very Vanity Convince us we pray thee O Lord steadily and effectually of these things let us not sell our Souls for nought let us not spend our Life in the pursuit of shadows and neglect substantial things teach us that he who sows unto the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption And make us to believe that in keeping thy Commands there is great Reward to believe that thou art and art a Rewarder of those that diligently seek thee that we shall not serve God for nought But if we do by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality we shall obtain eternal Life Let thy bounteous and faithful Promises effectually allure us from the ways of Folly and Perdition O that we were so wise as constantly to take thy Testimonies for our heritage to desireabove all things the Happiness which thou hast prepared for them that love and serve thee O turn thou we humbly pray the Byass and Propensity of our Souls that way Give us not up to the choice and pursuit of this World condemn us not to have all our Portion in this short miserable and transitory Life Strengthen and encrease our Faith of unseen things that it may be in us the Evidence of things not seen and the Substance of things hoped for and let this quicken let this encourage us at all times to our Duty by assuring us that our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. By alluring us of everlasting Rest to reward our Labours in well-doing of our having fulness of Joy in thy Presence and Rivers of Pleasures at thy Right hand for evermore Deliver us O Spirit of Truth from all the deceits of the World the Flesh and the Devil lead us into all Truth necessary for us to know in order to Salvation and make us to pursue the things which make for our everlasting Peace Give us we pray thee a Treasure in Heaven through the merits of Jesus Christ In whose Name we humbly make our Prayers and Supplications for all Men Give O Lord to all Nations Unity Peace and Concord and pour out thy Spirit upon all Flesh that they may all know thee from the least to the greatest Bless thy Church and prosper it and make it yet more Holy and more Universal Bring in all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks into the way of thy Truth and into the way of Salvation We pray thee pour down thy abundant Blessings upon these Nations wherein we live deliver us from those that hate us continue to us thy true Religion establisht among us in the Administrations of it and continue us in the due and universal Practice of what it teaches and requires of us Bless we pray thee our King and Queen and Magistrates be thou their Guide and Defence and make them useful Instruments to promote thy Glory amongst us and our Happiness Let us know those that are over us in the Lord and admonish us those who are thy Ministers in Holy things and esteem them very highly in Love for their Works sake and follow their Godly Counsels and good Examples Grant we beseech thee that the means of Grace which we have this Day enjoy'd may be effectual upon us to the Salvation of our Souls Pardon the imperfections of our Services and graciously accept them through the merits of Jesus Christ In whose Name we present and dedicate our selves to thee we recommend our Relations and Friends to thy Mercy and all that are desolate and afflicted and we pray for the pardon and conversion of our Enemies We commit our selves to the Care of thy Providence this Night beseeching thee to keep us in safety while we are not in a Condition to look to our selves And if it shall please thee to add yet more days to our Lives we desire to spend them all in thy excellent Service to which purpose we humbly implore the continual Guidance of thy Spirit to whom with the Father and the Son one Infinite and Eternal God we ascribe all Praise and Glory for ever and ever Our Father c. GOD's Hatred of Sin Demonstrated and Improv'd Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Prov. 15. 9. Former Part. The Way of the Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord. IT is in the Heart of most Sinners that God takes little or no notice of what is done by us here below or if he does take notice that 't is without any concern about what we do They do not think those things offend him which they encline to and which are pleasing to themselves nor will believe that he is so displeased as some represent him to be with any of their Actions And from hence it is so small and light a matter with many to do those things which are sinful It is that which many are accustomed and habituated to do and are contented to be so The smallest temptation is able to make a man commit a Sin Yea without any temptation they will readily run into it and instead of avoiding and repelling temptations they industriously seek them and delight to entertain them It is become so common a thing to do wickedly that men have no horrour at any but the very grossest crimes such as would lessen a man's reputation in the World or expose him to Penal Laws and they are but very few But these things come to pass for want of a due consideration of such Truths as that which the Wise-man here delivers in saying The way of the wicked is an Abomination to the Lord. The most Holy and Almighty God takes notice of the Actions of men is acquainted with all our ways and resents with Infinite dislike and hatred whatever we do that is contrary to his most excellent Commands It is not an indifferent thing to him what our Actions are But as he that made us has given us Laws for the direction of our Actions so every transgression of those Laws and Rules which is that which is call'd Wickedness is odious and abominable to him A very terrible Consideration this is to those that have not taken any notice of it before and so have liv'd carelesly but it is therefore necessary to such to reclaim them from these offensive ways And if any man does so well lay it to his heart as to give it power to do so he shall find it as happy and comfortable in the fruits and effects of it To put you in mind of this I shall at present fix my Discourse upon it and to give it the more force I shall insist upon these Heads of Discourse concerning it 1. To confirm and prove what is here said 2. To shew you the Inferences which we may raise from it 3. To make
let us betake our selves to repent and turn to thee to mortifie all carnal and corrupt Affections to cease from all Evil and to Good Make us O Lord seriously to consider the great uncertainty to us of what is to come let us not presume upon thy Mercy and so encourage our selves to continue in our Sins lest we thereby put an end to the Exercises of thy Mercy towards us Let us not be so foolish as to provoke thee by our unnecessary delays to cut us off by a sudden and untimely Death or to Doom us to a final and judicial Hardness let us not put off our Repentance to such a time as is not convenient to do it in or to such a time when we are likely to be deceiv'd and imposed upon by our own false Hearts in the doing it but make us now to set about it while thou callest us to it and art ready to assist us and to make us sincere and art certainly willing and ready to accept it O Lord thy ready Grace should find us always ready to receive it and thy pardoning Mercy should find us always ready to seek it Let this O Lord we pray be the Day of thy Power upon every one of us and make us willing to renew our baptismal Covenant now to devote our selves to thee again and to resolve that we will not henceforth live to our selves but to thee to make thy Holy Laws the rule of our Actions and to endeavour in all things to Honour and Glorifie thee And do thou Graciously accept us according to thy Promises declared unto Mankind in Christ Jesus and give strength and stability to these our Resolutions Extend we humbly beseech thee thy Goodness to all the Heathen and Infidel Nations let a mighty and powerful Call go forth among them and turn them to the knowledge of thee the only true God and of Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Be mindful of thine ancient People the Jews and bring them to the acknowledgment of the true Messiah Pour out an abundant measure of thy Spirit upon thy Church that we may see and understand what is evil among us and may repent and do our first Works Lord in thy Mercy reform these Nations wherein we live from Atheism and Profaneness from Pride and Schism from Envy and Malice and all Uncharitableness from Luxury and Riot and Sloth and Idleness Uncleanness and Intemperance Let us not go on to provoke thee by these our Sins lest our Iniquity prove our ruine We pray thee to Bless abundantly our King and Queen and all that are in Authority under them in Church and State make them a Terrour to all that is evil and a Praise to them that do well that we may be all Happy in a great increase of Vertue and true Godliness amongst us Bless all our Relations and Friends and Acquaintance and keep their Hearts and Minds in the Knowledge and Love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. In whose Name we humbly beg the Mercies of the Night we thank thee for those of the Day past for all that we have received and for our good hopes of more to come To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory World without End Our Father c. FINIS Books Printed for John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul 's Church-Yard A Practical Exposition on the Ten Commandments by Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-Derry An Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some difficulty in them with a probable Resolution of them By John Edwards B. D. Sometime Fellow of St. John's Colledge Cambridge in 2 parts Octavo An Enquiry into the Constitution Discipline Government Unity and Worship of the Primitive Church that flourished within the first three Hundred Years after Christ Faithfully Collected out of the Extant Writings of those Ages in 2 parts by an impartial hand The Christian Virtuoso shewing that by being addicted to Natural Philosophy a man is rather assisted than indisposed to be a good Christian by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esquire The History of the Life of Katharine de medicis Queen Mother and Regent of France or the Exact Pattern of the Present French King's Policy The Subjects of the following Discourses Sermon I. THE Great Excellency of the Soul of Man demonstrated and improved Pag. 1 Serm. II. Of Vain Thoughts or Inconsideration with the Mischiefs and Remedies p. 27 Serm. III. Of true Happiness wherein it lies demonstrated p. 49 Serm. IV. The Heavenly Mind described and urged p. 75 Serm. V. The Necessity of Obedience to the Commands of God proved and stated p. 98 Serm. VI. The Great Duty of Thankfulness urged directed p. 116 Serm. VII The Pleasantness of Religion demonstrated and improved p. 134 Serm. VIII The Easiness of Religion explained and improved p. 152 Sermon IX The Unprofitableness of Sin demonstrated p. 177 Serm. X. God's Hatred of Sin demonstrated and improved p. 201 Serm. XI The Meanness of this present Life proved and applied p. 225 Serm. XII The Usefulness of Early Religion to Old-age demonstrated p. 249 Serm. XIII Of a Death-Bed Repentance shewing how unreasonable it is for any Man to rely upon it p. 273 Jer. 10. 25. Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not on thy Name Joshua 24. 15. As for me and my House we will serve the Lord. Deut. 6. 6 7. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine Heart And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine House ERRATA PAg. 29. l. 31. r. he might p. 51. l. 26. for that r. than p. 77. l. 23. r. to them p. 87. l. 5. dele p. 103. l. 2. r. Eph. 6. 1 2 3. p. 143. l. 16. dele p. 155. l. 2. for ' tit r. ' t is p. 184. l. ult r. interests Books Written by John Norris M. A. Rector of Bemerton near Sarum A Collection of Miscellanies consisting of Poems Essays Discourses and Letters in large Octavo Price 4 s. Theory and Regulation of Love a Moral Essay in Two Parts To which are added Letters Philosophical and Moral between the Author and D. More in Octavo Price 2 s. Reason and Religion or the Grounds and Measures of Devotion considered from the nature of God and the nature of Man in several Contemplations with Exercises of Devotion applyed to every Contemplation in Octavo Price 2 s. 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Two Treatises concerning the Divine Light The First being an Answer to a Letter of a Learned Quaker which he is pleased to call A Just Reprehension to John Norris for his Unjust Reflections on the Quakers in his Book entituled Reflections upon the Conduct of Human Life The Second being a Discourse concerning the Grossness of the Quakers Notion of the Light within with their Confusion and Inconsistency in explaining it All these Printed for and Sold by Samuel Manship at the Black-Bull near the Royal-Exchange in Cornhil SEneca's Morals by way of Abstract by Sir Rogar L'Estrange Printed for Samuel Manship
further how this does also appear in the Exercises or Benefits which his matchless Lovebestows From the former head we learn what great things it can do from this we shall see what it does and has done And we shall see that as there is no Love like his there is none so great as He so there are no such Benefits any way to be obtained as by his Love These Exercises of Divine Favour are properly his lifting up of the Light of his Countenance upon us and these are able to contribute more to our Happiness than all things in the world besides them The Benefits which the peculiar Favour of God bestows are these 1. He does forgive and pardon all their Sins to them who are thus the Objects of his Love They become so by the Meritorious Death and Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ which through their Faith is to them a Propitiation for Sin And therefore the righteous Judge of all the World being atton'd and reconciled he will no more impute to them their Iniquity And tho the imperfect Creatures do too often offend notwithstanding all their Care yet upon the renewal of their Repentance and their daily asking the Pardon of their Sins His Mercy for the sake of Jesus Christ daily gives them their Pardon Now every man that knows himself a Sinner and that did ever seriously consider what that imports and what belongs to such a Condition cannot chuse but acknowledge it an unspeakable Benefit to have his Sins all forgiven to be sure it is really such in its self The Man who is forgiven can think of God and not be troubled nor afraid can put up his Requests to the Throne of Grace with assured and comfortable Expectations He that knows this of himself knows too that the great Obstacle and Impediment of the Exercises of Divine Mercy is removed and he may hope that the Streams of it shall plentifully flow towards him He may hope that his Iniquities shall not withhold good things from him And what a Pleasure is it to think of an Enemy reconciled and become a faithful affectionate Friend And especially to know this of the Almighty and Eternal God! To know that Infinite and Eternal Perfections which were adverse and angry are reconciled and become kind How great and how sensible a Blessing must it be for a man to be able to say I that was obnoxious to an Infinite Eternal Wrath I that lay under the heavy load of a Just Curse which doom'd me to Everlasting Flames am now become an Object of Infinite and Eternal Love and an Heir of Heaven He who might have treated me with Everlasting severity I am sure will now use me with Everlasting loving kindness The foolish and unreasonable Ills that I have done and the base Affronts I have offered the great God shall cost me no more Sorrow than that of a wholesome Repentance This is a very happy and very pleasant Change in a Man's Condition This Blessing introduces a Peace that passes all understanding and indeed a Peace which the world cannot give For I may add that the assured Pardon of our Sins is absolutely necessary to our taking any considerable Comfort or Delight in any thing of this World for without this if we look into our Condition we must know that these are all aforfeited things that they are but lent us by the Patience of God our tranquility and prosperity depends upon the will of him who is justly displeased with us for our Sins and is daily provoked to put an end to it The unpardoned Sinner cannot consider his Condition nor understand it but he must be affrighted and troubled for he must see that the Sword of Divine Vengeance hangs continually over his Head and this must needs dash all his Joy But that is a very poor Felicity which cannot endure to be reflected upon and considered which if it be rightly understood is spoilt and lost if it be examined is none at all If therefore we would have a Condition in this Life which we may reflect upon and consider and take delight to do so we must have the Pardon of all our Sins assured and God reconciled to us And now I think we may conclude this Head with the Psalmist's words Psal 32. 1 2. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity 2. Another blessed Exercise of the Divine Favour to the peculiar Objects of it is that he does sanctify them that he restores that most excellent Part of the Divine Image which we unhappily lost in the Fall of our first Parents We are taught that this is a Fruit of his Love Eph. 5. 25 26. where it is said Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that is by pouring out upon them the sanctifying Operations of the Holy Spirit who is compared to water Thus he expresses and exercises his Love to them that are the Objects of it And thus his Love grows from Compassion to a Complacency He that pitied them in their wretched Pollution loves them into loveliness He so shines upon them with the Light of his Countenance as to communicate Light and Brightness to them so as to adorn them with the bright Rays of his own Glory and then he takes delight in them But how great the Happiness of this Effect is let us see This is an Exercise of Divine Love which is exceeding Fruitful and full of Joys and Blessings A world of new Delights this brings a man acquainted with that he never knew before nor was capable of knowing till this blessed Change was wrought in him The Rectitude and Order of the Soul which this introduces is as pleasant as Health after Sickness There is now Ease for Pain Strength for Weakness Freedom for Confinement a comfortable Enjoyment of good things without loathing of them Life and Activity without faintness and weariness in well-doing and the Pleasure of an useful Life to our selves and others instead of that which was a Burden and a Trouble to both He that is sanctified has so far a well composed Mind He has calm Passions regular Appetites right and true Thoughts good and wise and safe Inclinations He can do that which is good which his Mind tells him he ought to do which his Conscience may applaud him for doing That which will please God and bring him Everlasting Advantages He can delight in Good and Vertuous Actions these have a great deal of a pleasing Lustre and Beauty in them and he has Eyes to see this now He has a mind capable of and exercised in the discerning of Spiritual things Wisdom Goodness Justice Faithfulness in the exercises and expressions of them are as pleasant to the Observation of a good Man as the most lovely and curious Colours are to a sound Eye or the most harmonious Sounds
this Exhortation we may consider that without doubt the Pleasures of Religion are the strongest and sweetest of any They sink deeper into a Man than any other and affect him more as they enter into his Mind and put all the inward Powers of that into a pleasing Exercise and Motion They possess more of a Man than those that touch only his Body and Senses The Mind of Man is the most and as we may say the greatest part of him It has most Desire and greatest Capacity of Pleasure It is much more sensible both of Pleasure and Pain than the duller Body The Psalmist speaks the greater Sweetness and Excellency of Religious Pleasure when he says of the Law of God If it sweeter than the Honey and the Honey-comb Psal 19. 10. He means the practice of Religion and Vertue the doing any Duties commanded by the Law of God afforded him a far greater Pleasure and Delight than e're he could by his Senses receive from the most pleasant things of this World 2. Since there is so much Pleasure in well-doing this may justly persuade Men off from the guilty Pursuit and Enjoyment of the Pleasures of this World Why should a Man suffer himself to be guilty for the sake of any Pleasure when he may enjoy that which is very Rich and Sensible without being so It is most certain that Guilt will greatly allay the briskest Pleasures of this World In the midst of guilty Laughter the Heart is sad These are always best and sweetest to him that regularly and soberly uses them that uses them according to the Rules of Religion Thus he shall hurt neither his Body nor his Soul nor his Estate nor his Neighbour while he pleases his Appetites and gratifies his Senses and so he avoids the unpleasing Farewell of a troubled Conscience He does not destroy the Appetite while he pleases it but keeps himself in a capacity to have always a very lively Relish and Sense of his Pleasures The irregular and intemperate Man makes a Drudgery of those of this World and turns their fine Relish eager and four And the other sort that is the high and delicate ones of Religion he utterly deprives himself of In a vertuous and religious Course of Life a Man may enjoy both sorts but in that which is guilty and irreligious he cannot well enjoy either This is the First Use may be made of this Discourse 2. A Second is this It ought to persuade Men to betake themselves steadily to a religious and good Course of Life It was said by the Spirit of God that the ways of Religion are ways of Pleasantness with Design to recommend them to the Sons of Men. He spoke this in a kind Condescention to our Nature and Inclination to make a Bait of Pleasure which we are so apt to dote upon And this surely should be a very powerful Argument to this purpose This ought much rather to induce Men to be Wise and Vertuous to act as becomes them and pursue their true Happiness than to make them guilty of Folly and Sin of what is shameful and hurtful to them and of what will incur their everlasting Misery And how great an Obligation to Obedience is it that the Laws of our Religion are thus contriv'd that the Universal Sovereign has made the Instances of our Duty so reasonable and so good that we may delight in our Duty and the Performance of it will reward it self They would exceedingly aggravate our Wickedness and shew a strange Obstinacy in Sin and Enmity to God if we should rather refuse all this Happiness and Pleasure than submit our selves to the Laws of Religion And thus I have far enough urg'd this Argument in our Text to shew that they who will do wickedly do obstinately refuse their own Interest And to furnish the Consciences of Sinners with such a Conviction as will at one time or other prove a sharp Sting and Torment if they will not suffer it now to restrain them from Wickedness THE PRAYER MOst Great and Glorious Lord God! the Infinite and Perfect Being The greatest Excellency among thy Creatures lies in their greatest Likeness and Conformity to thee We give thee Thanks O Lord for that thou hast made us capable of so great Honour as the resembling of thee in our Actions for that thou hast laid upon us such Laws as guide us to a noble Conformity to the Divine Nature Thou didst of thy bounteous Goodness make Man upright inclin'd to such Actions and suited to thy excellent Law But alass we have defiled and polluted our selves with Sin and are become averse and unwilling impotent and unable to keep thy Commandments Our carnal Minds are Enmity to thee and are not subject to thy Law nor can be till they be Renewed Sanctified and Created again in Christ Jesus unto Good Works O Lord open thou our Eyes to behold the wondrous and alluring Excellencies of thy Law Work in us to will and to do according to thy good Pleasure Rectify the Apprehensions the Relish of our Souls that we may find thy Commandments to be sweeter than the Honey and the Honey-comb Lord make us so steddy and diligent in our Duty so practised and inured to it and so in love with it that we may find thy ways to be to us as they are in themselves ways of Pleasantness Shew and convince us of the Equity and Reasonableness of all thy Service that it is perfect Freedom that it is our greatest Honour that the Wisdom of good Living is our best Ornament even as a Chain of Gold about the Neck Encourage us we beseech thee to our Duty with a constant Sense of thy Presence with us of thy gracious Eye and Regard to all we do Let us know thou dost accept our sincere Endeavours and imperfect Performances through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ Inable us to hope in thy Mercy and assure us that if we put our Trust in thee in Well-doing we shall not be confounded But especially we pray thee O Lord shed abroad thy Love abundantly in our Hearts Let Love possess us Love move Love direct and byass us make us to love thee with all our Hearts and our Neighbours as our selves so shall we be reconcil'd to thy Commandments so shall we run and not be weary we shall ever walk before thee and not faint in that blessed way Renew us O Lord after thine Image and make us Holy as thou art Holy and Good as thou art Good Merciful as thou our Heavenly Father art Merciful and Forgiving as thou art ready to Forgive Let our Lives and Conversations shew forth the Vertues of him that has called us to his Kingdom and Glory Look down in Mercy upon all Mankind rescue the miserable Slaves of the Devil who is the Ruler of the Darkness of this World from their sad Bondage under him and bring them into the happy Liberty of the Children of God Save thy People O Lord and bless thine
Interest require and begin to treasure up joys to lay up rewards and happiness for our selves These are things surely that cannot be done too soon If there be good reason to forsake a wicked Life at all 't is unreasonable in the least to delay the doing so When we come to condemn our selves in earnest for our Sins we shall condemn our selves too for continuing so long in them Let us all then be able to say with David at least from this time I made hast and delayed not O Lord to keep thy Commandments THE PRAYER O Lord the eternal God Creator and Owner and Sovereign Lord of all things By thee the Heavens were framed and all the Host of them by the breath of thy Mouth Thou hast made the Earth and the Sea and all that is in them and all that thou hast made is thine the World is thine and the fulness thereof all is of thee and through and to thee We who are now before thee here are a small handful of Creatures whom thou hast brought into Being from the Ground thou raisest our living Bodies and by thy mighty Power hast formed the Spirit within us And we Lord are thine thy Right and Property we are in nothing our own our Tongues are not our own our Thoughts are not our own the Members of our Bodies the Faculties of our Minds are not our own but thou art Lord over us We owe thee the entire Homage of our Souls and Bodies which are thine for we are thy People O Lord and the Sheep of thy Pasture We are those whom thou hast oblig'd to Love and Honour thee by innumerable benefits Thou hast fed and clothed and nourisht and protected us thou hast given us all our Enjoyments and thou holdest our Soul in Life We humbly acknowledge O Lord thy Right in us and we now own the Obligations thou hast laid upon us And we here present to thee our Bodies to be a Holy and living Sacrifice which is our just and most reasonable Service O Lord let us be accepted with thee through Jesus Christ We Confess that we have deserved thou shouldest reject and abhor us who have been hitherto so little concern'd to please thee who have so often and so exceedingly polluted our selves with that which is most odious and offensive to thee We are exceeding guilty and obnoxious to thy wrath and vengeance in that we have been Rebels against thy Sovereignty over us We have been unjust to thy Propriety in us we have been ungrateful to thy Goodness towards us We judge we condemn we abhor our selves for these things O do not thou enter into Judgment with us for in thy sight shall no Man living be justifyed We are heartily sorry for all our mis-doings the remembrance of them is grievous to us the burden of them is intollerable but thou O Lord whose Property is always to have mercy who hast promised Forgiveness to all that with a penitent Heart and true Faith in the Blood of Christ turn unto thee have mercy upon us Deal not with us after our Sins neither reward us according to our Iniquities Have mercy upon us O Lord according to the multitude of thy tender Compassions and blot out all our Transgressions We fly from thy Justice to the Footstool of thy mercy and there prostrate our selves in the Name of Jesus Christ O Lord for his Sake forgive us all that is past and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in Newness and Holiness of Life to thy Honour and Glory Do thou make us sincere in the Dedication of our selves again unto thee in this renewal of our Resolutions to serve thee Create in us O Lord a clean Heart and renew in us a right Spirit Do thou make us to love thy Law and to hate every false Way Cause us without delay to turn our Feet unto thy Testimonies and make us to delight in the way of thy Testimonies more than in all Riches O Lord rescue us we pray thee from the Bonds of our Beloved or habitual Sins save and deliver us from the Pollutions of a wicked World let us be blameless and harmless the Children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation Deliver us from all the Craft and Subtilty and from all the fiery Darts of the wicked One And let us never be hardened by the deceitfulness of any Sin We pray also O Lord for the Conversion of others as well as of our selves O Let thy Gospel run and be Glorified from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same and let many be turned from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God That the Dominion of the Enemy may be diminisht and the happy Kingdom of thy dear Son may be enlarged We especially pray for the good Estate of thy Catholick Church that thou wouldest purge out of it all that does offend thee and Grant that all who profess and call themselves Christians may hold the Faith in Unity of Spirit in the Bond of Peace and in Righteousness of Life Look in Mercy upon these Nations to which we belong forgive our crying Sins and turn us from every evil way Bless us with the continuance of pure Ordinances and with a mighty Efficacy and Effect of them for the promoting of Piety Righteousness Charity and Sobriety amonst us Bless we pray thee our most Gracious King and Queen our Subordinate Magistrates those that Minister to thee in Holy things amongst us and all Ranks and Degrees of Men besides make us to fear thee to depart from all Iniquity to serve to thy Glory and to the Happiness and Welfare of each other and defend us all from all foreign or domestick Enemies of our Peace We commend also to thy infinite Mercies all our Friends Relations or Enemies those that have done us kindness we pray thee O Lord abundantly to requite them and those that have done us any Injury Father forgive them Let thy Word which we have this day heard have power to sanctifie and cleanse us from all unrighteousness We humbly hope for the mercy we have sought of thee this Day and desire we may commit our selves to thy careful and gracious Providence this Night and for evermore Lord bless and keep us lift up the Light of thy Countenance and guide us by thy Counsel till thou hast brought us to thy Glory All we humbly ask upon the Merits of Jesus Christ beseeching thee to hear us for his Sake and further in his own Words saying Our Father c. The MEANNESS of THIS PRESENT LIFE Prov'd and Apply'd Let us Pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorify thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Job 14. 2. He cometh forth like
me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his He was not at all reconciled to their God who hindred him from getting those great Rewards which Balak offered him nor did incline to become a Proselyte to the Jew's Religion He had rather enjoy his Gain and Honour among the Heathens still like a false Prophet than embrace the Truth and become meaner among the Jews But yet he wishes for the happy end of the Jews He would willingly be reckoned among them when he should come to die that he might be a partaker in their felicity in the next World This was the sence of his Mind and herein he speaks also the mind of a great many others besides There are many in the World who would live the lives of licentious Sinners and yet at last would die the Death of Saints who would have the profits and pleasures of Sin here and hereafter the Rewards of Religion too And as a great many wish this so they think they have found out an expedient to obtain it and that is by a Death-Bed Repentance It shall be the whole Business of the present Discourse to demonstrate the Folly and Danger of relying upon a Death-Bed Repentance of wishing or expecting with this false Prophet to live a wicked Life and yet to Die the Death of the Righteous and to make an end like him And this I shall endeavour to set before you in the following particulars 1. There is no Man can possibly tell whether he shall have the space and warning of a lingering Sickness to repent in or no. Our fortunes and conditions are not at our own dispose but at the disposal of him whom we daily offend by our Wickedness Nor can we be any more sure before-hand of the Way than we can be of the Time of our going out of this World Many things may prevent us from having the space of a lingring Sickness to repent in and do we not greatly provoke the supream Disposer to prevent us of this by our delaying to repent How many ways are there of dying besides that on a sick Bed and which of them may be his fortune no Man can tell Should we then defer our Repentance to a sick Bed when 't is very uncertain and hazardous whether we shall die there or not But if we should die there the Sickness may be such as to give us no opportunity to repent there It may take away the use of reason may utterly hinder all composed thinking we may die in Convulsions in a stupid Lethargy or in the ravings of a Feaver or under such violent and racking pains as shall effectually hinder us from doing any thing towards a happy Departure Thus he who would not repent before is not able to do it now He wilfully lost all the time of repentance to the last Minutes of it and now he loses them too by his unfortunate Distemper But how unreasonable is it for a man to throw away all his time to the last Minutes when he does not know whether he shall be capable of using them to his advantage or not 2. Let us consider how great Inconvenience men put upon themselves at last who defer their Repentance to a sick and dying Bed They perhaps now think themselves very wise and that they do well to put off all their Sorrows to come together and to trouble them but once But alas when these do thus come together they will be forced to conclude they were very foolish in so doing when they find the Burden of all at once too heavy for them to bear Certainly a great load is much easier carried in several parcels than all at once and if the whole be too heavy for our strength it were our Wisdom to divide it When a man is under the pains and faintness of a Disease the grief of parting with all that he has in this World all his dear Relations his loved Enjoyments and the sweet Fruits of his own Labours When he is a Prisoner to his Bed is separated from all his Pleasures loaths the greatest Dainties has his Head aking his Heart faint his Limbs feeble and trembling these sure are very unfit Circumstances to put off the Trouble and Sorrows of Repentance too How wretched must he be who has at the same time Trouble without and Anguish within Pain in his Body and Distress in his Mind Who in this condition must have his Conscience accusing him for his ill Life calling to mind past and forgotten Follies and Extravagancies when he has the Pardon of them to seek And by consequence he must have the Flames of Hell as it were before him and be terrifyed with the apprehensions of being speedily carried before his offended Judge to be doomed to his eternal and unalterable State How sad is it to be told he must now suddenly leave this World and does at this very time deserve to be thrown into Hell Those that defer their Repentance to a Death-Bed do not rightly understand or else they do not consider the true Nature of it They think to pass it over with a Lord have mercy upon me with a general slight Confession that they have sinned and with a few Sighs and formal Resolutions that they will do so no more They do not consider that true Repentance is a very bitter thing that in great Sinners especially as these men are wont to be it must be attended with a very hearty Sorrow with great Anguish of Soul with earnest Indignation against themselves for their Sins with a sence of the terrible Deserts of them that they must judge and condemn themselves as unworthy to find favour with God and deserving the everlasting Punishments of Hell And these sure are very unhappy Thoughts to be joyned with the sad Circumstances of Sickness and Dying and these men put off the most uneasie and afflicting Thought to be born then when they are in the most feeble condition and the most unfit to bear them we shall we might think have trouble enough without them with the sad outward Circumstances of such a Case and might say sufficient for that day is the necessary and unavoidable Evil thereof and may easily see if we will that it is highly foolish to bring upon it more Evil and Trouble than it needs to have It is plainly our wisdom to provide before-hand against that time for the Comfort of it to lay up Supports and Consolations to allay and mitigate the Evils that will attend it And this we might do by practising our Repentance in the time of our Health by forsaking our Sins betimes and living a good and vertuous Life for some time before we come to die Then if we have Sorrow without we shall have Joy within if the Body be in pain we may be at ease in the Mind The Reflections upon a well-spent Life would comfort us in our Weakness the joyful Hopes and Expectations of entering into Rest and Happiness would
this case And now methinks this should be sufficient to deter any man from relying upon a Death-Bed Repentance especially any man that has time and opportunity in his hands to perform a more sure one This is at the best but an uncertain and uncomfortable one no man can tell whether it will be accepted of God or not because no man can certainly tell whether it be true or not And though a Sinner ought not to despair in such a case yet he can have but little and that a very wavering hope Such a one may be saved but neither he nor any one else can be assured that he shall be so There is so much ground of hope in this case as may encourage a wretched Sinner who has neglected himself all his days at his last hours to try what Repentance will then do for him it is the only remedy he has left and if that fail nothing will help him But there is not so much ground of hope as may give any man who is now in health any reasonable encouragement to put off his Repentance till that time Certainly it is very unreasonable for a man to build the Hopes of his Salvation upon that which cannot secure his Salvation to him To conclude If the Gospel affords any small encouragement to them that repent upon a Death-Bed yet it gives no man any at all to defer and put off his Repentance till then He is guilty of great folly and presumption that shall do so In this wilful deferring of our Repentance we do greatly provoke Almighty God not to grant us the benefit of this remedy at last How justly may God say to such a man then as Wisdom speaks Prov. 1 24 25 26. Because I have caled and you have refused I have stretched out my hands and you would not regard me but have set at naught all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh Now you shall call and I will not answer and though you seek me early you shall not find me He may most justly cut a man off in his Sins by a sudden Death and not give him any warning or space to repent He may very justly put an end to our days by some such Disease as shall hinder our Repentance He may very justly give a man up to a final hardness and so let him die in his Sins who would needs live in them And he may let the Sinners remorce and trouble be as his false heart enclines to make it but false and dissembled Such as cannot amount to a true Repentance and then all his Cries and Tears all his Vows and Protestations shall be vain and not accepted But he shall go to feel what he fears and from the torment of fearing that he is undone to that of finding he is so These things may in God's just Judgment befall him who had much time given him to repent in who was often called to it by Ministers and Friends and perhaps warned by some Afflictions but would needs put it off to the End of his Life And when God cuts off such a man in his carriere of Sin without giving him space to reform his Life it may well be suspected he has rejected all the Sorrows Vows and Protestations that attended his departure It is not a favour promised that a man shall have the grace of Repentance given him then who has refused it often before Though God out of his Sovereign grace may give a good and safe Death to him that has lived all his Life wickedly yet he has no where bound himself to this he has not given us any express or intimated allowance to depend upon or expect any such favour And then it is altogether unreasonable to expect it Lot us then to make sure that we shall die the Death of the Righteous repent while we are in health and may have time to prove the truth of our Repentance in a good Life and so to assure the acceptance of it with God Let us repent when we are called to it and when the grace of God is ready to assist us and to give us a true Repentance Let us endeavour to live the Life of the Righteous for as long time as we can before we come to die and then we shall be sure to make a good End Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace THE PRAYER O Most Holy and most righteous Lord our God the Judge and Governour of all the World thou lovest Righteousness and hatest Iniquity With shame and self abasement we present our selves before thee at this time who are vile Earth and miserable Sinners Who have broke thy Laws and done evil against thee what we could who have followed the corrupt Inclinations of our Natures and the evil Customs and Practices of the World rather than the way of thy just and good Commandments If we should say we have no Sin we should deceive our selves and the Truth were not us We therefore humbly confess our Sins before thee which it were in vain for us to endeavour to conceal from thee for we know that to the Lord our God belong Mercies and Forgivenesses tho' we have rebelled against thee Thou art he who delightest not in the Death of a Sinner but had rather that he should turn to thee and live We thank thee O Father of Mercies that thou allowest us the benefit of Repentance we bless thee for the great Propitiation Oh that Men would praise the Lord for his Goodness towards the Children of Men whom he has not excluded from all hopes of Favour and Mercy as he has done the Apostate Angels And we give thee most humbly and hearty Thanks O Lord for thy Goodness to us in particular who are here before thee In that thy Forbearance and Long-suffering does yet afford us space and time for Repentance that we are not now at this time among the Damned in Hell as we have greatly deserved to be that we have time allow'd us to consider our ways and turn our Feet unto thy Testimonies that we have space to secure our Repentance to practice it and to enjoy the Comfort of it to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance Lord if we are truely grieved for our Sins past we must needs be greatly desirous of leading a new and different course of Life from that we have sometime done Give us therefore we pray thee the Grace of true Repentance and let us have that to praise thee for added to all thy other Goodness towards us Make us to know in this our Day the things that belong to our Peace before they are hid from our Eyes suffer us not to harden our Hearts against the Invitations and Warnings of thy word Let all of us that are here present be seeking the Lord while he may be found and calling upon him while he is nigh and without delay