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A29213 The necessity of a present repentance in a sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen at Guild-Hall Chapel, March 10th, 1694/5 / by William Bramston ... Bramston, William, d. 1735. 1695 (1695) Wing B4242; ESTC R11261 9,979 30

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THE NECESSITY OF A Present Repentance IN A SERMON PREACH'D Before the RIGHT HONOURABLE the LORD MAYOR and COURT of ALDERMEN at GVILD-HALL Chapel March 10 th 1694 5. By WILLIAM BRAMSTON Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed by John Leake for William Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCV PROV Chap. xxvij Verse 1. Boast not thy self of to Morrow for thou knowest not what a Day may bring forth THE Wise Man in this Religious Check at the same time rebukes and cautions those Slothful Triflers whom he saw shuffling off the most necessary Business of their Lives what they themselves acknowledg'd must needs be done but yet vainly flatter'd their own Hearts that they might enjoy this Day 's Pastime and be early enough for that Work to Morrow And certainly it may most properly be apply'd now to the Case of every Christian fondly deferring his Repentance that most necessary Work upon which Salvation it self depends It is not the Doctrine of Repentance Men scruple to acknowledge no the Scriptures are too plain and peremptory in this Particular Except ye repent ye shall all perish for such as embrace them to out-face the Necessity of Repentance But the Point wherein they are unsettled is about the Time tho' they must Repent yet this Day 's Temptation flatters them to Morrow will be time enough and then to Morrow's Lust advises a Week hence will not be too late Thus if Youth determines the Case its warm and heated Blood coneludes the Duties of Repentance namely a Serious Constancy in our Devotions the Works of Mortifications and Self-denials to be most suitable to the Sedateness and Gravity of Age If we consult those in the Strength of their Years their Plea immediately is this That they are now in the Prime of their Days in that part of their Life which is most proper for the concerns of this World in the very Critical Moment for advancing their present Honours or Establishing the Happiness of their Posterity That they feel themselves Strong and Healthy past those Dangers which encompass Youth far enough from Death and the Grave and therefore under no such pressing Obligations to be hastening their Repentance which will be more becoming our declining State Nay if old Age it self be Umpire it presently resolves That it is more seasonable still to cherish than to check the perishing Heat and even with one Foot in the Grave deems its most important Business which remaineth in this World is to be still Careful in Supporting Life even then when Men have gone on so long they think it too early still to look back and because they find themselves greatly disabled for Sinning they are apt to imagine that they are as greatly disengaged from Repenting Thus from the Cradle to the Grave from the very Beginning to the End of Life we are all shifting and putting off the most necessary Business of our Lives Thus though in all Degrees of our Age as Christians we acknowledge it necessary to Repent yet in no degree of our Life to which we are arrived as Men do we judge it time to begin Repentance Give me Leave therefore in Conformity to this holy Season and upon the very Importance of the Subject it self here to take up the wise Man's Admonition and with the most religious Application press upon you the absolute Necessity of our present performing this great Work shew you how very unreasonable it must be in us Christians who acknowledge Repentance to be a Work so indispensible towards our Salvation that if it be not done before Death we must die for ever to depend upon to Morrow to do it in when we know not in what Circumstances this very Day may leave us Now this I shall endeavour in these Three Particulars First By shewing you the dangerous Uncertainties which all delaying Men have to depend upon Secondly How improper the Times resolv'd on by such Men to Repent in will be for the Work of their Repentance Thirdly I shall make it appear That there is no Excuse or Pretence whatsoever which Men may now urge in favour of their Delays but what if seriously considered must even in Wisdom oblige them to hasten their Repentance I. As to the dangerous Uncertainties which all delaying Men have to depend upon Can any Thing be more dangerous and uncertain in the Business of our Salvation than that which has no Certainty in the Gospel of Christ Now though 't is true its Heavenly Voice is this Repent and live yet we may observe it still directs us to the time present As for a future Repentance there is no such thing hinted at in Scripture God no-where calls upon us to Repent to Morrow or assures us That our next Year's Penitence shall be sufficient for this Year's Transgressions No all the Promises of his Help and of the Assistances of his holy Spirit for this Purpose are given to such as seek him early to such as call upon him whilst he is near Now God is said to be near us when our Sins have not set us far from him That is when by our long and habitual Impenitence we have not chased his blessed Spirit far from his Temple which is our Body If we address before the vitious Distemper grows inveterate we may find Life and Consolation in the comfortable Refreshments of God's Holy Spirit but if we deferr and suffer him whilst he is near to forsake us without working up our Souls for this Heavenly Undertaking can we imagine we shall be able to perform it at God's greater distance from us I am sure we have no Authority from God to presume we shall No Those Men who are so willing to flatter themselves in the Perswasion that they may go on sometime securely in their Sins that they shall certainly return at last and seek after God wou'd do very well to consider that they are without any Promise in the Scriptures either that they shall have Grace enough to return at last or if they should seek him that he will then be found by them nay there is not one instance throughout the whole Gospel that a late Repentance shall be available in such Men who now knowingly and wilfully deferr Repenting I say who knowingly and wilfully deferr upon these two Accounts 1. Because I take this to be the case of all us here present who I trust have long since been baptized into the Faith of Christ and the Essential part of our Baptismal Covenant with God is a present Repentance 2. I say knowingly because this plainly sets before us the manifest difference between our case now and that of the Thief upon the Cross heretofore which is the only instance that looks this way and that such a one through the mis-understanding of which too many Men I fear do deprive their own Souls of this blessed Means of Salvation To set your Understandings right as to that particular you may observe That though in respect of this