own thoughts and that their consciences call them fools a thousand times for it But O that I knew what to say that might prevail with men and effectually perswade them to do that which they are so abundantly convinced is so necessary And here I might address my self to the several ages of persons You that are young and have hitherto been in a good measure innocent may prevent the Devil and by an early piety give God the first possession of your souls and by this means never be put to the trouble of so great and solemn a repentance having never been deeply engaged in a wicked life You may do a glorious I had almost said a meritorious thing in cleaving stedfastly to God and resolving to serve him when you are so importunately courted and so hotly assaulted by the Devil and the World However you may not live to be old therefore upon that consideration begin the work presently and make use of the opportunity that is now in your hands You that are grown up to ripeness of years and are in the full vigor of your age you are to be put in mind that the heat and inconsiderateness of youth is now past and gone that reason and consideration are now in their perfection and strength that this is the very age of prudence and discretion of wisdom and wariness So that now is the proper time for you to be serious and wisely to secure your future happiness As for those that are old they methinks should need no body to admonish them that it is now high time for them to begin a new life and that the time past of their lives is too much to have spent in sin and folly There is no trifling where men have a great work to do and but little time to do it in Your Sun is certainly going down and neer its setting therefore you should quicken your pace considering that your journey is never the shorter because you have but little time to perform it in Alas man thou art just ready to dye and hast thou not yet begun to live Are thy passions and lusts yet unsubdued and have they had no other mortification than what age hath given them 'T is strange to see how in the very extremities of old age many men are as if they had still a thousand years to live and make no preparation for death though it dogs them at the heels and is just come up to them and ready to give them the fatal stroke Therefore let us not put off this necessary work of reforming our selves in what part and age of our lives soever we be To day whilst it is called to day least any of you be hardened thorough the decitfulness of sin Nay to day is with the latest to begin this work had we been wise we would have begun it sooner 'T is Gods infinite mercy to us that it is not quite too late that the day of Gods patience is not quite expired and the door shut against us Therefore do not defer your repentance to the next solemn time to the next occasion of receiving the blessed Sacrament Do not say I will then reform and become a new man after that I will take leave of my lusts and sin no more For let us make what haste we can we cannot possibly make too much properat vivere nemo satis No man makes haste enough to be good to cease to do evil and to learn to do well Be as quick as we will life will be too nimble for us and go on faster than our work does and death will go nigh to prevent us and surprize us unawares Do do sinner abuse and neglect thy self yet a little while longer till the time of regarding thy soul and working out thy own salvation be at an end and all the opportunities of minding that great concernment be slipped out of thy hands never to be recovered never to be called back again no not by thy most earnest wishes and desires by thy most fervent prayers and tears and thou be brought into the condition of prophane Esau who for once despising the Blessing lost it for ever and found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears To conclude Art thou convinced that thy eternal happiness depends upon following the advice which hath now been given thee Why then do but behave thy self in this case as thou and all prudent men are wont to do in matters which thou canst not but acknowledg to be of far less concernment If a man be travelling to such a place so soon as he finds himself out of the way he presently stops and makes towards the right way and hath no inclination to go wrong any farther If a man be sick he will be well presently if he can and not put it off to the future Most men will gladly take the first opportunity that presents it self of being rich or great every man almost catches at the very first offers of a great place or a good purchase and secures them presently if he can least the opportunity be gone and another snatch these things from him Do thou thus so much more in matters so much greater Return
to go on and fortifie their good resolutions to be more vigilant and watchful over themselves to strive against sin and to resist it with all their might And according to the success of their endeavours in this conflict the evidence of their good condition will every day clear up and become more manifest The more we grow in grace and the seldomer we fall into sin and the more even and constant our obedience to God is so much the greater and fuller satisfaction we shall have of our good estate towards God For the path of the just is as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day And the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever I shall only make two or three Inferences from what hath been discoursed upon this Argument and so conclude 1. From hence we learn the great danger of sins of Omission as well as Commission Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God The mere neglect of any of the great duties of Religion of piety towards God and of kindness and charity to men though we be free from the commission of great sins is enough to cast us out of the favour of God and to shut us for ever out of his kingdom I was hungry and ye gave me no meat thirsty and ye gave me no drink sick and in prison and ye visited me not therefore depart ye cursed 2. It is evident from what hath been said That nothing can be vainer than for men to live in any course of sin and impiety and yet to pretend to be the Children of God and to hope for eternal life The Children of God will do the works of God and whoever hopes to enjoy him hereafter will endeavour to be like him here Every man that hath this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure 3. You see what is the great mark and character of a mans good or bad condition whosoever doth righteousness is of God and whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God Here is a plain and sensible evidence by which every man that will deal honestly with hâ—mself may certainly know his own condition and then according as he finds it to be may take comfort in it or make haste out of it And we need not ascend into heaven nor go down into the deep to search out the secret counsels and decrees of God there needs no anxious enquiry whether we be of the number of Gods elect If we daily mortifie our lusts and grow in goodness and take care to add to our faith and knowledg temperance and patience and charity and all other Christian graces and vertues we certainly take the best course in the world to make our calling and election sure And without this it is impossible that we should have any comfortable and well grounded assurance of our good condition This one mark of doing righteousness is that into which all other signs and characters which are in Scripture given of a good man are finally resolved And this answers all those various phrases which some men would make to be so many several and distinct marks of a child of God As whether we have the true knowledg of God and divine illumination for hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments Whether we sincerely love God for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments And whether God loves us for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and his countenance will behold the upright Whether we be regenerate and born of God for whosoever is born of God sinneth not Whether we have the Spirit of God witnessing with our Spirits that we are the children of God for as many as have the Spirit of God are led by the Spirit and by the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh Whether we belong to Christ and have an interest in him or not for they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof In a word Whether the promise of heaven and eternal life belong to us for without holiness no man shall see the Lord but if we have our fruit unto holiness the end will be everlasting life So that you see at last the Scripture brings all to this one mark viz. holiness and obedience to the Laws of God or a vicious and wicked life In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God Let us then deal impartially with our selves and bring our lives and actions to this tryal and never be at rest till the matter be brought to some issue and we have made a deliberate judgment of our condition whether we be the children of God or not And if upon a full and fair examination our consciences give us this testimony that by the grace of God we have denyed ungodliness and worldly lusts and have lived soberly and righteously and godly in this present world we may take joy and comfort in it for if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God But if upon the search and tryal of our ways our case appear clearly to be otherwise or if we have just cause to doubt of it let us not venture to continue one moment longer in so uncertain and dangerous a condition And if we desire to know the way of Peace the Scripture hath set it plainly before us Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Though our case be very bad yet it is not desperate This is a faithful saying and worthy of all men to be embraced that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And he is still willing to save us if we be but willing to leave our sins and to serve him in holiness and righteousness the remaining part of our lives We may yet be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God We who have ventured so long upon the brink of ruin may yet by the infinite mercies of God and by the power of his grace be rescu'd from the base and miserable slavery of the Devil and our lusts into the glorious liberty of the sons of God And thus I have endeavoured with all the plainness I could to represent every man to himself and to let him clearly see what his condition is towards God and how the case of his soul and of his eternal happiness stands And I do verily believe that what I have said in this matter is the truth of God