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
too apparently destructive of a good life And I begin 1. With their Doctrines And because I have no mind to aggravate lesser matters I will single out four or five points of Doctrine which they have added to the Christian Religion and which were neither taught by our Saviour and his Apostles nor own'd in the first ages of Christianity And the First which I shall mention and which being once admitted makes way for as many errors as they please to bring in is their Doctrine of Infallibility And this they are very stiff and peremptory in though they are not agreed among themselves where this Infallibility is seated whether in the Pope alone or a Council alone or in both together or in the diffusive body of Christians But they are sure they have it though they know not where it is And is this no prejudice against it can any man think that this priviledg was at first conferred upon the Church of Rome and that Christians in all Ages did believe it and had constant recourse to it for determining their differences and yet that that very Church which hath enjoyed and used it so long should now be at a loss where to find it Nothing could have fallen out more unluckily than that there should be such differences among them about that which they pretend to be the onely means of ending all differences There is not the least intimation in Scripture of this priviledg confer'd upon the Roman Church nor do the Apostles in all their Epistles ever so much as give the least direction to Christians to appeal to the Bishop of Rome for a determination of the many differences which even in those times happen'd among them And it is strange they should be so silent in this matter when there were so many occasions to speak of it if our Saviour had plainly appointed such an infallible Judg of controversies for this very end to decide the differences that should happen among Christians It is strange that the ancient Fathers in their disputes with Hereticks should never appeal to this Judg nay it is strange they should not constantly do it in all cases it being so short and expedite a way for the ending of controversies And this very consideration to a wise man is instead of a thousand arguments to satisfie him that in those times no such thing was believed in the world Now this Doctrine of Infallibility if it be not true is of so much the more pernicious consequence to Christianity because the conceit of it does confirm them that think they have it in all their other errors and gives them a pretence of assuming an Authority to themselves to impose their own fancies and mistakes upon the whole Christian world 2. Their Doctrine about Repentance Which consists in confessing their sins to the Priest which if it be but accompanied with any degree of contrition does upon absolution received from the Priest put them into a state of salvation though they have lived the most lewd and debauched lives that can be imagin'd than which nothing can be more plainly destructive of a good life For if this be true all the hazard that the most wicked man runs of his salvation is only the danger of so sudden a death as gives him no space for confession and absolution A case that happens so rarely that any man that is strongly addicted to his lusts will be content to venture his salvation upon this hazard and all the arguments to a good life will be very insignificant to a man that hath a mind to be wicked when remission of sins may be had upon such cheap terms 3. The Doctrine of Purgatory By which they mean a state of temporary punishments after this life from which men may be released and translated into Heaven by the prayers of the living and the sacrifice of the Mass That this Doctrine was not known in the primitive Church nor can be proved from Scripture we have the free acknowledgment of as learned and eminent men as any of that Church which is to acknowledg that it is a superstructure upon the Christian Religion And though in one sense it be indeed a building of gold and silver upon the foundation of Christianity considering the vast revenues which this Doctrine and that of Indulgences which depends upon it brings into that Church yet I doubt not but in the Apostles sense it will be found to be hay and stubble But how groundless soever it be it is too gainful a Doctrine to be easily parted withall 4. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation A hard word but I would to God that were the worst of it the thing is much more difficult I have taken some pains to consider other Religions that have been in the world and I must freely declare that I never yet in any of them met with any Article or Proposition imposed upon the belief of men half so unreasonable and hard to be believed as this is And yet this in the Romish Church is esteemed one of the most principal Articles of the Christian Faith though there is no more certain foundation for it in Scripture than for our Saviours being substantially changed into all those things which are said of him as that he is a rock a vine a door and a hundred other things But this is not all This Doctrine hath not only no certain Foundation in Scripture but I have a far heavier charge against it namely that it undermines the very foundation of Christianity it self And surely nothing ought to be admitted to be a part of the Christian Doctrine which destroys the reason of our belief of the whole And that this Doctrine does so will appear evidently if we consider what was the main argument which the Apostles used to convince the world of the truth of Christianity and that was this That our blessed Saviour the Author of this Doctrine wrought such and such miracles and particularly that he rose again from the dead And this they proved because they were eye-witnesses of his miracles and had seen him and conversed with him after he was risen from the dead But what if their senses did deceive them in this matter then it cannot be denied but that the main proof of Christianity falls to the ground Well! We will now suppose as the Church of Rome does Transubstantiation to have been one principal part of the Christian Doctrine which the Apostles preached But if this Doctrine be true then all mens senses are deceived in a plain sensible matter wherein 't is as hard for them to be deceived as in any thing in the world For two things can hardly be imagin'd more different than a little bit of water and the whole body of a man So that the Apostles perswading men to believe this Doctrine perswaded them not to trust their senses and yet the argument which they used to perswade them to this was built upon the direct contrary principle that mens senses are to
of any duty faithfully discharged the memory of any good we have done does refresh the soul with a strange kind of pleasure and joy Our rejoycing is this saith St. Paul the testimony of our consciences that in all simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world But on the other side the course of a vicious life all acts of impiety to God of malice and injustice to men of intemperance and excess in reference to our selves do certainly leave a sting behind them And whatever pleasure there may be in the present act of them the memory of them is so tormenting that men are glad to use all the arts of diversion to fence off the thoughts of them One of the greatest troubles in the world to a bad man is to look into himself and to remember how he hath lived I appeal to the consciences of men whether this be not true And is not here now a mighty difference between these two courses of life that when we do any thing that is good if there be any trouble in it it is soon over but the pleasure of it is perpetual when we do a wicked action the pleasure of it is short and transient but the trouble and sting of it remains for ever The reflection upon the good we have done gives a lasting satisfaction to our minds but the remembrance of any evil committed by us leaves a perpetual discontent And which is yet more considerable a religious and virtuous course of life does then yield most peace and comfort when we most stand in need of it in times of affliction and at the hour of death When a man falls into any great calamity there is no comfort in the world like to that of a good conscience This makes all calm and serene within when there is nothing but clouds and darkness about him So David observes of the good man Psal 112.4 Vnto the upright there ariseth light in darkness All the pious and virtuous actions that we do are so many seeds of peace and comfort sown in our consciences which will spring up and flourish most in times of outward trouble and distress Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart And at the hour of death The righteous hath hopes in his death saith Solomon And what a seasonable refreshment is it to the mind of man when the pangs of death are ready to take hold of him and he is just stepping into the other world to be able to look back with satisfaction upon a religious and well-spent life Then if ever the comforts of a good man do overflow and a kind of heaven springs up in his mind and he rejoyceth in the hopes of the glory of God And that is a true and solid comfort indeed which will stand by us in the day of adversity and stick close to us when we have most need of it But with the ungodly it is not so His guilt lies in wait for him especially against such times and is never more fierce and raging than in the day of distress so that according as his troubles without are multiplyed so are his stings within And surely affliction is then grievous indeed when it falls upon a galled and uneasie mind Were it not for this outward afflictions might be tolerable the spirit of a man might bear his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear But especially at the hour of death How does the guilt of his wicked life then stare him in the face What storms and tempests are raised in his soul which make it like the troubled sea when it cannot rest When Eternity that fearful and amazing sight presents it self to his mind and he feels himself sinking into the regions of darkness and is every moment in a fearful expectation of meeting with the just reward of his deeds with what regret does he then remember the sins of his life and how full of rage and indignation is he against himself for having neglected to know when he had so many opportunities of knowing them the things that belonged to his peace and which because he hath neglected them are now and likely to be for ever hid from his eyes And if this be the true case of the righteous and wicked man I need not multiply words but may leave it to any mans thoughts in which of these conditions he would be And surely the difference between them is so very plain that there can be no difficulty in the choice But now though this discourse be very true yet for the full clearing of this matter it will be but fair to consider what may be said on the other side And the rather because there are several objections which seem to be countenanced from experience which is enough to overthrow the most plausible speculation As 1. That wicked men seem to have a great deal of pleasure and contentment in their vices 2. That Religion imposeth many harsh and grievous things which seem to be inconsistent with that pleasure and satisfaction I have spoken of 3. That those who are religious are many times very disconsolate and full of trouble To the first I deny not that wicked men have some pleasure in their vices but when all things are rightly computed and just abatements made it will amount to very little For it is the lowest and meanest kind of pleasure it is chiefly the pleasure of our bodies and our senses of our worst part the pleasure of the beast and not of the man that which least becomes us and which we were least of all made for Those sensual pleasures which are lawful are much inferiour to the least satisfaction of the mind and when they are unlawful they are always inconsistent with it And what is a man profited if to gain a little sensual pleasure he lose the peace of his soul Can we find in our hearts to call that pleasure which robs us of a far greater and higher satisfaction than it brings The delights of sense are so far from being the chief pleasure for which God designed us that on the contrary he intended we should take our chief pleasure in the restraining and moderating of our sensual appetites and desires and in keeping them within the bounds of Reason and Religion And then It is not a lasting pleasure Those fits of mirth which wicked men have how soon are they over Like a sudden blaze which after a little flash and noise is presently gone It is the comparison of a very great and experienced man in these matters Like the crackling of thorns under a pot saith Solomon so is the laughter of the fool that is the mirth of the wicked man it may be loud but it lasts not But which is most considerable of all the pleasures of sin bear no proportion to that long and black train of miseries and inconveniences which they draw after them Many times poverty and reproach pains and diseases upon our
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
favour of God And nothing can be more for the comfort of such persons than to understand aright what the nature of this sin was and wherein the heinousness of it doth consist which I have endeavoured to manifest And if this be the Nature of it which I have declared as it seems very plain that it is then I cannot see how any person now is likely to be in those circumstances as to be capable of committing it And being a sin of so heinous a nature and declared by our Saviour to be absolutely unpardonable there is no reason to extend it beyond the case to which our Saviour applies it which was the resisting of the evidence of the miracles which were wrought for the truth of Christianity by those who were eye-witnesses of them that is by those who had the utmost assurance of them that humane nature is capable of And not only a bare resistance of that evidence but with a very malicious circumstance so as to impute those works which were wrought by the Holy Ghost to the power of the Devil This was the case of the Pharisees whom our Saviour chargeth with this sin And no body hath warrant to extend this sin any further than this case and without good warrant it would be the most uncharitable thing in the world to extend it any further That which comes nearest to it both in the heinousness of the crime and the unpardonableness of it is total Apostasie from Christianity after the embracing of it and full conviction of the truth of it And this the Scripture seems to place if not in the same rank yet very near to it And of this the Apostle speaks very often in the Epistle to the Hebrews under the name of unbelief and sin by way of eminence as being the great sin that Christians were in danger of falling into call'd in that Epistle Heb. 12.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin which Christians by reason of the circumstances they were then in were especially subject to And he parallels it with the case of the Jews in the wilderness concerning whom God sware that they should not enter into his rest namely the earthly Canaan which was a type of Heaven Chap. 3. ver 18. And Chap. 6. ver 4 5 6 more expresly For it is impossible that those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they should fall away to renew them again to repentance Where by impossible the least that can be meant is that it is extremely difficult for such persons to recover themselves by repentance And 't is observable that those persons are said to have been partakers of the Holy Ghost by which is meant that they were either endued with a power of miracles by the Holy Ghost or were under the conviction of them as having seen them wrought by others So that this Apostasie may be said in that respect to be a sin against the Holy Ghost So likewise Chap. 10. ver 26 If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledg of the truth that is if we apostatize from Christianity after we have embraced the profession of it as appears plainly from the scope of the Apostles discourse there remains no more sacrifice for sin which expression declares this sin either to be unpardonable or something very like it And at the 29. vers Those persons are said to tread under foot the Son of God and to do despite unto the Spirit of Grace Which signifies that the sin there spoken of is more immediately committed against the Holy Spirit of God St. Peter likewise declares the great danger of this sin 2 Pet. 2.20 If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning St. John likewise seems to speak of this sin of Apostacy and to call it a sin unto death Discouraging Christians rather from praying for those who were fallen into it which gives great suspicion that he looked upon it as hardly pardonable 1 Joh. 5.16 If any man see his brother sin a sin not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for those that sin not unto death There is a sin unto death I do not say that he shall pray for it Now that by the sin unto death the Apostle here means Apostacy from the Christian Religion to the Heathen Idolatry seems extremely probable from what follows ver 18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not but keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not that is he preserveth himself from Idolatry which the Devil had seduced the world into ver 19 And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the wicked one that is is under the power of the Devil And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us understanding to know him that is true that is to distinguish between the true God and Idols And then it follows this is the true God and eternal life Little children keep your selves from Idols Which last caution is a key to the understanding of all the rest and makes it very probable that the sin unto death is Apostacy from Christianity unto Idolatry Otherwise it is hard to imagine how the last clause comes in Little children keep your selves from Idols And this is that sin which of all other approacheth nearest to this sin against the Holy Ghost which our Saviour speaks of and concerning the pardonableness of which the Scripture seems to speak very doubtfully But if it were of the same unpardonable nature yet this can be no trouble to those persons I am speaking of who cannot but know themselves to be far enough from the guilt of this sin As for those other sins which by some are taken to be the sins against the Holy Ghost they are either such as no man is capable of committing as a malicious opposition to the truth when I am convinced and know it to be the truth For this is a contradiction Because to know any thing to be the truth is to believe it to be so and therefore no man can disbelieve it while he believes it to be truth Or else they are such as no man can know he is guilty of in this life as final impenitency which supposeth a man to live and die without repentance Or else such as I think not good man is incident to as a malicious and perverse opposing of the truth after sufficient means of conviction However none of these are that which the Scripture descrihes to be the sin against the Holy Ghost as I have already shewn But still there are two things which usually trouble honest and well-meaning
Virtue or Vice People take their fashions from you as to the habits of their minds as well as their bodies So that upon you chiefly depends the ruine or reformation of manners our hopes or despair of a better world What way soever you go you are followed by troops If you run any sinful or dangerous course you cannot perish alone in your iniquity but thousands will fall by your side and ten thousands at your right hands And on the contrary 't is very much in your power and I hope in your wills and designs to be the sovereign restorers of piety and virtue to a degenerate Age. It is our part indeed to exhort men to their duty but 't is you that would be the powerful and effectual preachers of righteousness We may endeavour to make men proselytes to vertue but you would infallibly draw disciples after you We may try to perswade but you could certainly prevail either to make men good or to restrain them from being so bad Therefore consider your ways for the sake of others as well as your selves Consider what you have done and then consider what is fit for you to do and if you do it not what will be the end of these things And to help you forward in this work it is not necessary that I should rip up the vices of the Age and set mens sins in order before them It is much better that you your selves should call your own ways to remembrance We have every one a faithful Monitor and Witness in our own breasts who if we will but hearken to him will deal impartially with us and privately tell us the errors of our lives To this Monitor I refer you and to the grace of God to make these admonitions effectual Let us then every one of us in the fear of God search and try our ways and turn unto the Lord. Let us take to our selves words and say to God with those true Penitents in Scripture I have sinned what shall be done unto thee O thou preserver of men Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth I will abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes For surely it is meet to be said unto God I will not offend any more that which I know not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more O that there were such an heart in us O that we were wise that we understood this that we would consider our latter end And God of his infinite mercy inspire into every one of our hearts this holy and happy resolution for the sake of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON Preached before the KING Apr. 18 th 1675. Psal CXIX 60 I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments IN the words immediately going before you have the course which David took for the reforming of his life and the success of that course I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies A serious reflection upon the past errors and miscarriages of his life produced the reformation of it And you have a considerable circumstance added in the words that I have now read to you viz. that this reformation was speedy and without delay I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments Upon due consideration of his former life and a full conviction of the necessity of a change he came to a resolution of a better life and immediately put this resolution in execution and to declare how presently and quickly he did it he expresses it both affirmatively and negatively after the manner of the Hebrews who when they would say a thing with great certainty and emphasis are wont to express it both ways I made haste and delayed not that is I did with all imaginable speed betake my self to a better course And this is the natural effect of Consideration and the true cause why men delay so necessary a work is because they stifle their reason and suffer themselves to be hurried into the embraces of present objects and do not consider their latter end and what will be the sad issue and event of a wicked life For if men would take an impartial view of their lives and but now and then reflect upon themselves and lay to heart the miserable and fatal consequences of a sinful course and think whither it will bring them at last and that the end of these things will be death and misery If the carnal and sensual person would but look about him and consider how many have been ruin'd in the way that he is in how many lye slain and wounded in it that it is the way to hell and leads down to the chambers of death this would certainly give a check to him and stop him in his course For it is not to be imagined but that that man who hath duly considered what sin is the shortness of its pleasures and the eternity of its punishment should resolve immediately to break off his sins and to live another kind of life Would any man be intemperate and walk after the flesh would any man be unjust and defraud or oppress his neighbour be prophane and live in the contempt of God and Religion or allow himself in any wicked course whatsoever that considers and believes a Judgment to come and that because of these things the terrible vengeance of God will one day fall upon the children of disobedience It is not credible that men who apply themselves seriously to the meditation of these matters should venture to continue in so imprudent and dangerous a course or could by any temptation whatsoever be trained on one step farther in a Way that does so certainly and visibly lead to ruin and destruction So that my work at this time shall be to endeavour to convince men of the monstrous folly and unreasonableness of delaying the reformation and amendment of their lives and to perswade us to resolve upon it and having resolved to set about it immediately and without delay in imitation of the good man here in the Text I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments And to this end I shall First Consider the reasons and excuses which men pretend for delaying this necessary work and shew the unreasonableness of them Secondly I shall add some farther Considerations to engage us effectually to set about this work speedily and without delay I. We will consider a little the reasons and excuses which men pretend for delaying this necessary work and not only shew the unreasonableness of them but that they are each of them a strong reason and powerful argument to the contrary 1. Many pretend that they are abundantly convinced of the great necessity of leaving their sins and betaking themselves to a better course and they fully intend to do so only they cannot at present bring themselves