any or such and such a Sin rather than Affliction This plainly and in the Name of God and of Conscience that is made a Judg within a Man and the Soul hearing it with Terror and Awe upon it is the true Work of Repentance This is a severe Discipline a day of Terror indeed upon the Soul when it is carried home by the Hand and Finger of God Now this Scripture calls a Judging our Selves and this Self-examination and Self-judging are recommended to us as what would save Gods Judging us If we would judg our selves we should not be Judged of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.31 and surely if it be done to the purpose and so as strongly to affect the Heart it is a very great Effect oâ— the Spirit of God and and of Christ convincing of Sin and of Righteousness John 16.8 c. and of Judgment And I should rather choose it as an Evidence of the Grace of God than some fair appearances that corrupt Nature can better bear 3. In Repentance there is a real Trembling and Afflicting and Grieving and Shaming a Mans self a smiting on a Mans Thigh a being Asham'd and Confounded by bearing the Reproach of our ways a loathing our selves an abhorring our selves in dust and ashes a not opening of our Mouths in any self Apology or Justification but a smiting on our Breast as so great sinners as the chief of sinners This is the true and real work of Repentance in this part of it This is a truly Spiritual Penance in comparison of which all imposed Bodily hardships are nothing and yet if God lays Affliction upon us though it be very severe there is an Acceptance of the Punnishment of our Iniquities Lev. 26.41 Oh! that God would enable us to these secret Acts upon our corrupt selves to rend our Hearts and not our Garments to Sacrifice to God broken Hearts and contrite Spirits to Tremble at his word to humble our selves and to lye down before him with our very Souls and Spirits as well as to roll our Bodies in the Dust Oh! that God would give us these proofs of true unfeign'd Repentance 4. There follows in a true Repentance a real execution upon our corrupt impure selves a cutting off the Right Hand Mark 9.43 and the Right Foot a pulling out the Right Eye a true Spiritual being put to Death a slaying a crucifying our selves in the Flesh that we may Live to God in the Spirit a suffering the Spirit of Judgment and of Burning a salting the Saorifice not only with Salt but with Fire Now All these Things are of great use as they are Acknowledgments of the Righteous Judgment of God due to us in our Eternal Condemnation as they are Judging our selves to the very Fire of Hell As they declare the exceeding Evil of Sin and the Foulness of it as they shew us the absolute Necessity of a Redeemer as they lay a Foundation of separating our selves from sin and of the utter Hatred of it And lastly They are such as must needs result from Rational Nature endued with most powerful Principles of the Law of Righteousness Knowledge of God and of his Righteous Judgment written in the Hearts and the Thoughts he hath made the Conscience he hath created either for Accusing or Excusing and especially all these mightily set home by the power of the Spirit of God that so he may have though not Real Satisfaction from the Sinner for that is alone from Christ Yet such an Honorary satisfaction and Acknowledgment as is due from a sinner even in his very Soul and from the bottom of his Heart in the Day wherein rhe Lord is pacified towards him that flies for Refuge to the hope set before him Particular 2. The second Particular in this Head concerning Repentance in the strict consideration of it is That it imports very close and particular Negotiationn and Transactions with God in relation to Forgiveness and such as express our particular shame and sorrow that we have offended him and earnest Desires that he would shew us that he is at peace with us and hath pardon'd all that is pass'd in Christ. Under this I will Discourse these following Particulars 1. In Repentance The Humble Repenting Soul casts it self down in the most lowly and Self-abasing Acknowledgment of sin and confession of it Scripture therefore points so much at Confession He that confesseth and forsaketh He must first confess and then forsake his sins and he shall find mercy Prov. 28.13 And David describes a Penitent as one in whose Spirit there is no guile that is he makes an open sincere hearty Confession This is one Branch of the Description of the Blesled Man whose Iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered and to whom the Lord will not impute Iniquity And after it follows I acknowledg'd my Iniquity unto thee and my sin have I not hid I said I will confess my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity rf my s n. But before I did this and while I kept silence thy hand was heavy upon me so that my moisture was tu ned inio the drought of summer Psalm 32.1 c. I acknowledge my tnansgression and my sin is ever before me Psalm 51.3 Ezra thus made confession c. 9. So Nehemiah c. 9. So Daniel c. 9. And the Apostle John Ep. 1. c. 1.9 says If we confess our sins he is fâ—ithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Thus we see how much Scripture puts upon Confession throughout Now Confession of sin is not accepted of God for it self For what can we suppose the Relation of our sins can be to God the Eyes of whose Holiness and Glory are so pâ—ovok'd by our sins But he hath only Regard to us that we should in hatred of our sins and of our sinful selves expose them with hatred and abhorrence of our selves and because we are resolved to have no more to do with them we discover and detect them without any thing of Guile without any Reserve For as the Expression is in Job when we spare our sins we roll them under our Tongues The more therefore we confess them with trouble of Mind and in bitterness of Spirit and with Resolutions of having no more to do with them the more acceptable is our Confession to God because thereby our Confession the more attains God's Ends and what he is most pleas'd with in our Confession For therein is our sincerity when we confess sin because it is Reasonable to expect we will not be reconcil'd to the sins we confess For that is for the Dog to return to his Vomit Confession of our sins with Loathing and Abhorrence is vomiting them out of our mouths And sherefore to return to them again is to return to our Vomit and Confession is like Washing and Purifying our selves To retturn therefore to the sins we have confess'd is wallowing our selves in the mire after washing
Lord our God This is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief The deep and duly Affecting consideration of God and of Christ the infinite excellency of their Nature their so great Benefactions and loving kindness towards us and that God professes He is Grieved Vexed Provoked pressed with our sins as a Cart with sheaves wearied made to serve that he cries out as one that would move compassion Oh! do not that abominable thing that I hate These so enkindle all the Affections of shame sorrow gratitude holy desire zeal revenge upon our selves that there is such a change wrought as is always found in true Repentance 3. In Repentance in general there is found as motives and perswasives of it self-preservation a desire of happiness and an avoidance of and flying from misery Men dearly as we say Repent it when the folly of their own ways is seen in the bitter Fruits the loss of their Health loss of Estate Prov. 5.11 loss of Friends of Reputation and of all Enjoyment and when they see all manner of distress c. 1.24 Marc. 9.43 c. anguish and misery come upon them then they mourn at the last when they see all consumed and say How have we hated Instruction and despised Reproof Thus in Scripture and Evangelical Repentance there is a fear of Hell and an Eternity of Misery A cutting off the right hand and Foot a pulling out the right Eye when any of them are understood in Repentance to have offended and to continue to offend under the sense It is better to enter into Life blind halt than having two Hands Eyes Feet maimed rather than to be cast into Hell whole where their Worm dyeth not and their Fire is not quenched There is a seeking Honour Glory and immortality By ingaging in Repentance into a patient continuance in well doing on the other side tribulation and anguish indignation and wrath vehemently Agitate the Spirit and Thoughts against a continued course of doing evil What shall it profit a Man if he gain the whole World and loose his own Soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul I say unto you my Freinds fear not them that Kill the Body and have no more that they can do but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear fear him who after hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him Oh! that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end I say unto you repent else you shall likewise perish who hath forewarned you to fly from the wrath to come God hath commanded all men every where to Repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will Judg the World Repentance unto Life Repent and turn your selves that Iniquity may not be your ruin Repent and be Converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of Refreshing shall come forth from the presence of the Lord Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Thus Scripture having these two handles of the Soul Fear of Evil and desire of happiness mightily moves it to Repentance by them it holds these two great Globes the World of Happiness and the World of Misery both present and to come and so with a Scepter so Potent it sways the Spirits of Men as the Divine Spirit that dwells in it pleases I have thus far given the Nature of Repentance in general that it may be the better understood what we are now to Discourse I begin therefore with the first Head that Repentance which is so Communicated to the very inward sense of mankind springs from and hath its whole place in the Redemption of Christ The Apostle speaks of Esau that he found no place for Repentance there is a proper place for Repentance And this I say is the Redemption of Christ that hath laid the Basis the Foundation of Repentance that hath spread over Human Nature the notion and sense of Repentance And where it is truly wrought the Spirit of Christ takes it from Christ and gives it to the Soul and it is accepted only in and through Christ It is therefore to be understood that there had no Place been Found for Repentance had it not been for the undertaking of Christ For Repentance being a rational Act it must have a Rational Foundation and Encouragement If there were then no Mercy no Forgiveness no Salvation there could be no Repentance but that of fruitless sorrow horror and despair the Repentance of wailing and Gnashing the Teeth that is the Repentance that is in Hell a Repentance without being chang'd or made better Seeing then Salvation Forgiveness Mercy are all bound up in the Name of Christ For they are no where else the Redemption of Christ is the only foundation of Repentance such a Repentance as hath in it a change from sin to Holiness David gives us this great Instruction Psal 130. There is forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared that thou maiest be feared with the Awes with the Reverences of Repentance there is Forgiveness with thee there had been no place for such Fear of thee if thou hadst been so extreme to mark what is done amiss as that there had been no Forgveness with thee And this is most evident also in that Doctrin of the Apostle before mentioned concerning the Repentance in the case of Esau When he had despised and sold his Birth-right and would after Inherit the Blessing he was Rejected or Reprobated from it and he found no place of Repentance tho he sought it that is the blessing carefully with Tears Heb. 12.17 He found no Place of Repentance because he was rejected Whether we understand it of Isaack's or of Esau's Repentance it is much at one If we understand it of Esau's Repentance finding no place in himself so it hath this sense That Repentance flies into Despair if it be not accepted when we tender it Or if we understand it of Isaac not Repenting when Esau wept to procure it but still fixed the blessing on Jacob it is still the same thing for if God did not please to accept our Repentance or himself to Repent in a sense worthy of him our Repentance would be to no more purpose than Esau's Tears or than the weeping in Hell we should be Rejected and Reprobated in our Repentance The Law that says cursed is every one that hath not continued in all things to do them Gal. 3. and Do this in the first Act and Live leaves no room for Repentance but the bringing in a better hope even pardon of Sin Attonement and Reconciliarion in the Blood of Christ does by this we draw nigh to God in Repentance Heb. 7.17 and are not Rejected but Accepted Here then there is Rational Foundation and Encouragement for Repentance because it shall not be thrown upon and into Despair there is Hope concerning
and Zeal not only ought but must be reduc'd and redress'd in Towns and Cities and in all our Villages and most particularly in our Camps and Navies where they more than any where else if possible abound and where there ought to be greater Guard and Watch against them than any where else according to that Great Precept Deut. 23.14 2. If this be not done It cannot be except God hath left the Earth more than ever yet he hath done and forsaken it and walks in the Galleries of Heaven without Regarding but that there must be a Visiting for these things and that his Soul must be avenged of such a Nation as this Jer. 5.9 whether by Plague or Famine or War or evil and noisome Beasts or by a Complication of these Four yea though it be by a Fire yet unblown that is ready to flame out or by an Army of Wounded Men that our Destruction must come and much the more because the Light of his Truth is so open and clear among us because his Mercies and Deliverances have been so-Great and the Methods of his Providence so unusual in his unhinging for us the General Laws of Nature in Dethroning and setting on the Throne for our preservation Now if These his Great Acts and Wonderful Doings do not work to Reformation They certainly shall justifie God in our Destruction And yet we daily see our sins and Transgressions Growing up to the very Heavens so that that our Destruction cannot but be speedy 3. Except the Kingdom of Christ be as I have declared very near us And that we are not yet under some most dreadful Judgments it is an argument to me it is certainly so that the Kingdom of Christ is very near us when he will take to himself his own great Power and Reign and Reform by a through Purging his Floor either by pouring out his Spirit and perswading by his everlasting Gospel Malach. 4.1 and sitting as by a Refiners Fire and Fullers Soap throughly to purifie that Baptism with Fire or by the Day that shall burn as an Oven and consume the Wicked Root and Branch and because of this notwithstanding our great Transgressions and mighty provocations even though he hath lifted up his hand that he would destroy us yet he hath wrought for his Great Names sake that is his Kingdom 's sake and hath done nothing yet so remarkable against us Let us then that fear the Lord speak often one to another that a Book of Remembrance may be writ for us as for them that have feared the Lord and thought on his Name and that we may be spared in the day when he makes up his Jewels and gather'd as Wheat into his Garner when he shall burn up the Chaff with fire unquenchable Mal. 3.16 Matth. 3.12 Infer 9. Seeing Nations and Persons are under so strict Commands to Repent with that Repentance to Salvation the contrary whereof is expressed by Death There is therefore in the Kingdom of Christ a City of Life and under it a City of Death a City of Salvation whose Walls and Bullwarks are Salvation and a City of Destruction distinct from it and opposite to it Esay 19.18 c. 26.1 The one is the Residence of those who have Repented with that Repentance to Salvation not to be Repented of The other is the dark and dismal Receptacle of those who have either been wholly dissolved into the worldly Laughter and Mirth or been Sorrowers only after the worldly Sorrow that worketh Death The New Jerusalem is the City of Life and Salvation the City that hath the Tree of Life and the River of the Water of Life and the Nations of the Saved walk in the Light of it and are healed from any possibility of Dying by the Leaves of the Tree of Life and the Living are written in it Whatever liveth in it shall live even for perpetuity The Second Death hath no power over them Esay 4.3 Revel c. 20.6 c. 21.24 c. 22.1 2. On the other side there is the City of Destruction Esay 19.18 when Five Cities shall speak the Language of Canaan being of the Nations of the Saved There is one City that shall be called the City of Destruction the contrary to Salvation being of those appointed to Death This is the Congregation of the Dead Prov. 21.16 This is the City of Gog that is of the dead slain with the sword of Christ's mouth who hath a place of Graves the Valley of Hamon Gog of the Multitude of Gog. Ezek. 39.11 c. These though they are the dead that is slain with the sword of Christ's mouth yet they are as in a Community in a Polity for though they are condemn'd by the Word and Sentence of Christ they are yet the Wicked rais'd to Condemnation and so are in the State of Living but of a Living Death Therefore these dead have a City and the Name of it is Hammonah as the Name of the New Jerusalem is Jehovah-Shammah the Lord is there so the Name of this City is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 its multitude or a multitude is there For broad is the way and wide is the Gate that leadeth to this City of Heres to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Matth. 7.13 These are the multitudes that are gathered together to the Battel of Armageddon the Day of God Almighty shaded by a Battel the multitudes in the Valley of Jehoshaphat the Valley of the Judgment of Jehovah the Valley of Decision of the Doom and Sentence of Christ as the Sword of his Mouth and the Valley of Excision of Destruction Joel 3.74 Revel c. 16.14 16. Now these dead in their City of the dead lye dead during the Thousand Years bound Hand and Foot for that space The Rest of the Dead slain with the Sword of Christ's mouth But when the Thousand Years are expired they are let loose into the Appearance of Life Motion and Action They whose multitude are as the Sand of the Sea under their Name Gog Magog come up against the Beloved City and the Camp or Tower and Castle of the Saints and cover the breadth of it shewing themselves the same Impenitents they were and had been before the Thousand Years began the Never-Repenting Enemies of God and of Christ and of his Kingdom So they are finally judg'd Ezek. 39.11 c. Rev. 19.21 c. 20.5 to the end cast with Sathan who had alway deceived them with Death and Hell into the Lake This is the second Death Thus in the opening this dark Scripture Behold in these two Cities the Repentance to Life and Salvation never to be repented of the Impenitency to Death and Destruction never also to be repented of that we may chuse the first perswaded by Eternal Grace and Love and abhor the other as the Black Mark of being the Esau hated by God who found no place for Repentance as the Vessels of his Wrath the Border of Wickedness against whom he hath Indignation for ever
doeth the Will of God abideth for ever No Saint shall be Transposed out of his Saintship He that is Righteous let him be Righteous still He that is Holy let him be Holy still These Things are Asaluta not to be shaken And then on the other part it must be sadly said that Wickedness shall not be Transpos'd in regard of its Guilt in regard of its Filth If not removed in this World by Faith and Repentance not in the World to come Wickedness shall be Wickedness still it shall have a House builded it shall be established Zech. 5.11 and it shall be setled on its own Base and wicked Men shall be wicked Men still When once it is come to that Time there shall be no Transposal He that is Vnrighteous let him be Vnrighteous still He that is Filthy let him be Filthy still Rev. 21.11 Now seeing all this great Doctrine of the Apostle is conveyed to us under this Symbol or Representation of an Earthquake or the Shaking of the Earth and not only of the Earth but of the Heaven also let us enquire into the Scripture-Accounts of an Earthquake and apply it to the present Occasion that it may bring us to a serious holy sense and that what we have seen in a hand breadth may move us to consider what we shall see and feel as in the whole Heaven and Earth in large and in full For if what we have been sensible of as in a Glance or in Passage hath affected any with Fear especially what was done in a part of our Nation beyond the Sea which is but a very little Thing yea a Nothing in comparison of what shall be in its own Times in its proper Times How much more ought we to be affected with the Assurances God hath given us of a Change so much greater For as it may be said to us If we have run with the Foot-men and they have wearied us How shall we contend with Horses If in the present State which is as a Land of Peace and wherein we trust we have been so affrighted What shall we do in the swelling of Jordan I come therefore to the second Head viz. To make Remarks upon the nature of such Motions and Trembles of the Earth and their Fitness to be a Shade of the Kingdom of Christ and wherein they are so And herein I propose three things 1. To consider the strict nature of Earthquakes according to the Scripture-Foundations of Discourse concerning them 2. To enquire into the Causes why God is pleas'd to make such Concussions and Convulsions in Nature 3. To observe upon the great Metaphorical or Figurative Earthquakes that is Changes in the present State of the World that have been since the Death and Resurrection of our Lord and how the Observation of them may be made subservient to the due Improvement of our Thoughts in regard to the late Earthquakes we have heard of or been at all sensible of more of late I begin then with the first Head in Four Points Point I. The Scripture teacheth us This great Globe of Earth and Water is hung by the mighty Wisdom Skill and Power of the great Geometer of Heaven and Earth The Earth being Round is on every side encompassed with Air and Skie as they who sail it round find as well as by Reason it is demonstrated as a Ball in the Air So we read Job 26.7 He stretcheth out the North over the empty Place for so to our eye and motion the meer Air seems to be and he hangeth the Earth upon nothing I know this is a Point proper to Philosophical Discussion that it may go as far as it can upon But those Questions God asked Job 38.4 c. would pose the wisest of the World Declare if thou hast understanding Who hath laid the Measures of the Earth If thou knowest who hath stretched the Line upon it so that it is in just number weight and measure Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned or who laid the Corner-stone thereof There may be handsome and plausible solving the Phenomenae as they speak before Men who know as little the best of them one as another but before God all is but darkning Counsel by Words without Knowledge Now when it is so that the Earth hangs thus How must it needs be that God as he pleases may shake the Earth out of its place with a touch of his hand and all the Inhabitants thereof and his Enemies particularly be shaken out of it or off from it or whither or how he pleases For if that bold Man of Mathematicks durst say Give me where to set my foot and I will remove the Earth what can infinite Understanding and Power do or if he does but slacken his hand from holding the Ballance even keeping the Scales of Earth and Air just or if there be such a one as with great Reason hath been thought the Poize of the Central Fire Even all would be in immediate Confusion On this Consideration then any kind of Earthquakes is no wonder the wonder is they are not every day and not to the utmost The only security is the unchangeableness of Divine Ordination for such a time as he hath decreed since the Flood wherein in all appearance of Reason as well as Scripture there was even in this regard a Jog as one may say of it 2. The Ballance is in this regard yet so Even and just that nothing we account most surely founded stands so fast so firm and secure as the Earth that it cannot be moved So that allowing it to have a Diurnal or every days Revolution from East to West yet it is with such equality that it disturbs all upon it no more than a Fly sitting it self fast on a Globe is unsettled by its being turn'd round Notwithstanding this motion the Earth is founded on the Seas and Established on the Floods that is the Waters are so every way compacted under and about and over it that it is as it were founded upon it as on Pillars of Marble which may have been understood first according to the excellent forementioned Theory of the Earth 2. As the Cement and Fixation of the upper Parts of the Earth is the moisture it receives from the Waters 3. As the ambient or round-about Air hath a more immediate force upon the Waters to crowd and keep them close to the Earth than the Air it self could have upon the Earth the Water being a middle Body between Air and Earth even as the Air is between that subtile Matter we call Ether and Air. So that the Earth hath Foundations Pillars Corner-stone in Scripture-Language And this is indeed absolutely necessary for such kind of Bodies and Works as are to move and rest upon this Earth which is as a Sea in regard of the variety of Creatures in it wherein are Things creeping innumerable and both great and small Beasts and Man the highest Order of Animals Now these require such a
and as Birds in a Snare when it falls suddenly upon them having not known their time Let us most humbly commit our selves to Him by earnest seeking his Grace in the Redeemer in whom all his Grace is Treasur'd up Thus by the Efficacy of his Spirit we shall know in our day the things of our Peace that they may not be for ever hid from our Eyes we shall seek the Lord while he is to be found and call upon him while he is near And so shall be secured from having the Door shut upon us Infer 4. This may be to us a close and determinative Test in this point of Death-Bed Repentance If our Repentance be such and so real that it is not a Lamp of Profession only but Oyl in the Vessel that will bear up the going forth to meet the Bride-Groom and that we are ready and have not our Oyl to Buy but can enter with Him into the Wedding before the Door be shut This how late soever it may seem is Repentance to Salvation and not to be Repented of and shall be with Christ in Paradise Such a Repentance when the Spirit goes out of the Body will be before-hand entred into that within the Veil whether the Fore-runner being for us entred Ministers in the Holy of Holies not made with Hands in that Sanctuary which the Lord hath pitched and not Man in that more perfect Tabernacle that is to say not of this Building a High-Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec a Saviour to the utmost or to All Perfection He fills up with the valew of his own Sacrifice and Intercession and by the Power of his Endless Life whatever is wanting in the Repentance He hath given either in regard of its Valew as being so Late and in the Refuse of Life or of the deep Rooting and Habituation or of the abundant Fruits and having Apprehended the Spirit He enables it in a Moment in the twinkling of an Eye every way enables it to Apprehend that state of Holiness which agrees to the Resurrection of the Dead first in the Life of Spirits with Himself then in the Raising the Body Incorruptible For this appertains to his Melchisedecian Priest-hood wherein He is now and wherein He is King of Righteousness King of Peace a Priest set down on the Right Hand of the Majesty on High If therefore the Repentance be such as He as this Great Prince hath given There is in it a Coming to God by Him and then his Salvation is to all Perfection to it For as going into the Heavens in his Spirit He took in his Passage this Prey the Dying Malefactor out of the Mouth of the Lyon So as He pleases out of the same Power the power of the Dog He rescues those Souls that he hath made dear to Himself for He living ever quickens whom He will and He can by his Spirit seal this his Grace in a Moment For this Great High Priest-Hood being the Eternal Priest-Hood of Christ whatever is said of Him as a High-Priest must be said of Him as this High-Priest which He is alway or without least Intermission And as such an High-Priest therefore it is that He succours the Tempted being in All things Tempted as we are yet without Sin now even as his Great Temptation was at Death yet without the Sin of having deferred his strong Cries and Supplications to Death though then He was most Earnest He can therefore Succour and be infinitely Compassionate even to those who are Tempted though with and in this Sin of having delay'd Repentance to the last They therefore whom He graciously moves to it may come even then boldly to the Throne of Grace and obtain Mercy and find Grace even in this just Season and as it were indivisible Point of Time These Things I write that we may not Sin this Great Sin of Delaying our Repentance to the last But if any Man do so Sin we have this Great High-Priest over the House of God an Advocate and a Propitiation and if such a one be under his Charge and given to Him by God He is a Faithful and a Merciful High-Priest He is therefore Faithful because Merciful to make Reconciliation and to Succour in so great a Temptation as even This is This He can do because He is a Fore runner within the Veil and by his Blood appears as he that hath obtained Eternal Redemption a Redemption always ready This is the great Security and Cordial against the Fear of Death in general to the Saints and Servants of Christ and if by its Hyper-Pleonasm its exceeding Abundance and Affluence it may and does over-flow to some upon whom the Grace of Christ Abounds much more where Sin hath so much Abounded How great is this Miracle of Grace But who How few are they who shall thus Live whom God and Christ will please to make thus to Live When it is come to this for if they are Few that are Saved how much Fewer are the Saved at this last Point Strive then to enter betimes at the strait Gate for many shall then seek at last of any Time to enter in and shall not be Able There is too much of especially the Death-Bed Repentance at is Repentance of the Lamp only that makes a shew only that is but only of this World and from beneath which is able for once to give or yield a fair and lightsome Flash at parting with the World But because without a Treasure to Enter into an Eternal Duration That which is but a Lamp fails in the very time of Tryal and becomes a Lamp put out in obscure Darkness Let your Lamps be always Shining and your Lights Burning such as are Able to be always so and so to Shine even into Eternity Infer 5. From what hath been spoken concerning the Great Mourning and Repentance that shall be before the End of this state of the World even before the pouring out of the Vials in that Miraculous state of Things that shall be after the Apostacy ended and the Kingdom of Christ in Succession I conclude there shall be a Death-Bed Repentance of the World if I may so call it but after that viz. in the time of the Vials we read of no Repenting but a Repenting not no more than in the state of Everlasting Punishment in our general Apprehension of that State even as He that is Righteous shall be Righteous still that is for ever Righteous and in no possibility of for ever Falling from it any more than from the Glory and Happiness of Eternity in our General Notion of that State And this strongly Argues to us the Possibilities of a Death-Bed Repentance seeing all the Prejudices that lie upon and against a Death-Bed-Repentance now lie against that late Repentance of the World but yet it limits and guards against the Ordinariness and Easiness of a Death-Bed Repentance in General in as much as this late Repentance is in a miraculous state of things viz.