that they would consider their latter end Deut. XXXII 29. An End will come and it seems strange that we should all know it and few of us consider it to any purpose We see every day in one or other what is the end of all our Pleasures and Honours and Riches and every thing that we here delight in All these are at an end when death comes and it is coming and at hand none of us knows how near We are sure it cannot be very far off and every day we are sure it is nearer than it was the day before and the longer we live the nearer it is still And though all the things we are now so fond of end in death yet death will not make an end of us for after death is the Judgment when we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 Neither is there an end of us then but according to the Sentence which shall then pass upon us Some shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Matth. 25.46 Now did we seriously consider this that our End is like to have no end but is an endless state of Blessedness or Misery surely we would come a little sooner to our selves and learn the wit to ask our selves some Questions such as these What is it that I am a doing in this World What am I spending my time and labour in Am I sure what my End will be Have I made my self ready for a blessed Eternity I have been labouring for the things of this World as if I could never have enough of them and yet I must shortly dye and all I have laboured so hard for will be gone and I shall carry nothing away with me I am continually caring for this Body and making a very Idol of it my business from morning to night is to feed it and to adorn it And am I not a very fool for this Must not this idolized Body of mine by and by rot in the Earth And am I taking all this pains to entertain the Worms Who can dwell with Everlasting Burnings And what care have I taken that I may not How stand my Accounts against the day of Judgment Do I nothing now but what I shall be able to answer for then Or have I blotted out by repentance all that will not pass then for good O let what will become of this World which is but for a moment and of this Body which will quickly be all rottenness and putrefaction my great care if I be not quite mad must be by a holy and vertuous life on Earth to be fitted for an eternal glorious Life in Heaven My days consume apace and when my Lamp of Life will be extinguished I know not This day is here but to morrow 's uncertain 'T is therefore high time for me to live well that I may live for ever 6. Consider as Holy David did Ps. CXIX 50. and as we are often call'd upon to do our own ways Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your ways Hag. I. 5 7. A man's ways are his thoughts desires designs delights hopes confidences loves fears or hatreds all his words and actions callings professions customs and in short his whole conversation privately with himself or abroad in the World This it concerns us much to think upon not as too many do with delight and pleasure in the very thoughts of their Sins endeavouring thus when the act is over to taste over the pleasure again in their thoughts of it and to continue the gust and relish of it as long as they can neither must we consider and contrive in our thoughts new ways of sinning how we may get into them how we may walk on most securely and most pleasantly in them or how we may compass our worldly carnal and devillish ends by them this kind of thinking on our own ways is God knows too common and many are so perfect in this art of considering their own ways that they can hardly do any thing else But this we are to consider That we walk by the Rule that God hath given us that we carefully mind what we do and how and to what end we do it and taking a review of our ways past examine whether they be such as God approves of We should be as vigilant over our selves and have as close an eye to all our doings as a most wary Master or Mistress are wont to have over their Servants whose either skill or faithfulness they most suspect Every night it would well become us to call our selves to an account for all our doings and let nothing escape us if it be possible without trial Thus might we discern what our present spiritual state and condition is and whither the ways we now walk in will bring us in the end Would we indeed well consider all our own ways and observe well whether they be the ways of God or the ways of the Devil and our own Lusts and whither they tend to life or death it were to be hoped we should see the World in time reformed and the ways of Piety and Holiness come in request again But alas whilst men consider so little what they do and live so carelesly and negligently as tho their doings in this life had no relation at all to their future state or as if they had no God to give an account to of what they do 't is no wonder that so many run headlong to destruction in the ways which they have chosen and persist in without any consideration what they are or whither they lead SECT V. The CONCLUSION HAving pointed out some few things very considerable for the help of those who have not been accustomed to this most necessary duty of Consideration I shall now conclude this Part with an earnest Exhortation to it Let us all as we love God and our own Souls awaken our selves to this Work Nothing can be of greater concernment to us than the things we ought to consider and therefore we must be every way inexcusable if we do not very seriously consider them Can it seem all one to us whether we have a God over us or none Is it all one whether we be under his Government or our own Masters under his power or at our own command Are we no way concern'd in God's Infinite Wisdom Power Goodness Justice Faithfulness Holiness his Providence or his Laws Are his Works and Word his Blessings and his Curse his Favour and Displeasure his Mercies and his Judgments all one to us Can we be wholly unconcern'd whether he see us or see us not whether he regard or neglect us Can we think it all a case whether we behave our selves towards him as Subjects or as Rebels whether he reward or punish us Is it no matter whether we live like Men or Beasts
think no more on these things than only to consider that they deserve not and therefore should not have our serious Thoughts As any thing is of more or less use and concernment to us as it may more or less conduce to make us Wise or Good or Happy as the thoughts of it may more or less help us to live as we ought to do in our duty to God or Man in this life or to come to Eternal Life when we go out of this so is it more or less to be seriously thought on And in like manner whatever things may make us worse or more miserable and may be hindrances and obstructors either of our duty or happiness are accordingly to the hurt more or less which they may do us to be more or less made the Objects of our serious Thoughts So that whatever things they be that may not be either useful or hurtful to us and the more or less so as we either do or do not think upon them are to be look'd on as things not at all considerable and therefore no more to be thought on than must needs be when they come into our Heads whether we will or no and then are they to be thought on with all indifferency imaginable The things then that are of concernment to us and for that considerable are all such as we may be better or worse for such as God may be honour'd or dishonour'd by such as may help or hinder us to be good and to do good in this World or may prepare or unfit us for everlasting Blessedness Hence the concerns of the Soul are more to be thought on than the concerns of the Body Publick concerns more than Private relating to this World only Spiritual and Heavenly things more than things Carnal and Earthly Eternal concerns more than Temporary and God who is infinitely above all and whose both Honour and Favour is of nearer concernment to us than all things is to be thought on more than all things Such are the things which most deserve our serious thinking on 2. Let us now see what kind of thinking it is that can deserve the name of Consideration Or how are these considerable things to be thought upon so as that we may be truly said to consider them It is certain that every sort of thinking is not to be accounted considering We have all of us a thousand rambling thoughts of many things which we take so little into consideration that we can give very little account how we came to think of them and often can hardly remember that we did so at all Whilst we are awake always and sometimes when we are asleep our Heads are full of thoughts which are very busie or rather playing even whether we will or no about a multitude of little things which we never thought worth one hours consideration As in a Market-crowd a Man may see a hundred Faces and give every one he meets with a slight Good-morrow or a How-d ' you and he hath some thoughts such as they are of every one and yet takes no farther notice of them these being Persons he is not then concern'd with His business which brought him thither is the only thing he thinks of then in good earnest So most of the things we think of we do but remember at most or occasionally and accidentally they come into our minds but as they come so they go Like to a thing that passeth by us in haste we see it as it passes and think but very little of it but as we lose the sight of it so do we the thoughts of it too and are no more concern'd about it than as if we had never seen it or as if there had never been such a thing The thinking of a thing which may be call'd Consideration is a designed concern'd leisurely serious and thorough thinking of it 1. It is a designed thinking with a full purpose of mind to inform our selves better about it a summoning up of our thoughts and a diligent setting them on work It is not a thought that a Man hits on by chance and which stays with him a while tho' he never intended it but that which is sought chosen and invited As 't is said Plal. II. 2. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take â—ounsel together So a Man must set himself to consider to advise with and take counsel of his own Reason This is an usual thing with most Men in any great Difficulty or Danger which they apprehend to set themselves to think and contrive what course is fittest for them to take Neither will any wise Man neglect this And why should not we set our selves to consider and contrive for our safety who meet with daily so many difficulties in our way to Heaven and are in so great danger to come short of it 2. It is a concerned thinking as about that the near and great concernment whereof to our selves we are very sensible of We often think of things without any reflection on our selves as upon matters that no way touch us But we are not apt to be very serious about them unless we apprehend our selves some way or other concerned in them When David had determined evil against Nabal Abigail's Servants desired her to consider well of it 1 Sam. XXV 17. Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do for evil is determined against our master and against all his houshold She was to think of it as a matter that concern'd the Safety and Welfare of her self and Family And thus the Psalmist speaking in God's Name to the wicked Psal. L. 22. Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver If we will pass our time in Peace and Comfort we must not forget but think much and very concernedly of God considering well what it lieth us upon to live conformably to his Will that we may never fall under his displeasure 3. It is a leisurely thinking a taking time to view and observe a thing exactly together with all its circumstances its conveniences or inconveniences and all the evils or goods which attend it Sudden Thoughts little deserve the name of Consideration It is a laying things in order in our thoughts with a design to conclude from them what may be or ought to be done or expected by us Consider of it take advice and speak your minds say the Israelites one to another in the Levites case Iudg. XIX 30. And so said Elihu to Iob Hearken unto this O Iob stand still and consider the wondrous works of God Job XXXVII 14. There is implied in it First A preparing the Mind for it by awakening it and stirring it up from the bed of security and an unthinking temper such as the mind of habitual Sinners is even always in in relation to Spiritual things and of Eternal concernment Rise up Balak and hear said Balaam to him Num. XXIII 18. Put the
of God for ever All this must make him sensible both how vile and degenerate how unworthy and wretched how filthy and how miserable Sinning against God hath made him And how being fallen from his Holiness and Obedience so long as he continues in this Sinful state he can have no hope ever to be Happy but must lie under the Wrath of God and unless he be renewed unto Holiness the Curse which God laid on Sinners which is that of Eternal Torments must needs fall upon him He must consider the admirable Love of God in sending him in this Sinful and Miserable State a Saviour to redeem him from destruction by the Sacrifice of his own most Precious Blood and to invite him by his Gospel to Repentance and Faith and to promise him the assistance of his Holy Spirit of Grace to restore him to Holiness and to fit him for the benefits of Redemption the Pardon of his Sins and Eternal Happiness with God in his Kingdom of Glory Such considerations as these must beget in us a deep and humble sense of our vileness and wretchedness a godly sorrow for behaving our selves so unworthily towards God sinking much below the dignity which he gave us a holy Shame and indignation against our selves for this a judging and condemning our selves as worthy to perish and to be punished everlastingly and a most earnest desire of God's Mercy and Favour a firm belief of all that he hath already done for us in Christ fervent Prayer for the renewing and sanctifying Grace of the Holy Ghost to qualifie us for a full Pardon and eternal Salvation And lastly an unfeigned resolution to endeavour henceforward to mortifie all our lusts to resist all temptations to Sin to use all the means of Holiness to Serve God according to the rules of the Gospel and so doing to cast our selves upon the Mercy of God through the merits of our Blessed Saviour Now all this is but our first entrance into a state of Repentance which is also the only Sate of Salvation on Earth This is that which qualifieth persons of ripe age for Baptism and this is that which Baptized Infants are obliged to by Baptism as soon as they come to years of understanding And this tho but the beginning of a Penitent Life is enough for those who live no longer And implieth in it a great deal too little thought on by many As first A change of mind and judgment our understanding being so far enlightned that we judge otherwise of God and our selves of Heaven and Earth of Good and Evil than we did before We prise and value God and Heaven and Holiness above all things whatsoever even life it self And we cannot think well of our selves nor value any thing in the World without these Secondly Such a change of desirc and will that all our desire is to please and honour God and by that means to be restored to and continue in his favour and not to please our selves in any thing wherewith we know God is displeased Our wills are resolved to consult no longer with Flesh and Blood nor to be guided by our own corrupt inclinations and judgment but wholly by the will of God the Gospel of JESUS Christ and the Grace of the Holy Spirit Thirdly Such a change of life and endeavour that just now we set our selves in good earnest on the great work daily mortifying and crucifying the Flesh with its corrupt affections and lusts and cleansing our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of the Lord. This is the first beginning of Repentance and if we have not done this whatever we flatteringly think of our selves we have it all yet to begin And yet is this I fear a great deal more than many who have a long time pleas'd themselves with a conceit that they are Sincere Penitents have at any time yet well thought on Secondly After this unfeigned resolution to live a Godly life there must be a constant care upon our Souls to make good this resolution and to carry on this change thus happily begun unto perfection We must enter upon an habitual course of governing our Thoughts Words and Actions by the Word of God of denying our selves in all the vile desires sinful inclinations and lustings of corrupt Nature and of using all fit means of subduing the Flesh unto the Spirit and of growing in Grace and in the knowledg of our Lord JESUS Christ. And here again is much more than is I fear by all of us well thought on As First A constant fixing our thoughts upon God as much as we can as always present with us seeing and observing our whole behaviour an Eye in all things to his Will and Commandments being careful to leave nothing undone that he hath enjoined us to do nothing that he hath forbidden to observe the prescribed method and manner of doing every duty as being always under his eye Secondly A very diligent and frequent searching into and reviewing of all these things observing narrowly what has been defective or amiss any way that we may be duly humbled and all may be for the future amended Thirdly A constant watching and standing upon our guard against all Temptations whereby we may be drawn to commit evil or neglect the good which is our duty or to be slight and careless in the doing of it Lastly A daily using of the helps of reading hearing meditating praying conversing with pious company or whatever may be a means of preserving our hearts in a Penitent and holy temper and of encreasing our love to God and Holiness and our hatred of Sin He that is not careful to do this as well as he can is far from true Repentance Lastly After all our utmost care because of the weakness of our Nature through incogitancy and surprize and a multitude of unavoidable business of this life we shall find that in many things we offend all And therefore we must often examine our selves and discovering our failings as well as we can we are still as we discover them to repent of them and concluding with our selves that many of them may have slipt away and escaped our observation we are together with those we have found out to pray for the pardon of our secret Faults And here first The sense of our numerous Infirmities must make us continually more and more humble and vile in our own eyes and take down all that confidence we are too apt to have of our selves more and more convince us of the necessity of grace and send us to God to implore in the most humble and fervent manner his strength in our weakness And secondly We ought to give glory to God in humbling our selves before the World and confessing by our whole behaviour that we esteem of our selves as vile Sinners unworthy of God's Blessings and such as think it becomes us to humble our selves to all whom we have offended to make them all the satisfaction we
affairs of this Life there is hardly any one that seems not very sensible of it There are few Tradesmen or Husbandmen or Artificers how mean a Trade soever they drive in the World but they are aware of it And all seem satisfied that nothing can ordinarily succeed well under our hands and that there can be small hopes of thriving by what we undertake if we do not wisely consider of it If an unconsidering Man speed well 't is only by chance and it 's not above once or twice it may be in a hundred times and few Men are willing to venture any thing they prize upon the success of such blind and giddy doings Men therefore in all matters of moment set themselves seriously to think what they have to do and to what end they do it how it is to be done and what helps they stand in need of and how to have them what letts and rubs there are in their way and how they may be removed what they may hope for as the fruit of their care skill and industry and what they may fear as the consequent of their negligence ignorance idleness or any miscarriage If any one do not consider these things Men count him a Fool and every one is ready to read his Fortune for him and say He is not like to thrive Which of you saith Christ Luke XIV 28 31. intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it Or what king going to make war against another king sitteth not down first and considereth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand What Husbandman goeth to plow and sitteth not down first and considereth whether his Ground be in good heart and like to bear any burden whether the Season be proper for his work and all his Instruments in good order whether his Oxen be tractable and in good plight and his Servants well vers'd in the work they go about whether his Seed be sound and himself of sufficient Ability to manage all to good advantage So wise are the Men of this World in their Generation for their worldly ends that they think not fit to venture all at random without due consideration And shall we be so foolish as to imagine that the great business we are to do to secure unto our selves a blessed Eternity should either deserve or require less consideration than the things which relate to our short continuance in this World only Let the miscarriage we are guilty of in our worldly concerns be what it will the evils which we incur by it will shortly have an end and we shall no more remember them But if we miscarry in the business we are now to do for Eternity it is that which draws after it evils both endless and intollerable And this is enough of it self to rouze us up to the consideration of these things An affright will often bring a Man to serious Thoughts when nothing else will And can there be any thing more terrible than a prospect of Eternal Torments But this is not all the evil of Inconsideration tho' it be that which is most apt to awaken the Inconsiderate I do no more but mention it now in hope that the fear of being everlastingly miserable which will certainly be the end of unconsidering People bringing us to some degree of seriousness we may be capable of discerning other great evils in it such as are these following 1. Not to consider the things on which our Eternal State depends is not to behave our selves like Men but to act quite contrary to our Nature Reason is a thing Essential to Man and only Man of all inferior Creatures is able to make this use of it I mean to consider things To this end is it given us and if we make not this use of it we had as good have been without it Trees and Plants grow and bear Fruit but they cannot consider how they do so nor what they do Beasts and other Animals live and move eat and drink and do such things as are agreeable to their Nature But they consider not they do not deliberate within themselves about their Actions or their Ends but are carried on by their Senses and a natural Appetite without pondering of Circumstances and debating in their Breasts what is most fit or unfit to be done or what is like to follow upon the doing or omitting of any thing Only Man of all earthly Creatures hath Reason and Vnderstanding and thereby is fitted for deliberating consulting and discoursing things over within himself and for contriving forecasting and ordering all he doth to good ends and purposes And if he doth not make this use of his Understanding and Reason he acts contrary to the Nature which God hath given him Yea and in effect he seems to impute Vanity and Impertinency to the All-wise God as tho' he had given him so noble a Faculty as Reason is in vain and for no use at all For what else is the use of Reason but Consideration If a Man may act like a Beast without Consideration why should not God have made him like a Beast too without Reason If any say We have the important Affairs of this Life to consider and this is to use our Reason well I readily grant it but deny withal that this is either all the use or the chief use for which our Reason was given us Had God made us for this World only and if there were nothing for us to enjoy or to suffer but in this short Life the use of our Reason might well be confined to things of this present World and Life But seeing God has design'd us to be Immortal and hath made our Life on Earth to be but a time of Probation and Preparation for Eternity to use our Reason either only or chiefly about the Affairs of this World is as unnatural an abuse as we can make of it Can there be any thing more against Reason than to think it was given us to consider least the things that are most considerable And can there be a more unreasonable thing than to consider more how we may make a shift to spend a few Days here upon Earth than how we may be sure of living an Eternal Life of Happiness with God in Heaven Nay to what purpose shall we consider what to do in this World and how to make the best Advantage of it for the very short time that we are to continue in it if in the mean time we consider not what shall become of us when we go out of it nor how to improve our being in this World so as to save our selves from being Eternally miserable in the World to come when ever we depart hence which may be for ought we know the very next moment If self-preservation be that which all Men naturally desire and aim at it must be most of all things against
repent and what will become of us then How long any one may delay his Repentance before it be too late in this sense no man living can tell him And therefore whoso is wise will not delay his Repentance at all Of this I shall say more afterwards at present I shall endeavour to make us all a little more sensible of the sinfulness of delaying and driving off our Repentance and the keeping of God's Commandments from day to day how contrary it is to all Scripture and Reason And truly this delay is so contrary to both these that it seems very wonderful how any one should not be ashamed as well as afraid to use it There can be nothing in the World more absurd than for a man at once to profess he believes the Gospel and owns the duty of Repentance as necessary and to delay this duty for this delay seems no less than a bold attempt to cancel and blot out the whole Gospel at one dash and to change the order and method which God hath prescribed for the bringing of Sinners to Salvation for a new one of our own contriving It seems I say the making of a new Gospel for our selves and a new way to Blessedness which God never approved of nor allow'd And is not this as absurd as to set our selves in our Saviour's stead and a taking upon us to make for our selves a new and easier way to Heaven That I may not seem to say this without good reason let it seriously be consider'd That Repentance is not only a duty but the special priviledge of the Gospel The good news which the Angels brought from Heaven was That God had sent us the Saviour whom he had in the beginning promised to Sinners and the good News that our Saviour brought us was That God would for his sake accept of the Sinner's Repentance and Faith in him And this was blessed Tidings indeed to a sinful World told 't is true before in the Old Testament and shadow'd forth in the Law but now most fully declared and gloriously confirm'd by JESUS CHRIST in the New Testament The Law of Innocence and Covenant of Works made with Adam allow'd of no such thing as Repentance All it said was this Do this and live do it not and dye In the day thou eatest thereos thou shalt surely dye Gen. II. 17. The first breaking of the Law was death There could be no safe delaying to keep it because every delay of keeping it was a breaking of it for it was a not doing of the Commandment and that was death And it must be kept from first to last for every ceasing to do what was commanded was a not doing of what was commanded and to this death was threaten'd No repentance therefore could have place under this Covenant It was the New Covenant of Grace that made way for Repentance and this is the Gospel-grace that Sinners who have broken God's Law and for that are by the Sentence of the Law doom'd to die shall yet if they repent find mercy with God through JESUS CHRIST This is the Gospel which the Apostle saith was preached before to Abraham Gal. III. 8. and therefore was before the Law of Moses so long that it was first preach'd by God in that gracious Promise of the seed of the woman Gen. III. 15. If Repentance had not been allow'd of from the first man 's sinning even all along to the coming of our Saviour into the World as well as after his coming then had all men during that long tract of time for about four thousand years perished in their sins But to prevent this it pleased God that so soon as the Law was broken the Gospel should be preach'd that men might believe and repent and be saved In a most astonishing condescension to the weakness of Sinners he mitigated the rigor of the Law and was pleas'd to accept henceforward of a sincere obedience to it instead of a perfect fulfilling of it Heartily a man must endeavour to do the whole will of God and whatever failings he finds in himself he must as heartily repent of them and believe that God for CHRIST his sake will not only forgive him his repented failings but also reward his sincere Obedience with Eternal Life This is the Grace of the Gospel but this admits of no delay of our sincere obedience or of our repentance but makes it our duty every day sincerely to obey and unfeignedly to repent and he that doth not so daily sinneth against the Gospel of Grace and he that hopeth for Salvation whilst he thus daily sinneth against the Gospel of Grace must needs frame to himself in his imagination some other Gospel than that which Christ hath preach'd as the foundation of his Hope The Gospel of Christ gives no man leave to continue one moment in sin and impenitence It shews an easier way to Heaven than the Law did and assures us of pardon and salvation upon our repentance which the Law did not but it hath not left Sin to be any part of our way to Heaven nor assured any one that delayeth to repent that he shall ever come thither Our Blessed Saviour came not to call Sinners immediately to Heaven or to assure them of Blessedness whether they lead a life of repentance or no but he came to call sinners to repentance Matt. IX 13. and so to put them into the new way to life which was opened unto them through him His Forerunner Iohn the Baptist he sent before to prepare his way by his Preaching and Baptism The substance of whose Preaching was this The kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe the Gospel Mar. I. 15. He preached the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins v. 4. And the first preaching of our Holy JESUS was to the same purpose He began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Matth. IV. 17. And sending out the Twelve to preach we find the Business they were sent about was the very same Mar. VI. 12. They went out and preached that men should repent For this was God's will That Repentance and remission of sins should be preach'd in Christ's name among all Nations Luke XXIV 47. When St. Peter's Auditors were moved with his Discourse on the day of Pentecost and began to be inquisitive what course to take for themselves he thus directs them Acts II. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins Now what doth all this signify but that as many Sinners as hearing this comfortable Gospel believe it and are thereupon willing to leave their former sinful course of life and to bind themselves in a new Covenant by Baptism to live a holy life in all sincerity and uprightness of heart always as they find themselves failing repenting of their faults and endeavouring to do better shall through the Merits of Christ in whom they have believed
Holiness from Earth to Heaven from our carnal Selves to God but only a change of our Security into Fear and of our Pleasure into Sorrow and it may be of our Minds into a very serious Resolution to live better if we shall live any longer and that merely because we are afraid that we shall live no longer how any one should think such a forced Change as this an acceptable Repentance I must confess I know not unless he have forgotten not only his Bible but his Reason too There are some things as useful as they are easie to be observed in dying People who have spent their days in wickedness And I think they are enough to afright any one from thinking any longer of having the benefit of a Death-bed Repentance First It is too easie to observe That often such a Sinner's Conscience is quite dead within him I speak of some not of all a long time before he dieth and never reviveth again so long as he liveth He is given up to a reprobate mind and his heart turn'd to stone and nothing that should move him to Repentance can make any impression upon it Yea 't is somewhat a rare thing to see an old habitual customary Sinner ever come to any true sense of Religion his Duty his Sin or his Danger or ever to concern himself at all about Eternity Even upon his Death bed whatever care he takes about his Body Estate and Family his Soul seems as much forgotten by him as if he had none at all to take care of It is no uncommon thing to see an old Sinner die thus unconcerned what shall become of him Secondly It is as easie to observe in some of these dying Persons who seem to make some little ado about their future State when they are about to die that though they are desirous of good Advice and send for the Minister to talk to them and pray for them and confess to him some few of their most notorious Faults yet are they the confidentest Persons in the World of their pardon 't is not easie to persuade them that their case is very dangerous but after they have confess'd they are great Sinners and have been pray'd for as though all were done they pass off the Stage of this World as unconcernedly as if they had never acted any ill part thereon Thirdly It hath been very often observ'd that those of them who in some very dangerous sickness have made more ado than ordinary have cried out very bitterly of their past wickedness and folly have shed many tears and poured out many earnest Prayers and have made many Vows to God and Promises to Men of leading a new and holy life if God would restore them to health have yet very shortly after their recovery forgotten all this as if it had never been returning with the Dog to his vomit and with the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Shewing plainly that though they might be in earnest yet was it but for fear and how little credit is to be given to such forced Repentances Fourthly 'T is to be observed That whatever else these old and hardened Sinners are wont to do upon their Death-beds which may look like repentance they are not easily persuaded to confess any very foul Sin which is not so notorious that they cannot deny it and then too it shall be excused as well as they can instead of being aggravated as it ought to be With much more difficulty can they be persuaded to make restitution of all they have ill gotten or so much as to confess their Frauds and wicked Arts of injuring others Rarely do they send for those whom they have offended humbling themselves confessing their Faults begging their pardon and making them all the satisfaction they can before they die And what kind of Penitents are these Lastly If any of these old Sinners at last be touch'd to the quick and pricked at the heart with a sharp sense of their sinful Vileness it is not hard for the malicious and cunning Tempter to bring them into despair so as it shall be impossible for any one to comfort them and in vain to counsel them Their own long-abused Consciences do now begin to revenge themselves upon them for neglecting them so long and they know 't is so just a thing for God now to serve them as they have served him that they conclude it in vain to seek for pardon and mercy He that stands by the Bed-side of these old Sinners when they are on their last Bed may easily observe all this that I have said of them and that but a few of them in comparison die so as that one has any great encouragement to say their repentance was any thing else but the grief and remorse of a heart oppress'd with fear of imminent danger whereinto they find themselves brought by their own folly and perverseness It is easie on the other side to observe the death of the truly pious Christians to differ very much from the death of this sort of men I mean as often as in their sickness they have time and freedom of mind to shew what kind of spirit they are of In many respects as the one dieth so dieth the other these may be cut off by a sudden stroke they may die of a distracting or stupifying Disease as well as the other and the frame of their hearts is to be seen only in their life and not in their death However only those few dying Persons who have in their health conscientiously endeavour'd to live a truly Christian life and have their Repentance not to begin but only to finish with their life upon their Death-bed shew if they have time and strength and liberty to shew it that they die indeed like sincere Christians For either they end their days of trouble in much spiritual joy and comfort reflecting sweetly on the mighty powers of Divine Grace whereby they have been carried victoriously through all the Temptations of the Devil the World and the Flesh and in the ravishing expectation of entring speedily into the joy of their Lord Or being Persons of tender Consciences and deeply wounded in spirit with the sense of all their own imperfections and failings they shew all the signs of an humble broken and contrite heart and close up their time with the Prayers and Tears Sighs and Groans of a devout Soul longing to be made perfectly holy in Heaven with God and endeavouring to that end thus to compleat and perfect all their Repentances on Earth Some will possibly ask If there be so little trust to be put in a very late and Death-bed Repentance Why the Ministers of Christ when they are call'd to assist the Sick do so earnestly exhort even the most notorious Sinners who have spent their whole time past in wickedness to repent of their sins and comfort them with the promises of Salvation if they do repent This Question I confess deserves to be