which ye Lord said to the prisoners Come foorth and to those that lie in their sins repent and beleeve Now if any man will come foorth and humble his soule before ye Lord let him come welcome for it is a day of salvation But there is another day of damnation which is a darke day a black a duskie day wherein ye Lord wil visite the sins of the world and revenge the quarrell of this Covenant Hos. 9. 7. The day of visitation is come yea the day of recompence the people shall know it the Prophet is a foole and the spirituall man is mad Beloved we are fooles and all ye spirituall men under heaven are mad that lay not this day to heart For the day of the Lord is a day of visitation all the world shall rue it though now men sléepe in security If once mercy be rejected and God turn away his eare from a man then grace shal be no more the doore of life shall for ever be shut up against him and when once this day comes he hath lost his owne peace and deprived himselfe of eternall happinesse Now there are three Reasons of this point the first is the law of retaliation of rendring like for like which is ye justest law that can be made with man for to give unto every man according to his works to make him take such as he brings as the heathen call it to give a man quid for quo Now if God call upon thée and thou wilt not heare it is righteousnesse with God yea equity with God that is more that when yu callest on him he should not hear thée for thus runs the tenor of Gods Word Prov. 28. 9. He that turns away his eare from hearing the Law even his prayer shall be abominable He that turns away his eare from Gods Law God will turne away his eare from his prayer He that turns it is spoken in the present tense that is that now turns away his eare his prayer shall be abominable in the future tense yt is the Lord marks what master or servaunt what father or mother what husband or wife what man or woman it is yt turns away the eare of his head or the eare of his heart from hearing his will and obeying of his Commandements the Lord takes speciall notice of it sets it dowue in his Calender records it in his Memoriall kéeping a strict account thereof as if God should say Well is it so I now call and will not this man or that woman answer Do I now stretch out my hands and will not they take care to obey me Well let them alone saith God there is a day comming that I shal be a hearing of them times of sorrow and misery will take hold of them and then they in their aflictions will cry unto me but I will not heare they will beg for mercy but I will not regard they will seek me early but they shall not find me It was on of the Articles of high Treason brought in against Cardinall woolsey that he had the Por and a stinking breath and yet durst come into ye kings presence So it will be an article against thée of high treason before the King of heaven if thou come into his presence with the stinking breath of thy sins living in thy lusts and wallowing in thy filthinesse all thy Prayers are but as so many stinking breaths in ye nostrils of the Lord every duty yt thou performest unto the Lord shall be as so many articles of high treason against thée for to condemn thée becaus thou livest in Rebellion and a traitor against God His prayer shal be abominable he doth not say I wil turn away mine eare from hearing his prayer which turns away his eare from hearing my Law that is the true exposition of the words no like for like is sometimes injustice for if a man should strik a Magistrate a box on the eare it were not justice for him to give him another for it is a greater sin to strik a Magistrate then any other common person therefore a greater Punishment the Law requireth So God doth not say he will turne away his eare from hearing his prayer but wil serve him in a worse kind he will count it abominable yea abomination in the abstract it shall be loathsome yea loathsomnesse it selfe in the worst manner Gal. 6. As a man soweth so shall he reap if thou sow sparingly thou shalt reap sparingly if thou sow a dull eare to Gods Word thou shalt reap a dull care from God to thy prayer For God wil reward every man according to his workes Secondly because of the time of Gods attributes both meâ—cy and justice have their season in this life and when mercy hath acted her part then commeth justice upon the stage and acteth her part so that God with have his attributes manifested to all the sons of men yea to the face of ye whole world There is no Market nor Fair-day yt lasteth alwaies if the Countrey will not come in ye Tradesmen will put up their Wares and he gone but if they come in time they may have a pennyworth otherwise if they come too late they will have none For ye Merchant will not alwaies dwel in Tents but away he goeth and will not stay for them Beloved Gods standing is now open and his shop is set wide unto ye sonns of men if men will not come in cheapen and buy without money whiles God offers his Wares he will put them up and be gone For the Merchant will not lose his Wares which he should do if he should alwaies remaine in the open Aire with them if he alwaies continue in the fieldes expecting Customers his Wares would spotle and rot So it is with God how many swéet Counsels doth he lose how many swéet Exortations how many blessed Sermons holy Sacraments and Sabbaths doth he lose how many checks of Conscience how many days of Grace and motions of his Spirit have béen suandred away in vaine do you thinke that God will lose all these and let them rot upon ye stall with staying for you No no the day of grace mercy will have an end and then ye day of wrath and vengeance will step up To day if ye will heare his voice then harden noâ— your hearâ—s then they hardned their hearts would not be led by Gods mercies to forsake their sinns Therefore he sweare in his wrath that they should never enter into his rest If it be so with you as it was with Israel in the Wildernesse in the day of tremptation you doe not know but yt your sinns may now begin to pluck vengeance upon you I tell you if you harden your hearte this day you do not â—now but this very day ye Lord may clap an Oath upon your beads that you shall never enter into his rest For vne the self-same occasion last not aâ—waies as
therefore there is hope so long as a man remains in the congregation of the living Answ I answer it is true indéed that the day of grace lasteth as long as the day of life 1. In regard of others for others are so to estéeme of it the Minister is to look to his people as to a people to be converted as long as they live 2 In regard of a mans own selfe he is so bound to believe for the commandement of faith standeth in force on a man so long as he liveth and therefore infidelity and despaire cease not to be sinnes till a man is actually in Hell when he is in hell then they are no sinnes because then he is not commanded to believe but are part of the punishment of the damnes but whilst a man lives it is a sin for men are now bound to lay hold upon Christ and to beléeve at what houre of their life soever 3. It may be said to last all a mans life long because it is bounded within the compasse of life for no man hath a day of grace after this life But what is the meaning of all those Scriptures which shew how God doth deliver up men unto the Spirit of guidinesse and unto the Spirit of slumber And what means the hardening of mens hearts searing of mens consciences but only to shew that the day of grace may end unto a a particular man ten twenty thirty nay fourty yeares before his death 1. Because God may harden a mans heart Jerem 13. 10. and deale with them as with Israel in the Rocks so shut up their hearts that they shall never melt at any Sermon never be wrought upon by any judgment God having closed them up in a rocky heart that he saith of them Can the blackmore change his skin or the Leopard his sports then may they do good that are accustomed to do evill The blacknesse of the blackmore is only in the outside of the skin yet all the art under the heavens cannot blot it out So if once hardnesse possesse thy soule all the preaching of the Ministers and all the means of grace in the world can never bring it unto that frame and temper as to make it melt under the hand of God I tell thée thou that usest to come unto Sermons day after day and refusest to repent living still in thy sinns there is no hammer nor béetle in the world more hard then thy heart as those men and women that sit under the preaching of the word and heare ye doctrine of life like raine from above beating and knocking on their consciences and on their hearts to awaken them out of their sins and yet notwithstanding will not repent at last they prove to be deafe Adders that stop their ears against the word charme the charmer never so wisely 2. God may feare mens consciences Doth thy conscience tell thée thou art a luke-warmling and wilt thou not be reformed Doth thy conscience tell thée that thy prayers and all thy religion is rotten and unsound and that thy Repentance is hypocriticall and nought and that for all thy vaine hopes thou art but a dissembler and yet remainest in thy sinns and wilt thou not be bettered hereby Take héed for that man that runs on in sinne against the voice of his owne conscience that man sins the sinne of Saul 1 Sam. 13. 8. God bid him stay seven dayes untill Samuel came Saul stayes full seven dayes within one houre at last his lust began to bawl What shall I stay for a Prophet thus long Stay sayes his conscience Why sayes Saul I wayted for him so long even seven dayes lacking but one houre Stay saith God to his conscience for the word of God bids thée stay so long he stayed one day and two dayes and six dayes and seven dayes but one houre Stay saith his conscience no he would not but I forced my selfe saith the text as if he should say I hardened my heart to do it though the word of the Lord bid me stay and not do it yet I forced my selfe to do it What was this mans sinne Was it his offering of sacrifice and calling upon God by prayer No the Lord commands us to call upon him in time of distresse and being commanded it was lawfull Was it his sinne to meddle with the Priests office No for he did but appoint the sacrifice the Priest offered it What was it the breaking of one houres time No for he had sinned more against God then so but this was his sinne that he went against his own conscience when God stood in the way when conscience stood in the way conscience said stay but he would not stay God bid him stay but he would not stay and this is the sinne of many thousands amongst us mens consciences tell them that they must not be drunkards mens consciences tell them that they must not be worldlings they must not be swearers they must not be luke-warm professors they must pray better then they do and have other faith then yet they have if ever they meane to be saved wilt thou yet against thy conscience force thy selfe to go on in thy sinnes from day to day and never be reformed take héed lest the Lord be provoked to set thy sinne upon thy head and shut up thy heart and conclude thy eternall destruction Object Suppose I go one in my sins and follow my wicked courses now what if I seeke him hereafter and humble my soule before him with fasting and prayer and when I lie upon my death-bed I send a ticket unto my Minister to pray for me will all this do me no good Answ. Surely no saith God Jerem. 15. 1. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my affections could not be toward this people cast them out of my sight Dost thou lie sick upon thy death-bed were Samuel Job or Daniel the Minister of thy Parish and thou shouldst send thy ticket unto them desiring them to remember thée in their prayers if Noah stood in the Pulpit and Iob and Daniel were here before the Lord for to plead for thée yet he would not heare thée Object But suppose I humble my selfe by fasting and prayer will not God hear â—hat Answ. No if thou neglect the day of grace Ier. 14. 12. when they fast I will not hear them and when they offer oblations I will not accept their cry but I will consume them by the sword by famine and by pestilences you may set up your fastings prayers and humiliations you may lament and mourne and pine away your selves in your sins but it is not all your prayers and fastings it is not all your lamentation and mourning that will do you good so long as the counsell of the Lord is rejected Because I called and ye would not answer therefore you shall call but I will not hear thy thought that the Lords eares would alwayes be open and that when they called the Lord would
every day is not a Market day nor every wéek in the yeare a faire week nor every season in ye year a time of Spring or harvest so every day of a mans life may not claime to be ye day of grace Therefore if a man fore-slow it now he foresloweth his own happinesse and putteth off his own peace for ever Excelent is that annotation of Gregory on Job 27. 9. will God heare his cry when trouâ—le commeth upon him Beloved now Gods patience is troubled wilt not yu repent Now Gâ—ds Spirit is troubled wilt not thou obey Now Gods justice is troubled wilt not thou relent Now Gods word is troubled wilt thou â—efuse to harken will God heare his cry He speaketh interrogatively as if he should say Art thou so mad so vaine so foolish to promise to thy selfe being an hypocrite that God will heare thy prayer Oh no then justice commeth to take place Thirdly it is Gods use to do so in other things even upon the contempt of temporall blessings and therefore much more in matters of grace salvation Thus God promised to give Israel the land of Canaan Numb. 12. 22. but the text saith they tempted God ten times that is as some Expositors expound many times or as others ten severall times But whatever the meaning of the text be certainly it was very many times so long till at last he sware in his wrath that they should never enter into his rest Beloved though there be many a hot swearer yt regards not an oath yet certainly if the Lord swear we may beléeve him the word of God is as strong as oaths if he say iâ— upon his word we are bound to beléeve it how much more then when he confirmes it with an oath Therefore if the Lord swear thou shalâ— not how darest thou how canst thou hope oâ— think ever to enter into his rest This was almost fourtie yéeres before he died that ye Lord made this oath against them and God knowâ— how many thousands of them fell short noâ— only of the Land of Canaan but also of the Kingdome of heaven So God tooke Ismael an hundred and seventéene yéers before he died twenty years God offered him grace and repentance but he would not take warning a mocker he was and a mocker he would be for he mocked Isaac when he was a child six yeares old and no meanes would reclaim him before he heard the voice Cast out the bond woman and her sonne Out with him saith God for he shall never be heire with my sonne this was an hundred and seventéen years before Ismaels death And so God took Saul five and thirty or six and thirty yeares before he died according to Iosephus Chronology if it be true nowsoever he tooke him divers yeares before his death for so the Scripture makes it plaine 1 Sam. 15. 29. The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent Therefore because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord the Lord also hath rejected thee from being a King And doe not think that thou by thy prayers and crying God mercy canst ever alter him for his counsell is immutable and he is strong in his decrée and cannot change Hetherto Orace and Mercy have béen offered thée which if thou hadst imbraced thou mightest have found Mercy from the Lord and the Kingdome should have béen established and confirmed unto thée but now it is too late for the strength of Israel cannot lie God tooke Esau fiftie years before his death for so long he lived after he sought the blessing with teares but he was a hunting when God was a calling he was following his prophainenesse when God was wooing him to Repentance At last when he called for Repentance and sought it earnestly yea his Soule was carefull for to get it yet he could never obtaine it though he sought it earnestly with teares of fiftie yeares before he died Now if the Lord so severely punish contempt of temporall blessings O how will hâ— punish the contempt of proffers of Grace and Salvation I tell you God will be more strict in revenging of this sinne then of any other sinne he will come with Martiall law against all those that contemne his Gospell Ioh. 3. 18. He that beleeveth not is condemned already Doth Christ preach repentance and salvation and the Kingdome of God and wilt thou not repent and beléeve Martiall Law beloved martiall Law hang him up for he is condemned already Even like a Souldier that revels against his Generall and forsake his Colours they doe not cast him into prison and stay for the Assizes or Sessions but give him Mattiall Law even hang him up So if the Lord sound his Gospell in thine ears and offers thée conditions of peace knocking at the doore of thy heart by his Spirit and thou refuse to open to him thou art condemned already for the strength of Israel cannot lie nor repent Oh therefore take héed now whiles his word sounds in thine ears While his Spirit secretly whispers in thy heart to thée open to him for else thou art condemned for ever Take notice then that God doth commonly give men a day and no man or Angel doth know how long this day lasteth To some it lasteth to their lash gasp to some to their old age and to some it is cut off in their childhood God gave the Angels a day the which because they neglected they are reserved in chains of darknesse untill the great iudgement day God gave Cain a day Gen. 4. During all the time of this day though Cain sinned againe and againe and went on in his sinnes a great while yet heard nothing but a still voice If thou doe well Cain shalt thou not be accepted but if thou dost ill sinne lieth at the dore But when no means will prevaile but Cain will go on adding sin to sin and murder unto all the rest of his sinnes and so let go the season of mercy the Lord tells him from heaven that the day of grace is past the gate of mercy is shut against thée for thou art now accursed from the earth As if the Lord should say Before I gave thée a day of salvation and offered thée mercie but thou wouldst not accept of it but now I have clapt a curse upon thy soule that thou shalt never claw it off So God gave Niniveh a day to repent Ionnah 3. Yet fourty dayes and Niniveh shall be destroyed God gave the Fig-trée a day even three years before he would have it cut down God gave the old world a day of an hundred and twenty years during this time God sent unto them Noah a Preacher of Righteousnesse to call upon them to repent and so set it down also that his Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man but his time shall be an hundred and twenty yeares yet one writs that the Lord cut off twenty of the hundred and twenty yeares because of
have answered and that the day of grace would ever remaine but God saith I will not hear them they would never have sought if they thought the Lord would not heare them but all their séeking was in vaine Ob. You will say at what time soever a sinner repenteth he shall have mercy An. It is true if thou repent from the bottom of thy heart but thou maist come with many a degrée of repentance and yet never repent whilest thou livest if thou repent from thy heart and root out thy sins then God will put away thy sins but thou maist go on in repentance and calling upon God and performing many duties of Religion and yet is hardened looke how much Religion will stand with selfe-love so much thou maiest have after the day of grace is gone selfe-love may make a man flie to prayer and run after Sermons and go on in many holy duties and give over many sins looke how farre selfe-love may drive thée unto holy duties so farre thou maist goe and yet notwithstanding remaine hardened O therefore let us not delay nor put off the time of grace nor let goe salvation while it may be had then shall they call but I will not answer he doth not set downe when this time is it may be 〈◊〉 is now it may be not this seven years it may be not till thy death Doct. 2. It may be this very day even this very Sermon this very houre may be thy day that art now in thy sins that if thou repent not at this very one Sermon thou neglectest eternall life for ever lose the benefit of this Sermon at this time and thou maiest lose eternall Salvation and never have it more The theife that rob'd this day how doth he know but this one robery may bring him to the gallows So the man that sins this day how doth he know but that this very dayes worke may bring him to hell Deuteronomy 32. 35. To God belongs vengance their feet shall slide in due time Therefore if a man sin against him he may stand to day and to morrow and many dayes but when the due time comes even the time which God hath set then up goes his héels he shall slide and break his neck thy houre-glasse runes in heaven and thou séest not when the sand comes to the bottome but when t is out then down thou goest to hell for euer There was one resolved to kill Julius Caesar such a day the night before a friend sent him a letter to acquaint him with it but being at supper and busie I will not look upon it now saith he to morrow is a new day The next day when he should have read his letter he was stab'd Whence this proverbe came in Gréece To morrow is a new day God sends thée a letter and a message from heaven to day repent and come out of your fins or for ever to hell to day he converted and sanctified or for ever be hardened Dost thou refuse to harken to day and puttest it off untill to morrow it may be to morrow may be a day of Gods wrath and then thou mayest be hardened seared and bound over unto the great day of Gods vengeance to morrow God may set the decrée upon thy soul that thou shalt never repent Therefore if thou refuse this thou refuseth all for what knowest thou but this very day may be thy day The reason is because Gods patience is in his owne breast and who can tell how long it will last Hast thou Momus his glasse-window to looke into Gods secret counsell hast thou a key-hole to looke into Gods treasurie canst thou stand on tiptoe to looke over Gods shoulder to looke into Gods decrée to sée how long his patience will last It may be God hath suffered thée till this day thou art guilty of ten thousand sinnes and yet he is patient towards thée God hath stayed thus long for thée that hast sworne I know not how many oaths God hath born thus long with thée that hast told I know not how many lyes prophaned I know not how many Sabbaths contemned I know not how many Ordinances and sleighted I know not how many Iudgements yet Gods patience is in his owne brest it is the long sufferance of God Thou maiest say I would faine have it to morrow and this seven yéeres but alasse it is his long sufferance and not thine and how dost thou know when he will conclude it it may be this day as well as to morrow Joel 2. 13. Rent your hearts and not your garments saith the Prophet for the LORD he is gracious and mercifull This word for hath a great deals of force in it First it is a descriptivum for he is gracious and a mercifull God therefore rent thy heart and let thy Soule burst within thée that thou hast sinned against him for he is a mercifull God and it may be he will pardon all thy sinns and heale all thy rebellions committed against him Secondly it is an upbraiding for upbraiding thée for thy sinnes rent thy heart therefore why he is a patient God wilt thou go on in thy sinns against such a patient God and rebell against such a loving Father that hath loved thée with so much compassion â—ent thy heart for he is patient Thirdly it is a comfort and incouraging for rent thy heart for there is encouragement for thée to repent give over thy sinns and goe to the Throne of grace For there is much mercie to welcome thée and great patience for to bid thée come home and aboundance of grace for to incourage thée therefore rent thy heart and come home unto the Lord for he is patient and long-suffering Fourthly it is a forewarning for rent your hearts for the Lord is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse yet his mercy lasteth yea his patience endureth yet he hath all his attributes and yet he is pleased to manifest the same still tendring grace and mercy unto thee Oh! turne unto him while these endure or else thou shalt perish for ever Fiftly it is a threatning for now he is gracious now he is mercifull but his mercy will end his patience will end and then if thou hast not rent thy heart before it will be too late then Therefore as ever thou lovest thine own soule now rent thy heart and turne unto God It is Gods own proclamation The Lord slow to anger and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and sin Yea what man soever he be that humbles his soule before him he shall find grace and mercy with him yea aboundance of mercie pardoning iniquity transgression and sinne yea any thing Let but a soule come prostrate before him humbling his soule he will pardon his sinné But as it followeth in the words He will by no meanes cleare the guiltie if notwithstanding all Gods patience and mercie thou goe on in thy sinnes the Lord will never forgive thee but will visit thy