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
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
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
my behaviour here this short Life has an influence upon the Eternal one If I have lived well and well used the Talents I was entrusted with here I shall enjoy better and more lasting good things there I may justly content my self to be denyed any of these things below if the wise disposer sees fit to do so since better things to full satisfaction are reserved for me But if I live wickedly I must expect that alittle time will put an end for ever to all my present ease and prosperity I must part with all my lov'd Enjoyments and bid a farewell to all mirth and pleasure All my portion of good is in this World and I can enjoy it no longer than while this short and transitory Life lasts It is but a small portion of good then that falls to my share if this be all I must have And it was not worth the being born to be exposed to so many evils to bear so many afflictions to feel the wrackings of so many violent passions as this mortal Life and vale of Tears are acquainted with for the sake of enjoying so little good so short and small a felicity And besides my pleasant Circumstances here will quickly end in Torments and Miseries that will continue for ever Let us I say think much of that other World and divert our thoughts from this That so our affections may be disengaged and we may not be entangled with the Charms and Allurements of this World to our everlasting perdition And having got our selves at liberty from those fatal snares and fetters let us earnestly apply our selves to prepare for and secure a happy State in the Life to come This ought to be our greatest care in this World and employ the most of our endeavours In every other care and endeavour this should be minded and should direct them We should so pursue this World as at the same time to pursue a better and so enjoy this World as that we at the same time may hope for a better Ought we not to be most concerned that we may be happy there where we must be longest Let us behave our selves always in this World as going out of this and going into another where we shall abide and stay Shall we be carefull about a few days to come of this Life and not much rather be solicitous what shall become of us to all Eternity Now to secure our happiness hereafter we must endeavour to make our peace with God to regain his favour by repenting truly of our former Sins by stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life by devoting our selves to Jesus Christ to be followers of him with whom the Father was well-pleased We must then deny all angodliness and worldly Lusts and live soberly righteously and godly in this present World We must cease to do evil and learn to do well and follow after holiness without which no man can see God no man can be admitted into that presence of God which makes Heaven Let us endeavour to grow reconciled to a very serious and religious Life to become acquainted with and to relish the joys and pleasures of devotion and communion with God To delight in him in meditating on his Nature and Works in praising adoring and worshipping of him Which things will be the great entertainment and happiness of Heaven and therefore till we are suited to such things till we can find the highest pleasure in them and in all acts of Vertue till we can satisfie our selves in such things even with the want of many worldly Enjoyments we are not fit for Heaven nor can be happy in another World But thus to prepare our selves for and secure a happy State hereafter is the best use we can possibly put this our mean Life to And though this Life be so short and transitory we shall have time enough for the securing a better if we do not cheat our selves of it by unnecessary delays and if we apply our selves diligently to this matter And how great an Improvement of our present Life is this How great a gain How much to advantage To employ this Life for the gaining a happy one hereafter is as if a man should lay out Pebbles for Pearls should exchange Dirt for Gold and short liv'd Sparkles for lasting and glorious Stars 'T is to lay out Earth for Heaven to spend time for the purchase of Eternity to use the Creatures so as to make them bring us to God to labour for a very few days that we may enjoy an Eternal rest to deny our selves in a few things and for a little while that we may ere long enjoy full satisfactions everlasting pleasures This is truly and greatly to redeem our time This if we do we shall not regret that our time on Earth was so short and transitory THE PRAYER O Eternal and Almighty God thou art always the same and thy years do not fail thou art the same yesterday and to day and for ever without Variableness or shadow of Change It is upon thee O Lord and thy unchangeable Power that all things else do depend in their Beings and in all their Operations thou fillest Heaven and Earth and thou workest all in all All thy Works praise thee O God and thy Saints bless thee The invisible Things of thee are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even thy Eternal power and Godhead And we O Lord are amongst the number of those whom thou hast Created and dost preserve thou in thy due time didst bring us into Being at our Birth and by thee we are hitherto sustained It is thou that supportest our frail Natures that they fall not into the Dust by thy careful Providence over us we have escaped many Dangers we have got through the weakness of Infancy and the Heedlesness of Childhood by thy Blessing has our Food nourisht and our Cloaths warmed us for we live not by these things alone but by the Word which proceeds out of the mouth of God We are in thy Hands then O thou the Sovereign Arbiter of Life and Death when ever thou pleasest we return to the Dust from whence we were Created We acknowledge it is of thy Mercy that we are not consumed and because thy Compassions fail not And we are afraid when we think how easily thou canst crush and destroy us how frail our Life is and how short and Transitory how little a distance we are from Eternity and how exposed our Lives are how many Evils and Dangers compass us about and how small a Matter is able to put an end to our Days These things when we consider them make us look upon our selves as always just at the brink of the Grave and Eternity And while we have liv'd careless of our Duty to thee while we have liv'd in Rebellion against thee we have been upon the brink of Hell and in continual Danger of falling into it Had thy wrath been kindled against us but for a
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