of his infinite wisedom he rather chose to dispense his pardoning grace after such a manner as should not at all seem to reflect upon his exact justice immaculate holiness and unchangeable truth and might not give the least encouragement to sinners to presume farther upon his mercy and goodness as it would have done for God lightly and easily to have passed by such notorious offences and without any satisfaction to have receded from all his threatnings He would not therefore propound terms of reconciliation with mankind without some publick reparation of the divine Honour and Authority and open manifestation of his just displeasure against sin and disobedience 1. In order to our reconciliation with God it was necessary that some publick reparation should be made of the divine Honour and Authority The sins of the world were an unspeakable affront to the divine Majesty and an open scorn put upon his most excellent Laws and Government Now our mercifull Creatour inclined to forgive the sons of men that great debt which they were never able themselves to discharge yet would so contrive it that his clemency should no ways obscure or impair the glory of his Sovereign dignity justice and holiness It was most highly congruous that whilst he pardoned the offenders yet his Government should be acknowledged the righteousness of his Laws vindicated his Honour and Authority secured All which was most effectually done by our blessed Saviour the Son of God's negotiating our peace in our nature putting himself into the place of sinners and answering all demands for us By this the infinite holiness of God's pure nature was declared to all the world in that he would have no entercourse with nor ever receive into his favour such vile unworthy wretches as we were but onely in and through so holy so perfect a Mediatour By this it appear'd that God at first upon good reasons established his laws and pronounced his threatnings since he would not without such a glorious compensation go back from them We have now the greatest cause given us to tremble at his severe justice to adore his sovereign power and dominion even whilst we admire and feel his love and kindness to us since no other consideration could prevail with God to remit our offences but the powerfull interposition of his onely begotten Son and his suffering in our nature those pains and torments which were due to our sins 2. By this appearance of the Son of God was God's hatred and grievous displeasure against sin most abundantly manifested in that he would not hear of nor offer any pardon or mercy without such a valuable satisfaction Here God poured forth his utmost vengeance against sin when he delivered up to such a cruel and cursed death that Person that was most dear to him and least deserved any such treatment from him before he would forgive it Can we now possibly think that there is but little evil in or that God is not much offended with that which could no other ways be expiated but by such pretious bloud Can any man imagine that it is a cheap thing to sin when God himself in our flesh was bruised and buffeted crowned with thorns and nailed to the cross for it That surely was no trifle or indifferent matter that caused the Son of God to bleed and die That sore was deadly that could be cured by no other balsame but his bloud If any thing could shew the fierceness of God's wrath against sin surely it must be the gaping wounds and bleeding side of our Savour Look on this his wonderfull humiliation see the pits that were digged in his hands and feet and the furrows that were made on his back and then tell me what an accursed thing must that be that made God so displeased and fastned our blessed Lord to the Gibbet So that by our Saviour's incarnation obedient life and patient death the divine honour was more illustriously repaired his authority more clearly vindicated his justice and severity against sin more openly declared disobedience more highly disgraced and condemned than if all the Sons of Adam had perished eternally in their rebellion But this being once done by the Son of God's appearing in our behalf this great propitiatory Sacrifice being offer'd for the sins of the world God now thought it fit and consistent with the glory of all his Attributes and the ends of government to tender life and peace to sinners upon the most equal and reasonable conditions of the Covenant of Grace This is the admirable temperament and expedient found out by the wisedom of God by which God glorifies his mercy in the pardon of sin without any violation of his justice or truth though he had denounced death against it Thus this blessed Jesus opened to us the gates of Paradise removed the flaming Cherubims took away the partition-wall between God and men and put us all into a fair capacity of being for ever happy To him alone do we and all men owe that God will now deal with mankind upon such favourable conditions by a new law suited and accommodated to our circumstances and infirmities in this lapsed state that God upon the account of Christ's gratious undertaking for us is ready and forward to be reconciled with us to forgive all that is past and to make us as blessed as our natures are capable of and of this benefit all that hear of the Gospel do equally partake For we are not to imagine that our Saviour came into the world upon so little and narrow a design as onely to rescue and redeem peremptorily and absolutely a few particular favourites without any conditions but he hath put all men those especially to whom his Gospel is preached in a ready and easie way of obtaining pardon and salvation And thus our redemption justification and salvation as to the valuable meritorious causes depend onely on our Saviour In all this work we have not the least hand we have no place nor part It was not any thing in us or that can be done by us that moved God to contrive or our Saviour to accomplish our redemption but onely the pity he had of us in our forlorn miserable condition Here also is the onely comfort and security of guilty minds depressed with shame and fear for their sins that We have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins That we are not to stand the brunt of God's anger or displeasure our selves since his own Son hath voluntarily offered himself to screen mankind from the divine wrath and vengeance And if we do but thoroughly consider how great and sublime a person he was we cannot in the least doubt the prevalency and success of his appearing for us We ought not to despair of obtaining any thing from God fit for him to grant when we present our selves before him with such a Mediatour and Intercessour in whom he is infinitely well-pleased and who is able to
our Church even to those who are without especially be persuaded to join all your endeavours against this vice by keeping a strict guard against it in your selves by keeping from all appearance of it by not suffering it in your inferiours or those that have any dependance upon you by mildly and seasonably warning and reproving those of your neighbours and acquaintance that are guilty of this folly In a word let us all observe such exact truth in all our chat and discourse be so constant to our promises that at any time our word may pass without any farther engagement that we may never think it necessary to assure our credit or faith by an oath Amongst the Romans the Priest of Jupiter was in no case permitted to swear because it was not handsome that he who was so nearly related to their great God and charged with such divine matters as the care of Religion should be distrusted about small things And we know amongst our selves solemn formal oaths are not in many cases required from persons of honour their word upon their honour hath equal credit with the express oath of inferiour persons Now such would our blessed Saviour have all his disciples to be so true and faithfull that there should be no need of oaths to confirm their speeches but that the holiness and strictness of their lives should give such undoubted testimony to and command so firm a belief of all they say as that no farther asseveration should be able to vouch it more I conclude all with those sayings of the wise Son of Sirach Ecclus. 23.9 10 11 12 13. Accustome not thy mouth to swearing neither use thy self to the naming of the Holy one For as a servant that is continually beaten shall not be without a blue mark so he that sweareth and nameth God continually shall not be faultless A man that useth much swearing shall be filled with iniquity and the plague shall never depart from his house If he shall offend his sin shall be upon him and if he acknowledge not his sin he maketh a double offence And if he swear in vain he shall not be innocent but his house shall be full of calamities There is a word that is clothed about with death God grant that it be not found in the heritage of Jacob for all such things shall be far from the godly and they shall not wallow in their sins Vse not thy mouth to intemperate swearing for therein is the word of sin But I say unto you swear not at all A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL The Ninth Sermon St. MATTH I. 21. And thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins THAT the appearance of the ever blessed Son of God in our mortal nature was upon some very great and most important design not otherwise at all or at least not so happily by any other means to be accomplished every one must needs grant at first hearing It could not be any indifferent trivial errand or business that a person of such infinite honour and dignity was employed about which brought down God himself from the regions or glory and light inaccessible to dwell in an earthly tabernacle and to veil the splendour of his Majesty with a body of flesh This was such a surprizing condescension of him that had lived from all eternity in the bosome of his Almighty Father this signified such wonderfull love and regard to that humane nature he assumed that all men cannot but reasonably promise themselves the greatest advantages imaginable from such a gratious undertaking That our forlorn nature should be thus highly honoured and exalted as to be after such an unspeakable manner united to the divine doth evidently assure us of God's good-will towards sinfull men that he yet entertained thoughts of mercy towards us and was loth that the folly of his creatures should prove their irrecoverable ruine Had God sent a message to us by the meanest servant in his heavenly Court it had been a favour too great for us to have expected and for which we could never have been enough thankfull Had he commanded an host of illustrious Angels to have flown all over the earth and loudly to have proclaim'd God's willingness to have been reconciled to men should we not all with mighty joy and wonder have regarded and adored such stupendous grace and goodness crying out Lord what is man that thou art thus mindfull of him or the son of man that thou thus visitest him But that God himself should descend from his heavenly habitation to be clothed with our rags that he who thought it no robbery to be equal with God should take on him the form of a servant and be found in the fashion and likeness of sinfull flesh this astonishes not onely men but Angels themselves for he took not on himself the nature of Angels nor appeared for their rescue and deliverance who had left their first mansions of glory but was pleased so far to humble himself as to undertake the cause and patronage of us vile worms sinfull dust and ashes even whilst we were enemies traytours and rebels to his divine Majesty and utterly unworthy of the least gratious look from him though we had never so earnestly besought it in our behalf it was that he did mediate and intercede he stepp'd in between guilty wretched us and God's justice perfected our redemption procured our liberty and purchased eternal life and happiness for all men on the easie and pleasant conditions of the Gospel And thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins In my discourse on these words I shall onely I. Shew you how or by what means the Son of God became our Jesus or did save men from their sins II. Draw some plain inferences from it I. How or by what means the Son of God became our Jesus or did save men from their sins Now in order to the salvation of sinners the great end of our Saviour's Incarnation these two things were necessary to be done one of which principally respects God the other sinners themselves 1. In order to the salvation of sinners it was necessary to obtain and purchase the pardon of their sins and reconciliation with God 2. It was farther necessary that sinners themselves should be reform'd and turned from their sins to the love and practice of true righteousness and goodness that so they might be in some measure qualified and disposed for God's grace and mercy 1. In order to the salvation of sinners it was necessary to obtain and purchase the pardon of their sins and reconciliation with God It is true indeed that God Almighty by the unlimited goodness and compassionateness of his own nature is infinitely inclin'd to all acts of favour and pity and he might without wrong to any one if he had seen it fit absolutely have pardoned the sins of mankind without any other consideration than their repentance but out
sins before ever he will save us from the penal consequences of them So that the efficacy of Christ's undertaking for us and the necessity of our own personal righteousness do very well consist together and each hath its proper work in obtaining the pardon of our sins and the favour of God Our Saviour's incarnation and perfect obedience even unto death is the sole meritorious cause of our acceptance with God and of our salvation He alone purchased those great benefits for us made atonement paid our ransome and procured this covenant of grace from God wherein eternal life is promised to penitent sinners But then these great advantages are not immediately and absolutely conferr'd upon us but under certain qualifications and conditions of repentance faith and sincere obedience for the performance of which the holy Spirit is never wanting to sincere endeavours We do therefore vilely affront and disgrace our blessed Lord when we boldly expect to be saved by him whilst we continue in our sins Nay we ought to think our selves as much beholden to him for his doctrine and the assistences of his grace and the glorious promises of the Gospel by which we are made truly holy and righteous as for his sufferings and death by which he satisfied God's justice and purchased the pardon of our sins 2. I shall hence make that inference of the Apostle Heb. 2.3 How then shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Hath God so abundantly provided for our happiness hath his onely begotten Son done and suffer'd so much for it and shall we be so sottish and stupid as foolishly to despise it when it hath been so signally the unwearied care of Heaven to procure it for us It is onely our own advantage that is design'd God projects no private profit nor doth any accrue to him from the salvation of all mankind Shall we our selves therefore madly defeat all these designs of grace and goodness towards us by our invincible resolution to ruine and undoe our selves Did the onely begotten Son of God as at this time descend from the regions of bliss and happiness was he born into this miserable world and did he humble himself to take our flesh that by that means he might exalt mankind and make us capable of dwelling in the highest Heavens and all this out of mere pity and compassion of our desperate condition and shall we think the denying our selves a lust or the satisfaction of a forbidden appetite or a short-liv'd pleasure too much for the obtaining the same glory Did he live here a poor mean and contemptible life and at last die a shamefull death to merit eternal life for us and for the obtaining the same shall we grudge to live a sober temperate and honest life Oh how will this consideration one day aggravate our torment What vexation and anxiety will it one day create in our minds with what horrour and despair will it fill our guilty souls Had God predestinated us from all eternity to everlasting misery so that it had been impossible for us to have avoided our sad fate had he never provided a Mediatour and Redeemer for us it would have been a great ease in another world to consider that we could no ways have escaped this doom But when we shall reflect upon the infinite love and kindness of God and how desirous he was that all men should be saved when we shall consider the wonderfull pity and compassion of our Saviour in being born and dying for us and procuring for us such easie terms of salvation and so often by his Spirit moving and exciting us to our duty and the care of our souls when we shall think of those many obligations he hath laid upon us and the wise methods he hath used for our recovery and amendment and how that nothing was wanting on God's part but that we might now have been praising blessing and adoring his goodness and wisedom amongst the glorified Spirits in the happy regions of undisturbed peace and joy and yet that we through our own most shamefull neglect though often warned to the contrary are now forced in vain to seek but for a drop of water to cool the tip of our tongues How will this heighten our future pains and prove the very essence of Hell Better shall it be in the last day for Tyre and Sidon for Sodom and Gomorrah places overrun with lust and barbarity for the Nations that sit in darkness and never heard of these glad tidings of a Saviour than for you to whom this salvation is come but you cast it behind your backs The fiercest vengeance the severest punishments are reserved for wicked Christians and what can we imagine shall be the just portion of those whom neither the condescension and kindness nor wounds and sufferings of the Son of God could persuade nor yet the excellency easiness and profitableness of his commands invite nor the promises of unexpressible rewards allure nor the threatnings of eternal punishment engage to live and be happy In vain therefore do such come hither to celebrate the memory of Christ's birth They of all men who despise this great salvation purchased by the Son of God have no great cause to rejoyce this day nay happy had it been for them who still persist in their sins notwithstanding all that Christ hath done to save them from them if this holy Jesus had never been born 3. Lastly Let us all improve this present opportunity to return our most humble praises and thanksgivings for so great and unvaluable a blessing and to join our voices as well as we are able with those bright Seraphims and that heavenly Host that attended and celebrated Christ's nativity when the Heavens proclaimed his birth with their loud shouts of joy saying Glory be to God in the highest on earth peace good-will towards men Blessed be God for ever blessed be his holy name who hath found out a way for our deliverance and hath raised up for us a mighty salvation that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life Praise therefore the Lord O our souls and all that is within us praise his holy name and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all our iniquities and healeth all our diseases who hath redeemed our life from destruction and hath crowned us with loving-kindness and tender mercies What shall we now return what do we not owe to him who came down from his imperial Throne and infinitely debasing himself and eclipsing the brightness of his glorious Majesty became a servant nay a curse for our sakes to advance our estate and to raise us to a participation of his divine nature and his eternal glory and bliss To him therefore let us now all offer up our selves our souls and bodies and spirits and that not onely to be saved by him but to be ruled and governed by him and
that they mean as they say And it being necessary for the government of the world in so many cases not proper now to be named that truth should be found out and the greatest certainty of it be given that can possibly and that men should by the strictest ties be obliged to some duties it thence also becomes necessary that oaths should sometimes be required especially when men cannot by other means well assure the sincerity of their intentions or secure the fidelity of their resolutions I confess amongst Christians in the first ages I believe oaths were not so commonly required in such little matters as now sometimes they are but the reason was because truth and honesty then prevailed far more amongst them and lying was then more scandalous than I fear perjury is now but perfidiousness and dissembling and equivocating and fraud encreasing have made the use of oaths more ordinary than otherwise would have been necessary For if Christians did generally observe the laws of their Religion in all other instances men would fly to this greatest security onely in extreme and highest cases and not find it needfull to require it in common and more trivial matters 6. Lastly I onely observe farther that what seems thus to be the doctrine of our Saviour concerning swearing was delivered by the Philosophers of old amongst the Heathens as agreeable to the light of nature and right reason that is to say they advised their Scholars to forbear all oaths as much as possibly they could never to swear but when it was necessary to reverence an oath as Pythagoras express'd it in his golden Verses not easily or lightly or want only to take God's name into their mouths I forbear to trouble you with the Authours or the Sentences themselves and I propound this onely to shew that the wise men of this world did agree with our blessed Saviour in this rule which he hath prescribed to us concerning swearing and I have been the larger in it that you might see what little reason any Enthusiasts amongst us have to stand out so stubbornly against the wholsome laws of our Countrey and the proceedings of the Courts of Judicature who though it were to save the King's life will not give their testimony upon oath because our Saviour hath said Swear not at all The sum of all is Our Saviour absolutely forbids swearing in our communication or ordinary discourse together and about the unlawfulness of this there is no dispute and strange it is that against such express words of our blessed Lord and Master men should so openly allow themselves in such a vile practice and yet have the face to call themselves his disciples and followers This evil of voluntary rash swearing hath prevailed amongst us even almost beyond all hope of cure and remedy That great Oratour St. Chrysostome made no less than twenty Homilies or Sermons against this foolish vice and yet found it too hard for all his reason or Rhetorick till at length he attempted to force his Auditours to leave off that sin if for no better reason yet that he might chuse another subject They are ordinarily men onely of debauched minds and consciences that freely indulge themselves in it and if any such now hear me I cannot expect by those few words I have now to deliver to dissuade them from it I had rather endeavour to offer something to your consideration who are not yet infected by it to persuade you to watch severely against it and resolve never to comply with such an impious senseless custome 1. Consider what an horrid affront it is to the divine Majesty All sin reflects dishonourably upon God but other sins do this by consequence onely this directly flies in his face and immediately impugneth his justice and power Other sins are acts of disobedience but 't is high contempt of God thus to toss about his excellent and glorious name in our unhallowed mouths and to prostitute it to so vile an use as onely to fill up the vacuities of our idle prattle That great and terrible name of God which all the Angels and host of Heaven with the profoundest submission continually adore which rends the mountains and opens the bowels of the deepest rocks which makes hell tremble and is the strength and hope of all the ends of the earth our onely refuge in the day of trouble the very thought whereof should fill all sober persons with a reverential awe and horrour how do men most impudently and rashly almost every minute pollute and tear without fear or sense or observing what they say as if God Almighty the Maker and Judge of us all were the meanest and most despicable Being in the universe What unaccountable boldness and intolerable sauciness is this to dare to invoke the dreadfull Majesty of heaven and earth to witness to every impertinent saying silly story vain fancy almost every five words we utter thus at our pleasure to summon our Omnipotent Creatour as if he were at our beck and a slave to our humour thus to play and dally with him who is a consuming fire and can in the twinkling of an eye make us all as miserable as we have been sinfull How shall we ever be able in the day of our fears to address our selves to the throne of his grace whom every time we speak we thus madly defy with what shame and regret and confusion must we needs appear before his Judgment seat whose honourable name we have thus foully prophaned and used so ignominiously Can they ever think to plead that bloud of our dearest Lord and those wounds made by the spear and nails in his most pretious body for the pardon and expiation of their most grievous sins who thus daily have made a mock of them Can they ever with the least hope of success pray God when they come to die to deliver them from that damnation that they have a thousand times before wished to themselves And yet this sin which argues such slight and abuse of the divine Majesty such rudeness towards him and draws so many dire consequences after it is now adays pardon me if I say it one of the fashionable accomplishments of too many of those that should be precedents of civility or good manners to others but this is so sad a consideration that I cannot endure to dwell longer upon it I proceed to other mischiefs of this vice though none need be named after this for those whom the awe of God and sense of his power and infinite greatness will not keep and restrain from such desperate profanations of his holy name it is not to be imagined that any less arguments should 2. This practice of common swearing must of necessity frequently involve men in the heinous sin of perjury He that swears at every turn in his ordinary discourse how often doth he call God to witness even to what he knows is false and as often forget to doe what before God he hath engaged himself
save to the utmost all that come unto God by him Thus this Jesus hath saved us from our sins in the first sense that is obtained and purchased the pardon of them and made God placable to us But this is not all 2. In order to the salvation of sinners it is farther necessary that men should be freed from the power of sin and from their evil natures and become really good and holy It is not enough that God should be made willing to forgive our sins unless we also are made willing to forsake them Christ came not to save us from the evil consequences of our sins whilst we loved them and delighted our selves in them He did not purchase for us an indulgence or licence to sin without punishment That indeed had been an employment unworthy of the Son of God nay an impossible task to have reconciled God to unhallow'd and impure minds The reformation of the world the reparation of our natures the purifying our minds the implanting the divine nature in men were as much the design of his incarnation as the vindication of the divine justice to which all the world was obnoxious and pardon me if I say it he is more our Saviour by freeing us from the dominion of sin than from the penalty Our blessed Lord had not been so kind and gratious to us had he obtained Heaven for us could such a thing possibly have been whilst we continued impenitent and utterly unlike to God Now there are these two things absolutely necessary for the recovery of mankind and making us really happy repentance for sins past and sincere obedience for the future and to effect both these no means so likely as this appearance of the Son of God in our nature 1. As for repentance for sins past what in the world can be imagined more effectual for the working in men an ingenuous shame and sorrow for what they have done amiss than these tender offers of God's pardon and acceptance upon our submission and returning to a better mind We have now all possible assurance given us that mercy is to be had for the most grievous offenders Nothing can exclude or exempt us from this act of grace but onely our own wilfull and obstinate refusal of life and happiness All men are in the condition of the prodigal Son in the Parable of our Saviour Luke 15. They have gone astray from their Father's house after their own inventions promising themselves indeed great pleasures and full satisfactions in a licentious riotous course of life but soon wearied with such painfull drudgeries and many woefull disappointments at last they begin to recollect themselves to remember that plenty they had enjoy'd of all good things in their Father's house how easily and happily they lived whilst they continued under his mild and gratious government and to think of returning thither again but the sense of their horrid guilt and unworthiness flying in their faces fills them with dismal fears and anxious despair so that they cannot hope for any kind reception or entertainment after such an ungratefull rebellion Now let us suppose this Parable thus continued that the Father who was so highly provoked had nevertheless sent his other Son who had never offended him into a far Countrey exposed to many difficulties and hazards to seek and find out his lost Brother to beseech him to be reconciled to promise him that he should be dealt with as if he had never displeased him Would not such condescension and unparallel'd goodness have melted and dissolved the poor Prodigal 's heart what joy would soon have o'erspread his face with what gladness would he have hearken'd to such an overture what haste would he have made home Could he after this have doubted of his Father's love and kindness to him This therefore is the greatest encouragement that can be given to our repentance that God hath now by his Son declared himself exorable and placable more willing to forgive than we can be to ask it of him and can we desire pardon and peace upon more equal and easie terms Can any thing be conceived more reasonable than that before our sins be forgiven we should humbly acknowledge our faults and with full purpose of heart resolve to doe so no more and if such love and kindness of Heaven towards us will not beget some relenting and remorse in us if such powerfull arguments will not prevail with us to grow wise and considerate it is impossible that any should 2. As for sincere obedience for the future without which we can never be accepted by God nor be made happy this also our Saviour hath most sufficiently engaged us to by his doctrine clearly revealing God's mind and will to us setting before us his own most excellent example promising us all needfull help and assistence and propounding eternal rewards and punishments as the motives of our obedience 1. He hath clearly revealed to us God's nature and his whole mind and will concerning our salvation He came into the world a Preacher of righteousness plainly to instruct mankind in all their duty towards God themselves and one another He freed men from the intolerable yoke of many burthensome and costly ceremonies and brought in a rational service an everlasting righteousness consisting in purity humility and charity all his commands being such as are most becoming God to require and most reasonable for us to perform They are most agreeable to our best understandings perfective of our natures fitted to our necessities and capacities the best provision that can be made for the peace of our minds quiet of our lives and mutual happiness even in this world they are easie and benign humane and mercifull institutions and all his laws such as we should chuse to govern our selves by were we but true to our selves and faithfull to our own interest He hath not denied us the use or enjoyment of any thing but what is really evil and hurtfull to us he hath considered our infirmities and manifold temptations maketh allowances for our wandrings and daily failings and accepteth of sincerity instead of absolute perfection so that the advantages and excellency of his laws are as great an argument to oblige us to the observance of them as the divine authority by which they were enacted 2. Our Saviour propounded himself an example of all that he required of us the better to direct us in our duty and to encourage us to the performance of it since nothing is expected from us but what the Son of God himself was pleased to submit unto He conversed therefore publickly in the world in most instances that occur in humane life giving us a pattern of an innocent and usefull conversation thereby to recommend his Religion to us and to oblige us to tread in his steps and to follow him as the leader and great Captain of our salvation 3. He hath promised and doth continually afford the mighty assistences of his holy Spirit to all
present too we shall for the same reason for which we defer it till then put it off still to another day and so it will be always a day or more to that day when we shall begin to repent So that this ought rather to be called a full purpose of committing sin to day than a resolution of leaving it to morrow he that resolves to be vertuous but not till some time hereafter resolves against being vertuous in the mean time and as vertue at such a distance is easily resolved on so it is as easie a matter always to keep it at that distance the next week says the sinner I will begin to be sober and temperate serious and devout but the true sense of what he says is this I am fully bent to spend this present week in riot and excess in sensuality and prophaneness or whatever vice it is that I indulge my self in and if we doe thus often if it be our common course to put off our repentance thus from time to time this is a most shrewd sign that indeed we never intend to repent at all This is onely a pitifull device and excuse to shift off the duty wholly and so we should interpret it in any man who should deal with us after the same manner in our worldly affairs It is with wicked men in this case as it is with a bankrupt when his Creditours are loud and clamorous speak big and threaten high he giveth them many good words and fair promises appoints them to come another day entreats their patience but a little longer and then he will satisfy them all when yet the man really intends not to pay one farthing nor ever thinks of compassing the money against the time Thus do men endeavour to pacify and quiet their consciences by telling them they will hear them another time but this is onely to delude and cheat their consciences with good words and specious pretences making them believe they will certainly doe what yet they cannot endure to think of and what they would fain wholly excuse themselves from but yet this is not all for 2. We shall be less able to repent and more indisposed for the work at another time than we are now That which makes men so loth to be brought to reflect upon their lives past is as I before observed the uneasiness and trouble they think they shall find in such a work so a great Trader that hath good reason to think he is run much behind-hand in the world of all things hates to look into his Books cannot endure to hear of stating his accounts and yet the longer he defers this his accounts will become more intricate he 'll still run more in debt his condition will every day grow worse and worse till at last 't is past all recovery and thus it is with wicked men they would fain defer their repentance as long as ever they can they would not yet be interrupted with such grave and serious thoughts but the mischief is the longer they defer it the more they have still to repent of and not onely so but they become more unable and unfit for such a work they are still more backward and averse as having been longer used and accustomed to their sins and as having contracted greater familiarity with and kindness for them and by such delay their ill habits grow more confirmed their lusts and passions become stronger and more potent and even their very natural powers and faculties are by degrees weakned and disabled And for this reason the sooner we begin a religious course of life the more easie it will prove to us not onely because in the time of youth we are most capable of any impressions our natures being then most soft and tender but also because if we begin betimes there is so much the less change to be made in our lives and tempers our repentance then is like a man's returning into the right road as soon as ever he was out of his way he hath but a few paces to go back You therefore who have not yet lost all your natural modesty who yet blush at your vices whose hearts are not yet hardned in sin would you but presently without any delay apply your selves to the service of God and practice of Religion what abundance of care and trouble might you save your selves how many sad days and sorrowfull nights might you prevent it is in your power now upon easie terms to become good and vertuous and the sooner you begin the less sorrow the less self-denial the less pains will suffice Now therefore even this very day let us set about it and he that hath done wickedly let him not dare to doe the same so much as once more let us resolve never to have any parley with our lusts but to make some considerable progress in our repentance before ever we give sleep to our eyes or slumber to our eyelids let not any worldly business or the cares of this life or even our necessary employments much less sinfull and vain pleasures stifle or choak any good thoughts or resolutions that during this exercise may be raised in our minds we have trifled too long already about a matter of such infinite moment it is perfect madness to dally any longer when our souls which are ten thousand times more worth than our lives are at stake If we begin this very moment God knows we begin late enough and who knows but to morrow may be too late had we been wise we should have begun sooner A long and eternal adieu therefore let us every one say to all the unlawfull bewitching pleasures of this world I will no longer be fooled or imposed upon by them nor one day more live in such a state as I shall be afraid to die in from this hour I change my service I now lay my self down at the feet of my blessed Master without any farther disputing the case I will immediately begin my journey to my father's house I will as soon defer eating drinking or sleeping as delay to secure my everlasting salvation to become sound and healthfull to be at ease and in peace to be safe and happy And for our encouragement to this I shall onely for the conclusion of all add that however great and heinous our sins have been yet we cannot be more ready to ask than God is to grant us our pardon we cannot be more forward to return than he is to receive us into his embraces And because we know our selves obnoxious to his severe justice and that he is a God of truth and faithfulness as well as of mercy and compassion and that he hateth sin with a perfect hatred therefore that we might not have the least suspicion remaining in us of his unwillingness to forgive such high provocations and offences as we may have been guilty of he hath been pleased to send his onely begotten Son into the world to lay down his life a ransome