and its Camp and the full Accounts of that Desolation in Jamaica and Port-Royal were so just upon the Finishing the foregoing Discourse of Repentance as to give leave to take a very short notice in the Introduction Printed last and no more But it is of so great Concern and Interest to a National and Personal Repentance and Reformation that it could not in such a Discourse be passed over without a great disregard to the Works of the Lord and to the Operation of his hands which is so branded an Evil in Scripture-Account Psal 28.5 Esay 5.12 that an Appendix concerning it was even demanded And lastly because Earthquakes the Shaking Trembling and Moving the Earth is us'd as so constant a Symbol or Emblem of the Kingdom of God and Christ Bowing the Heavens Coming down and making a change in the Heaven and Earth that now are and in their whole State and Administration as appears by this Context I have therefore chosen to discourse upon And seeing as I have all manner of ways endeavoured to demonstrate and do not doubt I have by divine Assistance according to Scripture attain'd to do it that that Kingdom of Christ by Computation upon Times given by the most Sure Word of Prophecy is nigh at hand These Motions of the Earth in any parts of the World and more particularly relating to our selves and in this City where such a Symptom so generally observ'd as to be uncontestable is very rare ought to be taken notice of as calling aloud to us to Repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and a Forerunner of the change that Kingdom is to make That therefore which I design in this Discourse upon this Text is to shew That the great Symbol or Representation of the Kingdom of Christ in this so great Text of the Kingdom is the Universal Shake Concussion and Convulsion of Heaven and Earth and that therefore all the Shakes of this Earth ought to be taken notice of as parcels and pieces of that Greatest and Last Shake and as Pledges and Assurances of it and especially when by the Sure Word of Prophecy and the concurrent Judgment of most sober thinking Men concerning this matter who will not yet pitch upon the Time it is concluded it cannot be far off It is known that the Kingdom of Christ is so near I will therefore endeavour to comprise this short Discourse in these Heads 1. To observe how throughout this Text the Kingdom of Christ is shaded by the shaking Heaven and Earth once for all 2. From thence to make Remarks upon the nature of such Motions or Trembles of the Earth and their fitness to be such a Shade of the Kingdom of Christ and wherein they are so according to the Light of Scripture concerning these things 3. To observe the holy use that is to be made upon such Motions of the Earth in general and particularly in these propos'd to our Observation now and that with relation to Christ's Kingdom To begin with the first The occasion of this Context is thus The Apostle having given the Description of the New or Heavenly Jerusalem-state in the former Verses You are come to Mount Zion c. ver 22. c. he makes that great practical Application See that ye refuse not him that speaketh in order to the setting up a Kingdom for so by what follows must needs be intended that the Speaking is in order to the setting up a Kingdom For if they escaped not who refused the same great Prince when he would form a Kingdom on Earth among the People of Israel to be a Type of much a greater Kingdom How shall we escape who refuse him who now spoke from Heaven in the Effusion of his Spirit as a First-Fruits of his Kingdom and who is to be the Great Prince and who will appear in the Glory of his Kingdom the Lord from Heaven as he is called 1 Cor. 15. and then will set up a Kingdom in the New Heaven and the New Earth in a far greater Glory For though Christ came in great State then the Chariots of God were then twenty thousand c. As great Princes come with mighty Retinue of Horses and Chariots so did Christ on Mount Sinai yet that was but Christ as on Earth this from Heaven Psal 68. For his even the same Lord 's Voice shook the Earth Mount Sinai and the Parts about it did exceedingly shake But now as he is setting up a Kingdom both in the New Heaven and the New Earth so he hath promis'd I shake not only the Earth but the Heaven also It may seem strange an Earthquake should be given in promise it is rather a Threatning and Denunciation but because it is a close Forerunner of the Redemption of the Servants of Christ and even of the whole Creation therefore it is given in promise And because so blessed a State is not in present and immediately but to come therefore also it is promised as a thing future and to come I will shake And because this whole frame of Nature is defiled with Sin and Apostasie up to the very Heaven of God and his Saints therefore Christ promises to shake not only the Earth but the Heaven For there are spiritual Wickednesses in High Places or Heavenlies Sathan and his Host who are the Princes under him of the Power of the Air as well as the Rulers of the Darkness of this World and so the Heavenlies or Heavenly Places are more defiled than all the wicked Men on Earth can defile the Earth though they defile it so much but then Sathan shall fall as Lightning from Heaven All must be dislodged and dismounted For that Heaven shall be the Residence and Palace of Christ and his Saints and shall shine down into the new Earth beneath purified by Fire from the Defilements of Men so Heaven and Earth must both be shaken And therefore the shaking of Heaven and Earth may well be by promise since a new Heaven and Earth rise from hence by promise And Because all this is fulfilling of Promise therefore the Servants of Christ at so great a shake of the Powers of Heaven and Earth shall be less afraid than they are of a small Earthquake now they shall receive it with Triumph and rejoycing they shall say Oh blessed Day Oh blessed Appearance They shall lift up their Heads with joy because their Redemption draweth nigh Let us not therefore say That Day will be so terrible how shall we endure it It shall be given us in that Day to Rejoice who are his Redeemed And this Christ will do once more even at his Kingdom as if he should say I have shaken or permitted or ordered the shaking of the Earth many Times in various Places and on sundry Accounts I have shaken Nations and Kingdoms but now saith he I 'll do it once more and once for all And we may be sure this shaking hath never been yet for there hath not yet been
his own Immensity the whole latitude of our Nature without contracting it into the narrowness of a human Person by the great care he took That this Nature should not be dishonoured abused and torn by it self through that bitter Censoriousness Revenge and Contempt Men exercise upon one another even there where Christ is professed So would our Christianity that is now evil spoken of appear as it is in it self Acceptable to God and approved of Men if we could unite in those comprehensive Interests of Righteousness Peace Joy in the Holy-Ghost that substantial Christianity Those healing Wings of the Sun of Righteousness in the Rays of which our little differences about Meat and Drink would play up and down as smallest Motes of Human Frailty easily obtaining a mutual Pardon and that black and most abhorred Vapor of Irreligion be forced to dislodge at so Illustrious a Presence If there be any Interest to keep afoot these Divisions it is an Interest of Dishonour that dares not name it self it is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not barely to serve an Opinion much less the Lord Jesus but the Belly 3. But to return from whence I have digressed upon so great a Cause Lastly we may find in the very Notion of a Death-Bed Repentance enough to defend the seasonableness of this Discourse notwithstanding spreading Irreligion For it imports a design to Dye well and we see very Few and those Few deprived of the common Modesty and Sobriety of Mankind and who thereupon become an horrid Story but dye at least in a fair and calm Temper towards Religion Now if we join to this that of many Millions for one every one dies as he lives not only as the Tree falls so it lies but as it hath inclined along its growth so it falls How great is the necessity then of living well that we may dye well For this Death-Bed Repentance that rises and sets at the same time generally proves but a falling Star That Repentance only wheels orderly into a higher Orb that hath given proof it was a true Light by shining here for some considerable space A good Death receives Being from a holy Life else there is not such a thing in Nature no not in Grace except by Miracle of Grace Thus far I have made Apology for the Seasonableness of this Discourse In the Discourse it self I am not conscious of having wandred from the Vniversal Doctrin of Divines in this Point except it should seem too high a strain to place this Repentance when true among Miracles To justifie that I have the warrant of Sacred Story the Dying Convert which being the only Example of such a one in Holy Writ was in the days of the Messias that great Period of Miracles singled out upon that greatest occasion viz. To display the power of the dying Mediator to forgive Sins not only upon Earth but in his lowest Humiliation his very descent into Hell which argues it a very great Miracle Yet I have not trusted the weight of the Discourse to any thing that looks like a private Opinion but to most avowed Principles and have therefore reserved my particular Sense as the Conclusion of the whole I have only to add there is a National late Repentance as appears by the Vnsuccesfulness of that unparallell'd †2 Kings 23.26 and 24.3 4. Reformation of Josiah sincere indeed in him and of full Effect but not in the Body of the Jewish Nation as appeared by their Relapses under the following Kings and therefore notwithstanding that seeming Return the Lord turned not from the Fierceness of his Wrath wherewith his Anger was kindled against Judah for its guilt in the Sins of Manasseh which the Lord would not Pardon and therefore would not give a true Repentance of those Evils they had so long continued in against all the early Admonitions of the Prophets This is the just Parallel of a Death-Bed Repentance The due Application of all these Considerations to every one into whose hands they may fall is the earnest and affectionate Prayer of T. B. THE GENERAL INEFFICACY AND INSINCERITY OF A Death-bed Repentance c. Luk. 23.39 40 41 42 43. And one of the Malefactors that were hanged with him railed on him saying if thou be the Christ save thy self and us But the other answering said dost thou not fear God Seeing that thou art in the same condemnation And we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this Man hath done nothing amiss And he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom And Jesus said unto him verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise THE generality of Men that have been at all acquainted with the name of Repentance and understood in any Measure the importance and signification of the thing acknowledge it beyond all dispute necessary Yet they allow themselves a leisure for the Performance of it and such a leisure as swallows the whole time of Life and leaves only the last and lowest part of it for the discharge of so great a Business so that their Repentance if any at all falls out to be a Death-bed Repentance The inconveniencies of which are unexpressibly great because the lives of Men are left naked of that Holiness and Purity that should adorn them and all over blotted with Sin and Vanity Their Conversation wants that light of good Works that should shine before Men and glorifie God in Heaven Their Life is without form and void and darkness is upon the face of it And in the end they are cast upon the great Sea of Eternity as in a Vessel of Paper a thin and superficial Repentance It is therefore most necessary to use all means to shew the Insufficiency of this Refuge which most of those that live in common under the Profession of Christianity design while they live to fly to when betimes they dye To demolish this House upon the Sand that Men may not by hopes of shelter at it conceived long before hand be kept off from laying their Foundation upon a Rock which possibly they would do if these hopes were cut off And because this piece of Sacred Story hath been generally taken as an Instance of great Favour to a late Conversion not that it is indeed so but that it seems to be so let it be the Ground of the present Discourse For I observe Divines in their Doctrin concerning the danger of a Dying Repentance are careful to wrest out of the hand of presuming Imagination this Example and to allay the vain Confidence built upon it Indeed the Mistake of it is very fatal seeing if it be duly considered there is nothing more forcible against what it is pretended for than it It is true it is a Relation of a dying Man returning from great Sins to God but so circumstantiated so defended on all hands against Boldness upon it that
the Spirit of Bondage Rom. 8.15 For that Law of Self-preservation being seated so deep in Man the fear of an evil so Destructive to â—our Beings as wrath to come and the eternal Displeasure of the Supreme Being Nothing moves so strongly and powerfully nothing makes so violent concussions in the Heart of Man as these deep apprehensions or tears up the very Roots of that old sinful Frame and make it fly every way to change its Scituation and Posture for the avoiding of that Displeasure Thus Nineveh affrightned with that present dreadful Dâ—nunciation of Judgment turn'd it self every way to Attonement with God although the Judgment then Denounc'd did not râ—ach to Everlasting Punnishment how much more do the Apprehensions of Wrath to come and ever to come as was before observed of it move And though this is not the highest and noblest Kind of Motive yet it is such as our Lord earnestly and doubly recommends to his Friends I say unto you my Freinds fear not them that kill the Body and have no more that they can do Luke 12.14 but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear fear him that after he hath kill'd hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him 3. The so greâ—t Assurance God hath given in Jesus Christ the Mediator and Redeemer that our sâ—â—s shall be Pardoned upon our Repentance is a most excellent motivâ— to Repentance and follows the former as that still Voice wherein God is did the â—arthquake 1 Kingâ— c 19.12 This Assurance is that which gives Life and Spirit to Repentance and also the true Evaâ—gelical Sweetness and Divine Temper to iâ— which else would turn into the Horrors of Cain and Esau which afterwards relaps'd into a Worâ—ly sâ—curity senselesness and sensiâ—ility for Cain went out from the Pâ—ese ce of the Lord Gen. 4.15 c. 36.15 and dwelt in the Land of Nod and fell to Building Esau bâ—came a greaâ— Earthly Prince and Faâ—her to many Dâ—kes without any further thought of the Birthrigâ—t or Blessing or else the ho â—ors arising from the sense of sin and Divine Dâ—spleasure turn into the Dâ—spair of Saul and Judas â—â—at are but the forâ—casts of Hell and everlasting sâ—pâ— aâ—ion from the presence of God and the light of his Countenance This sense of the Love and Favor of God in Christ is that which draws the Soul by the melting and dissolving that Stony Heart and making that stiff Neck and Iron Sinnew to be ready and pliant to all Holy Rules and Heavenly Motions and sweetens fear sorrow and horror into Love and Reverence and filial dispâ—sitions to Obedience while there are any beginnings of shedding abroad the Love of God in the Heart and when the Love of Christ begins to Constrain us This glance of the Eye of Christ on Peter wiâ—h Love and Grace made him go out and weep bitterly this sense of Mercy humbled David and Distill'd into all those Heavenly Penitential Expressions we have Psal 51. 4. When by the grace of God the Heart is deeply Affâ—cted with the sight of the great Evil abominable Foulness and Hatefulness of sin and with the Beauty of Holiness this is a most effective motive to Repentance when we are struck with the sense of the Intrins ck shamefulness of every evil way the falseness of those appearances of good that aâ—e found upon sin but werâ— an Inheritance of Lies it makes us hate every false way and cast away the Things that can yeild no true good or profâ— and of which we have reason for ever â—o be ashamâ—d the end of which is Death Rom. 6. Through the word of thy Lips I keep my sâ—lf fâ—â—m the Paths of the Destroyer Psal 17.4 Through thy Precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way Thy word is very pure therefâ—re thy sâ—rvant loveth it I hâ—ve found thy Precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way The righteousness of thy Testimonies is everlasting give me understanding and I shall live Psalm 119. The Law of the Lord is right converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart How sweet are thy words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in the keeping of them there is great reward Psalm 19 All these are Expressions of the mighty Power of Holiness moving to Repentance from the Beauty and Amiableness of it self and the Odiousness of Contrary Sin and Evil. 5. The Word of God throughout all these is the Instrument of the Holy Spirit and with the Variety of its Divine Representations Collects and Diffuses into the Soul and Universâ—l Spirit of a Man being suited to every Faculty and Affection the Reasons and mighty Efficacies â—oth of Fear and Hope viz. the Wrath and Indignation against sin of Grace and Mercy in Christ to the truly Repenting sinner and together with them the Beauty of Holiness and the Hatefulness of Sin For the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit executing Vengeance on sin and yet sparing the Humble Returning sinner and effectually moving him by it to Repentance 6. The sixth and last Motive I shall use is the true Consider tion of the Gospel state both as it is now and as it shall be in its Glorious Manifestation For that being a state so New and so different from the present state of Sin and Flesh and Corruption we can never be suited to it but by this great Change by Repentance for it the putting off the Old Man which is corrupt according to its deceitful Lusts Ephes 4.22 23. and putting on the New Man which is renewed after God in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness is most absolutely necessary to enjoy this Kingdom And this is the Truth of Repentance It is the having such an Eye upon him 2 Cor. 5.15 who is Risen from the Dead and to the Resurrection of the Dead it self as to know neither Persons nor Things as we knew them before after the Flesh On this account our Lord sent John as an Herald before him preaching and saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And as soon as John had finish'd his Ministry of Repentance to shew it was not only the Message of the Fore runner but of the Lord himself whose way he was to prepare Jesus himself from that time began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matth. 3.1 c. 4.17 he shewed to us this New state requires New Persons New Hearts and Spirits New Lives and Actions to lay the Foundations and Beginnings of it here and now and that it may break out into Salvation and Glory at the Glory of that Kingdom That it may be so tryed now as to be found unto Honour Praise and Glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ I come now to the second part of this
of the Spirit poured out of such a Glorious Kingdom of Christ come into its Succession and at the time when our Lord shall immediately Come in his Kingdom But then at the same time is cut off all possibility of Repentance after this Season of Repentance For as soon as the time of the Vials enters all possibility of Repentance is fore-doom'd as hath been said Now this Late Repentance shall be excited and stirred up to by the Preaching of the Everlasting Gospel and of this there were two great Symbols or Figures given in the very first Appearance of the Gospel viz. the Apostleship of Paul who was as hath been observed Born out of due Time into that High Mission agreeable to which is the Preaching of the Everlasting Gospel and the Repentance of the Dying Malefactor just as Christ was entring into his Kingdom And they are each a Hypotyposis or Pattern for them who shall Hereafter Believe on Him to Life Everlasting and Repent with the Repentance to Salvation never to be Repented of and especially at that Great Futurity of the Coming and Kingdom of Christ or the Coming of Christ in his Kingdom FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by William Miller at the Acorn in St. Paul's Church-yard where Gentlemen or others may be furnished with the best Collections either in whole or in part taking all the State-Matters Church-Government Sermons Divinity or Humanity In Folio ASSemblies Annotations in two Vol. Ainsworth's Annotations Book of Martyrs in three Vol. Ben. 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Evangelical Repentance UNTO SALVATION Not to be Repented of Upon 2 Cor. 7.10 And as most Seasonable Short Considerations on that Great Context Hebr. 12.26 Yet once more I shake not only Earth c. Upon the Solemn Occasion of the Late Dreadful Earthquake in Jamaica and the Later Monitory Motion of the Earth in London and other Parts of the Nation and beyond the Sea Whereunto is Adjoined a DISCOURSE on Death-Bed Repentance On Luc. 22.39 Now God commandeth every one every where to Repent Acts xvii 20. By T. Beverley London Printed by R. Smith for W. Miller at the Gilded Acorn in St. Paul's Church-yard where Gentlemen and others may be furnished with Bound Books of most Sorts Acts of Parliament Speeches and other sorts of Discourses and State-Matters as also Books of Divinity Church-Government Humanity Sermons on most Occasions c. MDCXCIII Licensed and Entred According to ORDER THE Epistle Dedicatory TO THE KING and QVEEN TO Their Majesties is most Humbly presented These Discourses of Repentance extending to National Reformation in order to the Kingdom of Christ Into which are inserted Considerations upon the late Earthquake in Jamaica and the later Motion of the Earth in London and other Parts in the Nation and beyond the Seas And all this on greatest Right and Due For who as Religious Princes are so concerned in Publick Reformation according to all the Precedents of Scripture Who as Protestant Princes are Interested in the Kingdom of Christ of which the Protestation against Papal and Antichristian Abominations and Usurpations was a Preparation even for that Kingdom of Christ tho at the distance of 180 Years styled in Prophecy Half Time near expiring into the Succession of that Kingdom when Reformed Princes truly so shall not lose but highly gain in Glory Who as Good and indeed Gracious Princes are so deeply affected in publick Judgments unhappy Revolutions or general Mercies and happy Revolutions foreboded by Earthquakes or Gentle Moves of the Earth For they are Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers of their People And of what Princes can we hope or promise our selves better than of their so Vnited Majesties Two-One in True Religion As therefore the Supream Majesty was pleas'd to give particular Directions to Themselves of those Tremblings of Earth whether for Judgment and Repentance or for Mercy in their Port in Jamaica styl'd Royal and in this their Capital City and not only so but peculiarly in the Camp Royal in Flanders So All these Discourses upon All are most Humbly and with profound Obeysance first laid at their Majesties Feet as having the first National Episcopacy committed to them from God in Succession to Constantine the first Christian Prince in much greater and truer Right than the Popes have their Primacy from Peter or his Hierarchy their Episcopacy from the Apostles And next it is Presented to the National Episcopacy so Constituted by their Majesties even as an Evangelical Ministry is I hope more immediately committed to them by Christ wherein being near to Christ as in their National Episcopacy to their Majesties they can and I doubt not will Represent to them what is according to his Gospel by this Ministration For wherein have we in the History of Scripture found a greater Configuration of the happiness and stability of Times than when David's and Nathan's Jehosaphat's Micaiah's and Jehaziel's Joash's and Iehoiadah's Zerubbabel's and Joshuah's Nehemiah's and Ezra's have been conjoin'd And in Church History than when Constantine's and Athanasius's Theodose's and Ambrose's the Protestant Princes and Luther's c. and in our Nation than when such as K. Edw. VI. and Cranmer c. or Q. Eliz. Jewel c. have been Vnited in Publick Reformation And oh that at such a time as this General Reformation by Both might be tinctur'd with the Knowledge of the Kingdom of Christ when by the Sure Word of Prophecy deeply to be search'd it is so near How great Honour would be return'd from hence All which is most Humbly Prayed by Their Majesties most Humble and Obedient Subject and Servant in the Kingdom of Christ T. BEVERLY TO THE READER BY A Friend of the Authors WE live in an Age wherein Names and Professions are many Thousands and ten Thousands are distinguished thereby every one saying Lo here is Christ and Lo there that thou hast a Name that thou livest may be said to the National Church and to all the Dissenting Churches among us the Temple the Temple saith the one and saith the other yet may it not be said to the most of these Churches But thou art dead be watchful and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to Dye Rev. 3.2 3 4. God hath I am perswaded a few Names in all and every the said Churches who have not defiled their Garments but do indeed repent and turn to the Lord who are born not of Flesh nor of Blood nor of the will of man but of God such to whom the kindness and love of God our Saviour hath appeared not by works of Righteousness which they have done but according to his mercy he hath saved them by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and for others let them be of the lowest or of the highest form such that have made the first step to Reformation or higher and greater steps thereto they are but the leaves of the Fig Treee that is cursed of Christ and shall soon wither away It is no matter what name you have I would there were not any Name among us but Christian It is the Nature and Power of Christianity What is the Chaff to the Wheat It is said in the Phrophesies of Isaiah and Micah that the Mountain of the Lord's House shall be exalted to the top of the Mountains and all Nations shall flow unto it I do not think by Mountain in these places is meant any one particular Church by what Name soever they be dignified or distinguished But the true Living Mistick and Catholick Church such who having been in the Apostacy with others do Repent and turn to the Lord and that you may the better know them you have these following Discourses to help you in so great a work some Despise this great Grace and stumble at this mighty work of God upon the Heart as too high too hard and too difficult a work but God hath his Fire in Zion and his Furnace in Jerusalem and he will throwly purge his Floor There must be a cutting off a right Hand a plucking out a right Eye and it is better going to Heaven with one Eye and with one Hand maimed and Halt than to go to Hell with both Others say Repentance is a legal work fit only for old Testament Saints There is indeed a sorrow a rapentance that worketh Death but the Repentance here called for and exhorted to is such that is never to be Repented of That which brings the Soul poor and naked trembling and melting to Christ the Prince and Saviour
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
that we may not be pleased and contented with a Counterfeit with any other Repentance than that unto Salvation not to be Repented of Least we for ever Repent of our Repentance in Hell where there is no place of Evangelical saving Repentance but of that only which is a barren Fiery Horror and Despaire scorching the Conscience for ever and not allaying it with a Drop of Water to Cooll outragious Tongue Luke 16.24 Blaspheming at the same time God and Christ and our impenitent selves who would not Repent while we had space and place for our Repentance Infer 5. Let us by all the most moving Considerations of the Evil of sin the hatefulness and unreasonableness of it the sense of the Goodness and Grace of God in Christ all his Judgments all his Mercies the sense of an Eternal Misery and Punnishment from his Presence be strongly mov'd excited stirr'd and led to Repentance Infer 6. Let us rejoyce in the sweet Reposes of Conscience when we have truly Repented in the infinite Power Authority and Supreme right of God to Pardon upon Repentance not dependent upon Man nor upon the Will of Man Who is a God like unto him who Pardons Iniquity Transgression and Sin and casts it into the depth of the Sea who makes by his Pardon sins as Scarlet and Crimson to be White as Snow and Wooll that blots out Iniquity as a Cloud and a thick Cloud with the same Potency and Ease that the Sun does off a Cloud and with infinitely greater Let us Rejoyce in the great Efficacies of the Redeemer Pardoning sin upon Earth as the great High Priest of our Profession and the Bishop of our Souls Absolving truly Repenting Sinners by the Witness of his Blood sprinkling the Heart from an evil Conscience and speaking better things than the Blood of Abel The Blood as of a Lamb without spot Offer'd by the Eternal Spirit Purging the Conscience from dead works together with and even as the Author and Finisher of faith and repentance from dead works to serve the Living God Heb. 9. c. 10. c. 12. Let us rejoyce in the Witness of the Divine Spirit Sealing and Witnessing to us by Repentance washing the Body the whole Conversation as with pure water Let us rejoyce in all the Blessed Promises and Assurances of the Word of God made by it to sincere Penitents which are yea and Amen in Christ For all these are of far greater Authority Truth Certainty than All Bindings or Loosings on Earth whether by the Ecclesiastical as we call it Administration of the Keyes or by Men forgiving one Another however necessary these may be in their place Infer 7th Seeing the Kingdom of God and of Heaven is the great Motive to Repentance as hath been before on great Reason made out The high Reason we have to believe that by the Apostles calling it the Last time the last hour the ends of the World so many Hundreds of Years ago we must needs be now upon the very last issue and determination of that Time when the Kingdom shall appear in Glory and all other kind of Time shall be no more How great a Cloud does therefore Encompass us that we should by no means be willing or able to Rend to Engage us to run with Patience the Race of Repentance set before us Heb. 12.1 and to that End to lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Repentance that it may be to Salvation and never to be Repented of Hearing him who in the days of his Flesh because the offers and first appearances and First Fruits of his Kingdom were then begun Preach'd saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand so the full Harvest of that Kingdom being now ready to appear he does by the Voices of all his Prophets in the Old and New Testament instantly Preach to us Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand And of how strong and close Connexion the Kingdom of God and of Christ and Repentance are I shall more fully and largely at this time Represent as a most solemn Conclusion of this Discourse There is a fixed space given and a peculiar Interval Appointed Lying between the time of the Apostacy call'd the Time Times and Half Time or the 1260 Days and the Time of the Vials And it is 30 years making the 1260 1290 Years Dan. 12.11 even as the 45 Years of the Vials to the Absolutely blessed state of the Kingdom of Christ in Glory when the Saints shall all stand in their Lots fill up to that very Fulness of Times Now at this space of the Thirty Years the Spirit shall be powred out from on High The Song of the Lamb which hath been so long out of use that it becomes as it were a new Song and can be at first learnt only by the 144000 shall be Taught by them immediately and the Everlasting Gospel shall be without delay upon it Preach'd to every Nation Tongue and People under Heaven and then there shall be as in preparation to the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ but under the Influence of that Kingdom in Succession a mighty Spirit of Godly Sorrow working Repentance to Salvation never then indeed to be Repented of pour'd out upon all Flesh Now because this is a point of great moment to the Doctrine of Repentance and sets forth much of the Excellency of Repentance I shall give very great Scriptures and argue upon them for the truth of ir Scripture 1. The first Scripture I would insist upon shall be from a consideration of that great Ordinance of God concerning the Day of Attonement among the Children of Israel This Ordinance We find Levit. 23.27 In the tenth day of the seventh the Sabbattical Month there shall be a day of attonement It shall be an Holy Convocation to you and you shall afflict your Souls And you shall do no work in that same day For it is a day of Attonement to make Attonement for you before the Lord your God for whatsoever Soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same Day he shall be cut off from among his People And whatsoever Soul it be that doth any work in that same day the same Soul will I destroy from among his People It shall be a statute for ever throughout your Generations in all your Dwellings It shall be to you a Sabbath of Rest and you shall Afflict your Souls And on that day there were the great rites of Sacrifice the Bullock the sin Offering the Blood of which was carried into the Holy of Holies to make an attonement for the Vncleannesses of the Priests and People and to reconcile the Holy of Holies and the Mercy Seat and the Tahernacle of the Congregation and the Goat that was to be Kill'ed in the same Manner and the scape-Goat throughout c 16. Now that which I lay in the Foundation is That God never appointed
that the Churches of the Saints are v. 32.41 Now this I have Premis'd to shew how necessary the Doctrine of Repentance is to be Offered and to be Receiv'd by the generality of the Church Churches and People of this Nation according to the Doctrine of both the New and Old Testament even that Repentance that hath been Discours'd the Repentance to Salvation never to be Repented of and to be wrought by a Godly sorrow or a sorrow after God It may look like a Difficulty how a Nation Composed of such Variety of lesser and distinct Communities one from another and much more so many single persons should be brought to Unite in Repentance or a Church that hath so many lesser and different Churches or How such a Repentance can be a Repentance to Salvation seeing Nations are not so much sav'd as Nations but particular Persons of those general Communities are the Saved This may be three ways Reconciled 1. By considering there is the Face of a Nation and of a National Profession of Christianity in the Princes Rulers and Councels of it and When these set themselves to Repentance of Reformation How greatly necessary therefore is it to Represent with greatest Efficacies of Perswasion to them the duty to Reform themselves and to be examples of the same to the Nation We find therefore Universally in Scripture there is so much application to the Kings and Nobles the Counsellors and Judges of Israel and Remonstrances against their sins and not Reforming And this lies with especial Obligation upon those who are Exalted into the most publick Stations of the Christian Ministration those who are the most publick Seers So we find Nathan the King's Seer was chosen out by God to speak to David in those two great services of shewing David his sin and moving him to Repentance 2 Sam. 12. When he had so fallen God sent to move him to Repentance by his own Seer or as I may Express it Bishop And so in the Case of Numbring the People God sent to David by Gad another of his Seers 2 Sam. 24.11 Again when God declared to David the Building the Temple not by himself but by his Son Solomon to encourage his Preparation for it but to Countermand his Building it he did it by the same Nathan his Seer 1 Chron. 17.3 And thus when God by his Providence Exalts any to a Precedency or Presidency in the Gospel Ministry so as to be near Princes and Councels and Senates in that high Administration when they are Zealous and Successful in their Preaching Repentance and such Higher Powers are mov'd by it This generally goes down from such Heads of a Nation to the skirts of the Garment viz. The subordinated Ministry of a Nation and its Magistracy and so to the generality of the People And it becomes in God's gracious acceptance through Christ and Account a National Repentance though there may be many particular Persons both in Ministry and Magistracy negligent of their Duty and much more many unreformed Persons among the Multitude And such Repentance may be called Repentance to Salvation For it does not only as in the King of Nineveh's Case give a Reprieve from presenr Judgments and bring in great Blessings and prosperity to a Nation at the present but there is very great Reason to believe in the visible Glory of the Kingdom of Christ There are as I may so speak Constellations of Saints who have joyn'd together in the same Nation and time in Repentance and earnest Endeavours for Reformation for as Daniel says The Wise and they that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars and as the brightness of the Firmament for ever and ever Dan 12.3 Now how does the present state of the Nation require the joyning of all that fear God to retrench that boldness and insolency of wickedness that rages throughout the Nation and to necessitate the Vices and Prophanesses of Men who have no fear of God to keep within and not to shew themselves as they do openly and abroad and in the mean time to give such an Honour to Godliness Righteousness and Soberness that the contrary to these may not be charged as National sins and therefore herein those that are principal Seers of the Nation and have opportunity to do it to Princes and Councels are under greatest obligations of Duty Love Honour and Service to God and our Lord Jesus Christ to move with light and Heat in their Orb and Sphere to make due remonstrances of the absolute necessity that there is to discharge the Nation of that great weight of Publick Guilt that lies upon it by the Enormities that not being restrain'd and Punish'd Redoun'd from particular Offenders whom they have first invested and cover'd all over upon the Community to which they belong and to incite and greatly to encourage all whatever denomination or distinction soever they are of to Unite in this to give a stop to the overflowing wickedness that there be not wrath against the Royal Family the supreme Powers of the Nation the superior Episcopacy of it and against the whole Nation which Episcopacy above all ought to cry aloud and not to spare but to shew to the Court and Councels of it the sins and transgressions of the Nation which they make their own by not turning their whole Power against and to exhort all to joyn with one shoulder against them For the present state so Unreformed so Luxurious in Wickedness shews that according to all the word of God and the general course of his Providence that hath ever been in the world some one of these three things must needs be 1. That there must be an Universal National Reformation from those sins that being of a publick and sensible appearance sins that may be felt and that are so palpable to the common sense of Natural Conscience and so cognisable and ought to be taken notice of by the Courts of Human Judicature may be restrain'd and kept from Dying the Nation in so Crimson and Scarlet a Guilt such a Purple Hiew by the abominations now it is all over stain'd with the horrid Oaths or Swearing for the great commonness of which even on seeming better accounts Lands mourn very often the noise of which bellows in all streets and publick places as well as in private Families the dreadful Cursings and Dammings that every where resound the fearful Sabbath-breakings that turn it not only into a Day of Idleness and sloath but of leisure to all manner of Wickedness the Excess of Pride and Vanity in apparel which the very Prudence of sumptuary Laws should reform the Impudence and Outrage of Lust and Luxury declaring and not hiding it self as in Sodom of Old the Great Vnmercifulness to the Poor of all Kinds and not strengthning their hands to such profitable service and employment in their Places as might abound not only to their own private which ought to be but to publick Good These things with all Care
a shaking so universal and things have never yet been so shaken but they have gotten again into their old posture state and as we say wont so as to need to be shaken again But this once is like the Expression Jerem. 16.21 Behold I will for this once I will cause them to know my might I will do it so at the Great Conversion of the Gentiles then spoken of It shall never need to be done any more They shall know by that once for ever Even as it shall be known to my People Israel Amos 4.13 For in this Kingdom that Name is known indeed which was known but in Type Exod. 6.3 that my name is Jehovah God hath done these things in a Degree and in some measure a Hundred and a Hundred Times But now they shall be done once for all I am fully assured we shall All be at this shaking of the Earth You may think you may be in your Graves but you shall certainly be brought forth to see and feel God's doing this thing once The Earth shall cast out it 's Dead by the beginnings of it that all may see it in its Fulness Now this Doing the Thing shall make a great Change a Transpose of the Things that are or have been made or done The Word Metathesis signifies a Dispose of Things out of the Places where they had been into Places where they had not been before or into a different Order or State And it is of very great importance because it may be a Transpose for the better or for the worse Enoch was thus Transpos'd the same Word is us'd several times concerning him Heb. 11.5 and it was highly for the better he was Translated to Heaven without Dying So Transpos'd It is used for the Galatians being Removed to another Gospel and that was for the worse Gal. 1.5 This shake of the Earth shall make a great Transpose of Things Many poor Persons that have feared God and yet embrac'd Dunghils who have been forc'd to lye on the Earth in the Dust and in the filth of Things shall be Transpos'd for they shall Inherit the Throne of Glory 1 Sam. ch 2. The Bodies of Saints that lye in the Earth or wherever in the Dark the Dust of Death shall be Transpos'd they shall shine above But on the other side the Great the Rich and the Brave and the Honorable that have been High and Honorable they will be wofully Transpos'd they shall be turned down into a State of Everlasting Contempt And so there shall be a Translation a Transpose of the very Creation out of this Earth as under the Curse and Defilement into a new Earth and of the Heaven into a new Heaven not where Spiritual Wickednesses but Christ and his Saints shall inhabit Things shall not cease to be but shall be changed and removed some for the better some for the worse as to themselves But all Things of this World shall then be chang'd and remov'd All the Things that have been made or done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are great Things in the World of all kinds made or done Great Palaces great Cities great Temples or as we call them Churches Great Castles Fortifications Navies There are other great Things made and done There are the several Laws and Constitutions of Government great Volumes of Books great Furniture of Palaces and Houses Bravery of Equipage and Apparel exquisite Engines and curious Pictures all these are Things that have been made or done There are the heaps of Gold and Silver so impressed so minted so coined All these and an unexpressible variety more shall be Transpos'd for the Day of the Lord shall be upon them all Esay chap. 2. It shall be upon the High and Lofty every one that is lifted up shall be brought low It shall be upon all the Cedars of Lebanon and upon all the Oaks of Bashan both in a natural and figurative Sense and upon all the High Mountains the mountainous Towers and Piles of Building upon all great Ships those floating Palaces the Loftiness of Men shall be brought low and the Haughtiness of Men shall be humbled and the High Looks shall be bowed down And they shall cast their Images of Gold and Silver he means not only their Idolatrous Images but their minted Gold and Silver bearing the Images of Princes which Gold and Silver they commit Idolatry with also to the Bats and the Moles to go into the Caves and the Rocks and the Tops of the rugged Rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his Majesty and all this in the Day when he rises to shake terribly once for all the Earth Oh how great will this Transpose then be And then all the Religion that Men have made shall become a perfect Transpose into a Nullity and indeed there is not a greater Poema or more made thing than False Religion and particularly the Religion of Popery it is a strange kind of Fabrick a strange kind of Frame so indeed is Mahometanism and so was Paganism heretofore but none like that of Popery But yet whatever hath been of the Substance of either true Natural or Revealed Religion in any False Religion adulterating it shall be then Transpos'd back into Truth and all else shall be abolished And lastly That Heaven and Earth that are now viz. since the Flood to which Flood this once more may refer shall be changed and transposed by Fire all shall be removed by Fire as I remember that most Learned and Ingenious and Christian Philosopher Dr. Burnet of the Charterhouse shews Theory of the Earth 1st and 2d Parts How much the State of our Heaven and Earth as before the Flood was chang'd and Transpos'd by the force of Water the Water of the Flood for the worse But they shall by the force of Fire be Purified and Renewed and Rescituated for Beauty and Glory as he also asserts All shall be Transpos'd All shall come under a new Make It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Work of God it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What hath been already made It shall be chang'd by him that will say from the Throne upon which he sits Behold I make all new Rev. 21.5 They had been made before but saith he Now I come to make All over anew I will bring them to that Excellent State wherein they shall continue till God be All in All. For only the Things that cannot be shaken shall Remain Now what are those Things that cannot be shaken They are the Blood Sacrifice and Redemption of Christ his Redemption and Intercession these are for ever They remain in his Priesthood for ever after the Order of Melchisedech after the Power of an Endless Life The Spirit of God in his Grace upon his Servants in Conversion Faith Repentance Holiness shall remain as in the Glory and Salvation they are unto This is an incorruptible Seed from the Word and Truth of God that abideth for ever He that
of deep Tribulation and Temptation such as none ever was before to All but the Servants of God and Christ Dan. 12.1 Mat. 24.21 Rev. 3.10 c. 7.14 Now therefore It becomes him by whom are All things and for whom are All Things seeing he hath determined so great an Earthquake at last to give such Terellaes of it such little Parts Pieces and Models of it that might Inlighten Awaken and Assure the World concerning it and to have set up such a Pyramid of it by the Flood in general to all the World and to Sodom and the Cities about it in more particular in the Beginning of the World and to speak in the Eloquence of what he will do on every occasion of a greater Judgment on any Nation or People and to ioyn with it the Thunder and Lightnings of his Power and Voice that are as the Shakings of Heaven and generally fall in with the Shaking of the Earth And thus we find all along the Scripture and with great Relation to this very Earthquake ushering in the Kingdom of Christ and the Destruction of Babylon the great Symbol of his Enemies so Psal 18.7 Esay 13.13 with very many Pieces more And this is to make the Thoughts of it familiar to Men and to acquaint them throughly with God's great purpose herein for hereby a short Work will God make on Earth yet every Man Woman and Child shall be rais'd on purpose to see this great Sight and to feel it The Earth shall cast out her dead for it and no more cover them This is that Earthquake in which God arises to shake terribly the Earth Esay 2. wherein it shall be indeed as a chaâ—ed Roe and as a Sheep no man cares to take up tho now they are so greedy of it Then the Lord will make it empty and under the great Desolation overthrowing and turning upside down Persons and Things and all distinction of Servants Masters and Mistresses Purchasers Sellers Lenders Borrowers as is describ'd Esay 24. which shall end in the Sun 's being confounded the Moon asham'd when God comes to Reign before his Ancients in Glory And in the New Testament we find at the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ Mat. 27.50 when he gave up that mighty Breath and with that loud Voice commended that immortally blessed Spirit into the Hand of God There was a Great Earthquake and the Rocks rent and the Graves opened and after his Resurrection many Bodies of Saints came forth and appeared to many in the Holy City a most admirable Type of the Last Great Earthquake At the Resurrection of Christ there was again an Earthquake Matth. 28.2 At the Pouring out of the Spirit Acts 2.1 There was from Heaven a mighty rushing Wind that fill'd the House and so must needs shake it and as the Appearance of Fiery Tongues when the Apostles Pray'd after that solemn Conference with the Elders of the Jews the House shook c. 4. When Paul and Silas had praised God in Prison there was an Earthquake and the Foundations of the Prison were shaken the Doors opened and the Chains of every one were loosed Acts 16.25 All these were real Historical Earthquakes or Matters of Fact and they are also great Types and Emblems with Relation to what shall be at the Kingdom of Christ and even Predictions and lively Assurances thereof In the Revelation that most August Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ we read of Four great Earthquakes that were so many Advances of the Kingdom of Christ 1. That grand Deturbation of or dismounting Paganism or the casting down the Dragon or Devil inhabiting it from Heaven who was worshipped in Paganism as a God and all his Host in the Fourth or Roman Empire were cast down with him when that Empire in Constantine became Christian And this was celebrated by those lofty Expressions concerning it as a great Shaking even of Heaven and Earth Rev. 6.12 c. 12.5 as shall be at the Kingdom of Christ. 2. The final Extirpation of Paganism or Rooting it out though with that unhappy Revolution of Antichristianism ready to come in with the Barbarous Nations into that Empire and so undermining the Kingdom of Christ. This was at the famous Victory of Theodosius And this was as Church Historians tell us with a very great Tempest of Thundring and Lightning and motion of the Earth in the Letter as well as the Prophetic Representation of the Thunder Lightnings Voices and Earthquake the great Emblems of the Kingdom of Christ 3. The Earthquake that shall be at the Rising of the Witnesses when that Great City whose Emblem is Ten or Tenth in regard of the Ten Kings who give their Kingdom to the Beast that carries it shall fall Rev. 11. cap. 17. 4. The whole Time of the Seventh Trumpet shall in regard of the mighty Effects and Events be a continual Earthquake even till the great and real Shake of Heaven and Earth the once more in the Text that what cannot be shaken may remain as hath been explained Rev. 16.18.20 compared with c. 11. Now that Earthquake nam'd last but this last viz. the Fall of the great Antichristian State I affirm to be so near as 1697. approaching wherein the Kingdom of Christ shall be in its Succession Now what arises from all this Inference but that it may both urge the Necessity and give all Invitations and Incitements to Repentance which cannot be higher express'd than in the Apostle's own Words as 't is us'd in this Context Let us have Grace or rather Take Hold lay earnest Hold of Divine Grace and Power in Christ that we may serve him with Reverence or all Holy Awes of Modesty and Shamefacedness as the Angels that cover Faces and Feet lest we give distaste and with good Heed-taking as the Israelites that kept within bounds lest God should have broken out And this Service of God with holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Modesty and shame of our own Unworthiness and horrid Nakedness This Good Heed-taking not to run into God as a Consuming Fire is most shewn exercis'd and practis'd in timely Repentance For all at that Day of Earthquake Thunders and Lightnings once for All All must be near for God will come near to them as a swift Witness and to All not Repenting and Reconcil'd in Christ he will be a Consuming Fire Mal. 3.5 With this Heb. 12. And to this purpose Let these very late Motions of the Earth be consider'd in all the foregoing Discourse for I cannot but be perswaded they are Pledges of that great Change that shall suddenly be in the World in the Fall of the whole Papal and Antichristian State besides their general strong Motive to Repentance as they speak God both in his Divine Power and Ability to execute Wrath as also in his Goodness Long-suffering and Patience leading to Repentance and how much more if the Approach of his Kingdom it self the greatest Motive to Repentance be by it declar'd so near That I may therefore
sensible of For as in the most admirable Knowledge of his Almighty Hand he took up our Earth and poiz'd it and in the Doing of it did as it were say How shall I give thee up London How shall I make thee as Admah and Zeboim the Cities the Lord overthrew as Jamaica or Port-Royal My Heart is turned within me my Repentings are kindled together I will not execute the fierceness of my Wrath I am God and not Man I will not enter into this City Hosea 11.8 9. as into Jamaica Behold then on Them Severity to Us Goodness if we Turn to him in his Goodness and so abide in it or else according to ordinary Rules we must be cut off also And there is indeed most of the Power and Wisdom of God in doing so much and no more For a rude and unskilful Hand can Throw Down Spoil and Destroy but only an Understanding and Almighty Hand could weigh the Earth as in Scales and as in a Ballance lift up and set down in the very same place and state And how much more of Love and Grace to melt and soften us as if he had said Behold what I am able to do to Ruin you in a moment But I will only shew what I can Do and I will Do you no hurt Oh that this Riches of Goodness Long suffering and Patience might lead us to Repentance who himself staid his own Hand and said to Himself What am I doing when none else could and He did it not I come now to the Second Head I propos'd for the Improvement of our Thoughts on these Earthquakes in general but particularly of that but just a Motion of the Earth in this City and the Royal Camp and other parts beyond the Sea That it is predictive and foretelling of a great Change in the World And of this I give these following Arguments 1. It is beyond all denial most evident that Scripture makes use of Earthquakes as the Conveyance of its Description of the great Works and Changes God will make for the Kingdom of Christ till it appears That course of Earthquakes Providence hath been in of late years is surely a Declaration of those great Changes he is about to make first by the Succession of that Kingdom and then by its own Appearance For if first Christ convey his Kingdom by Earthquakes as Types and Pledges it is but reasonable to expect when he alarms the World with Earthquakes he has something to do more than ordinary in the Advancement of it else his so great use of them in his Word would be but as the sounding of the Mountains and Amuse in vain By the so often use of Earthquakes he teaches us to expect by them Seeing as on one side he uses Earthquakes in his Word to express great Things for his Kingdom by so on the other side he uses Earthquakes that are so in Fact to and in his Providence to foretell some Changes for his Kingdom following them according to his Word 2. The Nations and Places where this Motion of the Earth came are such as are closely concerned in the Change that God is about to make being either of the Protestant Profession or of the Ten Kings that yet give their Kingdom to the Beast That God was pleas'd therefore to guide the Motion of unquiet Vapors over so many Countries and Cities it was like the sending the Cup and Yoke in Jeremy to so many Nations on whom he would execute his Displeasure by Nebuchadnezzar Jerem. c. 25. c. 27. so now he hath sent by this Earthquake as it were by a Messenger to make known to the Nations his Kingdom so near For so mild and gentle a Motion that had nothing of Wrath and execution of Vengeance in its Commission seems entrusted only with so great a Notice And I cannot but hope and am even assured That this City is to bear so happy a Part in the Kingdom of Christ that it shall be preserved for his Servant David 's sake and that God in Christ is the Holy one in the midst of it 3. That which above all assures me so is That Sure Word of Prophecy that Time is so near for the Succession of the Kingdom of Christ which is by Prophecy describ'd by a great Earthquake that I can understand nothing by this Move but that Introducing or Bringing it in with the Call of the Witnesses and the Fall of the Tenth of the Great City For I cannot understand that there is Space or Room for any other Change but of That to the Kingdom of Christ entring into its Succession wherein all shall have the Advantages of Repentance and Reformation by the pouring out of the Spirit and the Preaching of the everlasting Gospel even to all the World and the Converts of that Time shall be as the Drops of Dew from the Womb of the Morning A Change of so great advantages to the World that none have any reason to be offended or to complain of the Tydings except They who hate to be Reform'd I desire no other Beauty of Feet or Face than to bring and pubâ—ish it It is all holy pure spiritual benign and beneficent to those who have but any Desires after God Christ and Goodness both in inward and outward Bounties There is greatest reason it should be daiâ—y prayed for and daily it is to be praised Verily It may be said Many Kings Prophets and Righteous Men have desired to see the Things that shall then be seen and have not seen them and to hear the Things that shall then be heard and have not heard them Oh therefore that this may be what this gracious Heave of the Earth does presage as I have great Assurance it does That there is no more danger by it than this That we should take notice This Earth with great Sedateness gave a Motion with joy as John Baptist in the Womb to foretell It is with all its Kingâ—oms soon to become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ wherein Righteousness shall dwell That soon after upon a Purification from all Defilements the Heavens over it and it self may become a New Heaven and a New Earth and the Will of God done as in parallel as in that Heaven and upon Earth But though I have endeavoured to make good my way all along yet I would in the Conclusion give a more solemn Answer to the chief Objections I have taken notice of Objct. 1. Some of the sagacious Observers of Nature have so trac'd extraordinary Events to their Causes that they have foretold particularly Earthquakes by observing the Ripeness of natural Causes for them Answ 1. Whatever Observations the wisest of Mankind have made they are not able so far to penetrate the Screws of Natural Causes fitted to the necessitating one another to such Effects but that supernatural Agents may give a Lift to the Wheels of Second Causes that usually move but on Earth viz. in a natural way to move much above Earth that
any one Judge between these two Repentances and accordingly even counsel himself concerning them Yet I must acknowledge this Discourse subject to these following Limitations 1. That the Arguments I have insisted upon prevail not only against a Death-Bed Repentance but against all Repentances that have no higher Spirit to move them than what I have now represented from hence therefore we may take the trial of our Repentance in general for though a Death-Bed is most subject to these mistakes yet whatever Repentance falls under them is by reason of them invalid and the later any Repentance is or the more it is occasioned by any Extremity which it doth not out-live the more subject it is to them 2. What I have said is not at all to be understood of the perfecting and consummating Repentance by higher and fuller Acts towards God at Death though enforced by the present Circumstances of the Case For true Repentance running through the whole life takes advantage of every thing much more of so considerable an Opportunity to unite all our strength for God as a Death-bed brings with it All that hath been spoken is designed against trusting to the Extreme Vnction of a dying Repentance just then begun 3. I have before resolved upon that tenderest Doctrin that it is possible among all the unhappy Circumstances of a Dying-Bed there yet may be this true Act of the Understanding Will and Affections turning to God and if there be this it would be the same and alike however these Circumstances alter and then it excels those temporary Amendments undertaken in the freest times of Life But because it is but possible and so almost impossible so unhappy a Case as not to have repented till just we die should fall out so happily the Intention of this Discourse stands good notwithstanding 4. I acknowledge the choice of the Soul can never be so free but it must be subject to infinitely the most worthy and preponderating considerations of the love and goodness of God the Redemption of Christ the greatness of eternal Happiness most indearing on one side of the fear and terror of the Lord the loss of a Soul everlasting perdition most perswasive on the other side so that if a Man cannot be free in his choice of Religion except he choose it without the force of any such consideration he can never be at all free for these are on all sides of him And further there is always the supream motion of the Grace of God which does not lessen but steer and exalt the freedom of the Will towards God The difference then between true and false Repentance in this particular is the same that is between just and rational consideration of all the motives of Hope and Fear and the hurry of them moving us not intellectually but as a Tempest or with the force of a meer Engine 2. Between the highest reasons carrying the chiefest force and leading along with them the lower ones and the lower doing all without the higher for want of which they are Sensual or Hellish 3. Between the government of meer Providence and of the Spirit of God 4. Between the Repentance of Cain Esau Saul Judas and the Repentance of David Manasseh Peter and Paul 5. I acknowledge the first Preparations of the Soul by God for himself may be with a great deal of noise and confusion Clouds and Darkness are the Dust of his Feet Storms go before him to prepare his way while these last there cannot be a serene calm Act of the Soul and he that doth not live till he hear that still Voice in which God is is in great danger of being lost in the Storm But if out of this Darkness and Confusion a holy and gracious Settlement proceed it is not the worse for being so introduced but is agreeable with the usual method of God The fourth Head I proposed is to weigh the Repentance of the Crucified Malefactor against our common Death-Bed Repentances which duly performed will be of great force against Presumption rather than minister it any Confidence For we shall find so much gathered together and pressed down into it that as Jewels have their Riches in a little room so his short Life of Penitency had an Age of Repentance in it It is so composed of Extraordinaries that it can give very little encouragement in ordinary Cases except just thus much that Repentance at Death is no absolute impossibility 1. Let us observe how his Repentance look'd to the several parts of Repentance for though it had but little time in this World to breath in yet with extraordinary diligence it was busie in all the great and most concerning Points Yet I account this of the least Remark in the History of his Repentance because it is easily imitable That in which it Excelled was the Evidences of Sincerity it carried 1. Yet take notice of his Sense and Acknowledgment of Sin which was not only a Confession of Words but of his very Soul for deliberating things in a Moment he pronounced himself self worthy of the Condemnation and Punishment he endured Magnum est poenitentiae signum in poena sua acquiescere Grot. in locum I confess this is not so infrequent in those who forfeited their Lives to Justice but how oft is it rather a Formality than the inward sense of the Mind condecently affected and possibly if we look upon the out-side of things we can find no great difference between him and others Yet it is a necessary part of Repentance The sacrifice of God is a broken and contrite heart Psal 51.17 2. In his Repentance lay a lively Faith in Christ first resting upon the principle And truth of the thing That Christ was a just Person that he had a Kingdom and then a particular Application to him for Mercy Lord remember me when thou comest in thy Kingdom 3. A quick sense of Eternity supplied Vigor to his Repentance an evident sight of something beyond this world For what more excites the Soul and shews it the necessity of a gracious Change than an everlasting Condition appearing to it To this end hath Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to light 2 Tim. 1.10 of which this Penitent made a very full Confession Lord remember me when thou comest in thy Kingdom He saw a Kingdom beyond the Cross and Death 4. An earnest desire to promote and propagate a sense of God into the Hearts of others was the immediate fruit of this Malefactors Repentance He admonishes the Impenitent Thief on the other side Dost thou not fear God He had such a Reverence of God that he expostulates the want of it in the other as monstrous and horrid His design was also exceeding Compassionate as well as Pious For it was an Endeavour full of Charity desirous his guilty Fellow-sufferer should be brought into the same Condition with himself We want much of the Compassion due to the Souls of others because we are so insensible of
the misery of our own and taste but little of the sweetness of Reconciliation and Grace But when we drink largely out of these Fountains we derive the Streams upon others that have flowed upon our selves All these things were evidently much to the purpose if we look upon themselves Yet were there nothing more extraordinary in them we might doubt whether they were any more than the good Mood into which Principles of Conscience excited by the unhappiness his Condition might put him Let us then consider the Evidence that all this was truly Supernatural for I account it no Injury to so memorable a Repentance to suppose that as great and fair an out-side may have fail'd of Paradise into which he entred But 2. The acknowledgment he made of Christ gives testimony to him in two things 1. That it was made when Christ was under all the Infamy and Misery of a shameful and painful Death and nothing to make such a Greatness as he ascribed to him probable Among us that in general Language speak honourably of Christ Professions of him are cheap and prove nothing But if one bred in Turcism or Judaism should confess him it would argue much more yet not so much as in this Malefactor who saw him in so despicable a State Whereas now so great a part of the World acknowledging him Acts 1.9 hath carried him up to Heaven as it were in that Cloud wherein he ascended long ago and hid the reproach of his Cross in so high a Glory especially among us To confess him in his worst estate and before any thing of the Consequence was known was very great * Extrema fides sed non minima Aug. Serm. 122. de Temp. Christ was revealed to him Mat. 16.17 not by Flesh and Blood but by God himself Such an Heroickness is indeed necessary to assure a Death-Bed Repentance which had need be as great as it is late when Men do not live to see the ordinary fruits of it He that could see Christ and his Glory through so dark a Vail had his Eyes anointed with that Eye-Salve Christ speaks of †Ad rem credendam a sensibus remotissimam excitatus est Grot. We find the Apostles who had seen his Miracles heard his Divine Discourses made long Acknowledgments of him were fearfully shaken by this Assault of the power of Darkness upon him Rev. 3.18 even to a Despair that he was the Christ But while they were in a swoon of Faith Quando passus est omnes discipuli desperaverunt quod ipse esset Christus A latrone victi sunt Apostoli qui tunc credidit quando illi defecerunt Aug. in Psal 68. this Faith with Christ triumphed over Principalities and Powers even on the Cross We looking upon the things of Christianity in the common Profession of the Nation It is a hard thing for us to see them otherwise than that casts them as it would be for those that have known nothing but the Religion of Mahomet Paganism or the Jewish Synagogue to take up upon the sudden the Doctrin of Christianity against their own We believing not with our own Faith but Vulgar Opinion easily make a Confession of Christ yet oftentimes the Power and saving Effect of it is far from us as from those that are Strangers to him sometimes they that come from the East and from the West sit down in the Kingdom of God when the Children of the Kingdom are thrust out The Acknowledgment of Christ in those Times was a much fairer Evidence than it can be now yet without inward Grace was nothing then much less must it needs be to us who have it made ready to our hands by Education and common Consent in it we must therefore the more narrowly observe what Characters the Truth of Christ imprints upon our Hearts 2. This Acknowledgment was made without any manner of Inducement or Temptation to it Tanto namque pondere appensum est tantumque valuit apud eum qui novit haec appendere quod confessus est Dominum Crucifixum quantum si fuisset pro Domino Crucifixus Aug. De Anima ejus Origine from outward advantages it could possibly afford but rather an increase of Shame and Scorn was to be expected from it and that if it were possible he should suffer the second time for such a Confession and become of a Malefactor a Martyr Nay further there was no Dictate of Natural Conscience that could incline him to it for that runs not into the Confession of Christ nor is any way quieted concerning former Sins through such a Confession but eyes God only and Moral Righteousness Lastly no general Tradition prompted him to it the Jews at that time condemning him But in us all Applications to Christ are securing our selves in the common Barque and keep us from being censured as prophane and irreligious Persons For to die without any address to Christ is accounted very ungodly and sensless of a Future State but to deny him monstrous and desperate Further Christianity is incorporated with our natural Principles so that they never move or heave themselves in us but that also rises with them Now it is of great Importance in the tryal of Sincerity upon what Grounds and Motives we do what do and the more we can clear it from inferiour Springs the more certainly it is Grace descending from above and resting upon us Jam. 1.17 Every one therefore that would justifie a Death-Bed Repentance must exceed all common sorts of Repentance else he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Nâ—y he must do something that in the little space of time he hath to do it in must equal a Course of amendment of Life must be as great in him as this Repentance of the Thief And do but think if our Faith were to cut those waves his was to pass to row against such a Stream to remove such mountains among how many thousands there would be found a Faith to do it we should immediately be stopp'd or sunk and cast away and lost Yet such are they we are to pass through into Eternal Life though of different Circumstances from his But after all I will allow it possible there might be a secret flaw in this whole Penitent's Deportment we now insist upon and that it far'd with him as with some among us who after a wicked and debauched Life fly to the Sanctuary of the Romish Religion as Joab to the horns of the Altar 1 King 2.28 To Reconciliation wherewith Hopelesness of any good from that they have so long sinned against and natural Superstition hurry them So this Person hearing a great Fame of Christ and observing his pretence high might lay hold upon him in a desperate Case if peradventure any thing of good might follow on it It being very incidental to the Nature of Man to cast himself upon Religion when all else fails and upon one new to him when he hath offended
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.