any or such and such a Sin rather than Affliction This plainly and in the Name of God and of Conscience that is made a Judg within a Man and the Soul hearing it with Terror and Awe upon it is the true Work of Repentance This is a severe Discipline a day of Terror indeed upon the Soul when it is carried home by the Hand and Finger of God Now this Scripture calls a Judging our Selves and this Self-examination and Self-judging are recommended to us as what would save Gods Judging us If we would judg our selves we should not be Judged of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.31 and surely if it be done to the purpose and so as strongly to affect the Heart it is a very great Effect oâ— the Spirit of God and and of Christ convincing of Sin and of Righteousness John 16.8 c. and of Judgment And I should rather choose it as an Evidence of the Grace of God than some fair appearances that corrupt Nature can better bear 3. In Repentance there is a real Trembling and Afflicting and Grieving and Shaming a Mans self a smiting on a Mans Thigh a being Asham'd and Confounded by bearing the Reproach of our ways a loathing our selves an abhorring our selves in dust and ashes a not opening of our Mouths in any self Apology or Justification but a smiting on our Breast as so great sinners as the chief of sinners This is the true and real work of Repentance in this part of it This is a truly Spiritual Penance in comparison of which all imposed Bodily hardships are nothing and yet if God lays Affliction upon us though it be very severe there is an Acceptance of the Punnishment of our Iniquities Lev. 26.41 Oh! that God would enable us to these secret Acts upon our corrupt selves to rend our Hearts and not our Garments to Sacrifice to God broken Hearts and contrite Spirits to Tremble at his word to humble our selves and to lye down before him with our very Souls and Spirits as well as to roll our Bodies in the Dust Oh! that God would give us these proofs of true unfeign'd Repentance 4. There follows in a true Repentance a real execution upon our corrupt impure selves a cutting off the Right Hand Mark 9.43 and the Right Foot a pulling out the Right Eye a true Spiritual being put to Death a slaying a crucifying our selves in the Flesh that we may Live to God in the Spirit a suffering the Spirit of Judgment and of Burning a salting the Saorifice not only with Salt but with Fire Now All these Things are of great use as they are Acknowledgments of the Righteous Judgment of God due to us in our Eternal Condemnation as they are Judging our selves to the very Fire of Hell As they declare the exceeding Evil of Sin and the Foulness of it as they shew us the absolute Necessity of a Redeemer as they lay a Foundation of separating our selves from sin and of the utter Hatred of it And lastly They are such as must needs result from Rational Nature endued with most powerful Principles of the Law of Righteousness Knowledge of God and of his Righteous Judgment written in the Hearts and the Thoughts he hath made the Conscience he hath created either for Accusing or Excusing and especially all these mightily set home by the power of the Spirit of God that so he may have though not Real Satisfaction from the Sinner for that is alone from Christ Yet such an Honorary satisfaction and Acknowledgment as is due from a sinner even in his very Soul and from the bottom of his Heart in the Day wherein rhe Lord is pacified towards him that flies for Refuge to the hope set before him Particular 2. The second Particular in this Head concerning Repentance in the strict consideration of it is That it imports very close and particular Negotiationn and Transactions with God in relation to Forgiveness and such as express our particular shame and sorrow that we have offended him and earnest Desires that he would shew us that he is at peace with us and hath pardon'd all that is pass'd in Christ. Under this I will Discourse these following Particulars 1. In Repentance The Humble Repenting Soul casts it self down in the most lowly and Self-abasing Acknowledgment of sin and confession of it Scripture therefore points so much at Confession He that confesseth and forsaketh He must first confess and then forsake his sins and he shall find mercy Prov. 28.13 And David describes a Penitent as one in whose Spirit there is no guile that is he makes an open sincere hearty Confession This is one Branch of the Description of the Blesled Man whose Iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered and to whom the Lord will not impute Iniquity And after it follows I acknowledg'd my Iniquity unto thee and my sin have I not hid I said I will confess my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity rf my s n. But before I did this and while I kept silence thy hand was heavy upon me so that my moisture was tu ned inio the drought of summer Psalm 32.1 c. I acknowledge my tnansgression and my sin is ever before me Psalm 51.3 Ezra thus made confession c. 9. So Nehemiah c. 9. So Daniel c. 9. And the Apostle John Ep. 1. c. 1.9 says If we confess our sins he is fâ—ithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Thus we see how much Scripture puts upon Confession throughout Now Confession of sin is not accepted of God for it self For what can we suppose the Relation of our sins can be to God the Eyes of whose Holiness and Glory are so pâ—ovok'd by our sins But he hath only Regard to us that we should in hatred of our sins and of our sinful selves expose them with hatred and abhorrence of our selves and because we are resolved to have no more to do with them we discover and detect them without any thing of Guile without any Reserve For as the Expression is in Job when we spare our sins we roll them under our Tongues The more therefore we confess them with trouble of Mind and in bitterness of Spirit and with Resolutions of having no more to do with them the more acceptable is our Confession to God because thereby our Confession the more attains God's Ends and what he is most pleas'd with in our Confession For therein is our sincerity when we confess sin because it is Reasonable to expect we will not be reconcil'd to the sins we confess For that is for the Dog to return to his Vomit Confession of our sins with Loathing and Abhorrence is vomiting them out of our mouths And sherefore to return to them again is to return to our Vomit and Confession is like Washing and Purifying our selves To retturn therefore to the sins we have confess'd is wallowing our selves in the mire after washing
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
Mediator written even as all natural Religion and Morality in the very Heart of Man and discernable by that Light For when the first Commands and Emotions of Natural Conscience are to do the things that are Holy and Righteous and Good and we find that tho we have violated and perverted the thing that is right yet we retain a love to those Laws of Eternal Righteousness and Goodness we have not lost all sense of them of desire of likeness to and agreement with them thus we find a sorrow in and trouble within us that we have offended and that the wrath and justice of the supreme Ruler and Governor and Judg of all the World is not so sudden and immediate in his Revenges upon us but that we have space and time for return to God and to Holiness There is by the very same Authority of natural Conscience that requir'd Holiness in our first Acts and thereby to please God a close obligation to return to him by Repentance and to amend what we have done of evil against him and to beseech Pardon and Reconciliation with offended Justice Now when on the other side the Patience and long-suffering of God gives encouragement and even Assurance he will accept Repentance by his giving scope space and opportunity for it Here is great ground for Repentance For the Soul and Mind of Man finding still in it self that Primitive Love to reverential sense of Righteousness and that it cannot bid defiance to it as lost Spirits do there immediately rises in it an earnest endeavour to Self-restitution to restore and recover ones self by Repentance thus that Light given to a Man in his first Creation and the state of Innocency the grace of Christ sustaining it by an Universal Grace to human nature does not loose it self by sin but as it points and directs it self first to Hâ—liness without sinning or falling from it so it now points and directs it self to Repentance when it hath fallen by Iniquity and as first it mooves it self to the Favour of God by not offending or sinning against him so after sin finding him not presently executing wrath and taking vengeance it beseeches him to Receive it Graciously Hosea 14.1 c. and to take away its Iniquities that may not Die For that God is a most good and gracious and merciful Being in himself is a clear principle in the Law of Natural Religion even where ever God hath not awaken'd that Natural Conscience to find it self in the Chains of everlasting Displeasure as the Devils and Damned are against whom he hath in Anger shut up for ever his Tender Mercies when therefore a man finds notwithstanding the so great degeneracy and boldness in sin that every where Testify to our very Faces and that we so well know yet that God leaves not himself without so great Witness of his goodness Acts 14.6 giving fruitful Times and seasons filling mens Hearts with Food and Gladness and that in Relation to himself in particular he hath spared and forborn it draws out Natural Conscience to return to him by Repentance For the riches of Goodness the long Suffering and Forbearance of God lead to Repentance Rom. 2.4 Thus the King of Nineveh by Natural Light reason'd even when God had positively declared Yet forty Dayr and Nineveh shall be destroyed Surely in that there are forty Days allowed they are allowed as a Quarantine as a time of Trial and Probation whether they would Repent or not else why not presently Destroyed Why forty Days delay if there were not Hope of Pardon in such a Repentance so they humbled themselves in that extraordinary manner and turned to God by Repentance and God saw it and Repented of the evil â—e bad said he would do unto them and he did it not Jonah 3.5 c. How much more have the generality of Mankind against whom no such positive Denounciation hath gone forth from God and to whom the time of Patience is not so limitted and defin'd How great reason have they to look upon the time of God's forbearance as a most gracious Call and Opportunity and space for Repentance Thus we see Repentance in some light and sense concerning it runs through the whole World so that the very Heathen who have not had nor so much as heard many of them of Scripture yet have great sense of some way of expiating sin and turning from evil and the very seeing God hath made Repentance and Forgiveness a most necessary and useful expedient of mutual Conversation of Men one with another without which Human Society could not support it self it shews very plainly there is a Mediator between God and Man a Redemer of lost Man that hath for the great purposes of his Redemption inlay'd the Soul of Man with the intimate and inward notices of Repentance and that men shew the work of it written in theiâ— Hearts and that their Consciences accordingly either Accuse or Excuse to allude to Rom. c. 2.14 15. and hath given assurance from Providence and the manner of God's Government of the World That Repentance shall be accepted and therefore hath given the same motions of Natural Conscience to Repentance when a man hath sinned as to Holiness and Righteousness before sin and hath manifested them both alike within man and hath shewed it to them and by the visible things of Human Preservation hath made clearly known the eternal Goodness and Mercy that pardons sin through the Redeemer to allude again to Rom. 1.20 Thus we read in the Book of Joh a Book treating much of Natural Religion assisted by such measures of Divine Revelation concerning Christ as God had vouchsafed to Job and to his Friends very high expressions on this great point c. 33.27 God looketh upon man and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which is right and it profited me not he will deliver his Soul from going down into the Pit for he will say I have found a ransom for him and his life shall see the Light A man any of mankind have just reason to say thus have great occasion to say so I have sinned and perverted that which is right and do find it hath not Profited It is very near to any man to say so and if this take place in them and they do from their Hearts say so and ratify it by Action God looks upon them he beholds them with Acceptance he Delivers through the great Ransom Jesus Christ c. It is repentance to Salvation so c. 34.31 32. surely it is meet to be said to God I have born Chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me If I have done Iniquity I will do no more Even according to the sense of Natural Religion and natural Cnnscience It is meet to be so said to God All this is meet to be done This is even the Discipline of Natural Conscience as God is said to open the Ear to Discipline and to seal
Instruction c. 33 16. c. 36.10 This is that earnest motion of Natural Conscience to take fast hold of Repentance to return all it can after it hath lost its Inocency Purity and â—erfection of Righteousness and Obedience even as it should have mov'd first powerfully and effectually against sin and to good and the same motion of Natural Conscience that is to the one is to the other also when it is stirr'd up by further Gâ—ace from the Spirit of God and there are generally such motions as argue this work in the Heart when the Conscience is not depriv'd of sense Feeling Vigor not twice Dead pull'd up by the roots deliver'd up to a reprobate sense and when God hath given so great and gracious Aussrance that Repentance shall find Plâ—ce for it self That this state is not Hell either in regard of the height of Wickedness or unpardonableness it is an easy and very Intelligible Declination of Conscience from the Azimuth the highest point of Innocency to the next point Repentance which by the righteousness and obedience of the Redeemer shall transcend the very first heighth But that indeed is known by Revelation and not by Natural Light But take Repentance as it is the necessary reserve after sin and that God hath provided it a Place so it is near and even next to Natural Conscience Posit 2. The second position I lay down concerning Repentance and that gives the truest degree of its Elevation through the Redeemer is That the word of God in the Old and New Testament gives the clearest and fullest knowledg of Repentance and of the Divine Spring of it the grace of God in Christ and the blessed operation of the Holy Spirit through his Redemption Repentance therefore is found to be one of the principal Doctrines of Scripture whein it is conveyed unto us under all the variety and complex of Notions that can express so great a point to us viz. remembring bethinking turning converting renewing amending searching and Trying our ways turning to the Lord bringing forth fruits meet for Repentance The Revâ—lation of the word of God beyond all expression excells Natural Knowledg concerning it It opens to us the great Prince the Redeemer and Mediator who gives it a place a possibility he is the Prince whom God hath raised up to make this supreme Donation Acts c. 5.35 c. 3.26 repentance and forgiveness of Sins and blesses in turning us away from every one of our Iniquities Scripture opens to us that great and blessed Spring â—â—d â—fficient of it viz. the true grace of God and the blessed Spirit is the efficient of it It lays before us the great motives of it the sense of the favor and goodness of God who will have mercy Esa 55.7 Heb. c. 12.24 v. 29. and abundantly Pardon seal'd to us by so great an Attonement as the Blood of Jesus speaking better things than the Blood of Abel and on the other side a dread of him who is a consuming fire the living Gâ—d into whose hands in his wrath and displeasure It is a dreadful thing to fall the wrath that is to come 1 Thes 1.10 and ever to come it gives us all the qualifications of it Repentance with the whole Heart turning from all our evil ways and all the evil in our evil ways it moves us with all manner of Applications that may stir us up to it commands exhortations counsels Threats it never leaves speaking Ezek. 18.30 and crying out to us Repent it says to us Repent and turn your selves Matt. 4.17 so Iniquity shall not be your Ruin It preaches Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Ezek. 18.30 it even weeps over us that we would do it Luke 19.42 Turn you turn you for why will ye Die It weeps when we have not known even we in our day the things of our peace It offers it as the only remedy against Eternal Misery Repentance is advised expresly to five of the seven Churches Revel c. 2. c. 3. to shew the universality and necessity of its use It is one of the great principles of the Doctrine of Christ Heb. 6.1 and thus Repentance is the most Native Domestick Doctrin of the Word of God and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that what is found in the Light of Nature serves to these lower purposes only 1. It serves to the purpose of Human Order Government and preservation of the World from falling into a perfect Hell for were there not some sentiments of God of his Mercy and readiness to forgive tending to make men better were there not a sense of the goodness of Righteousness Temperance Mercy and of all Virtue not only as what we should first be but also what we should endeavour to return to when we have Fallen were there not such a thing as Vicious Men being restrain'd from running into utmost excess and extremity and as being reclaimld corrected reform'd moderated and cultivated by precepts of Natural Religion Wisdom add Morality all which flow from and are specimens of the Scripture Doctrin and grace of Repentance the World would be a stye of sensualists and impure Creatures wallowing in bruitish and worse than Swinish Lusts And did not this Notion sweeten men one to another the World would be a Desert or Wilderness of Savage and Wild Beasts tearing in peices one another and both ways a Hell of a World 2. Hereby God will justify himself in the condemnation of the Pagan World that they have not only the Law Written in their Hearts but so much of the Gospel also as this great notion of Repentance Teaches For when the Respit of forty Days imported it to the King and City of Nineveh why should not that Patience wherewith God governs even the Pagan World Preach Repentance to it Why should they not be led to Repentance by the Witness they have of God and of his goodness in giving them fruitful times and seasons and silling their Hearts with food and gladness which he would not leave himself without in his great Wisdom and Righteousness as well as Mercy and Grace How does this riches of Goodness Long-suffering and Forbearance Rom. 2.3.4 if not lead them to Repentance justify their Condemnation who after their hardness and Impenitent Hearts Treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath So that as Niniveh shall rise up in Judgment with those who repented not at the Preaching of Christ the greater than Jonah so it shall rise up in Judgment with other Heathen Nations Cities and People who might by the same proportion have been argued to Repentance so that tho God hath in his supreme Dominion and Justice thought fit to deny them what Christ says They would have repented in Sack-cloth and Ashes upon yet even by the standard of Nineveh's Repentance they 'r not Repenting by that Light they have will be Condemned at the manifestation of that righteous Judgment of Gâ—d the Apostle speaks
This seems so Reasonable and even Necessary that when it is first said He that hideth and covereth his sins shall not prosper Then he that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy It is supposed if any Man does not confess he will not forsake but if he confesses he does it in order to forsaking But yet because Men are so apt to deceive themselves with Formality and to think God may be so put off and pleas'd he adds He that not only confesleth but does that which is so necessary with Confession forsakes shall find mercy Thus Solomon 1 Kings 8. all along his Prayer joyns many Expressions that are the undoubted Acts of sincere Repentance together with the Confession of sin And if Confession be thus joyn'd with Sorrow Shame Trouble Hatred of sins and utter separation from them it could not deservedly fall under that Ridicule and Contempt that prophane men put upon it as if it were the telling God only the Story of our wicked Hearts or Lives But without other sincere effective Powers of Repentance it too justly falls under that Reproach but any such Reproach our Lord will return upon us and our Confession 2. In Repentance there is an earnest and most vehement but also most humble Application to the Throne of Grace in Jesus Christ for Pardon and Reconciliation and with such a Continuance and Perseverance as till there be some Answer that God is our Gracious Father in Christ that we hear the Joyful sound that our sins are forgiven us It is not only that common and formal way of asking Pardon whether we mind it or not but to make it our Business the Aim and Design of our Souls till we receive some gracious assurance that our Desires are answered and our Prayers heard The truly Repenting sinner sitteth alone and keepeth silence that is he is in a waiting and earnestly expecting posture He putteth his mouth in the dust if there may be hope He saith of God He is my portion he hath promised pardon theâ—efâ—re will I hope in him For indeed the Lord is good to all that thus wait for him to the soul that thus seeketh him It is good therefore for a man that he both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord It is good for a man to bear the Y ke â—n his youth Till G d is pleas'd to say to him Be of good cheer I am â—y salvation Fear not I have blotted out thy Transâ—ressions as a cloâ—d and thy sins as a thick clâ—ud When they are sought fâ—r there shâ—ll be none and though they are sâ—aâ—ch'd for they shall not be found For thus the trulâ— repenting sinner fâ—llâ—ws hard after God Repentance is a Grace on purpâ—se for the suing out â—ardon and Reconciliation And because it is moved and acted by Faith it seeks this Pardon in Christ and through the Mediator â—y whom alone Repentance bath place and from whom alone the Notion of it springs as hath been shewn Thus David in his Repentance renewed through the whole Psalm 51. repeats and redoubles his praâ—er fâ—r pardon as if he would not cease n r be quiet till he had the a â—urance of it He turns himself therefore every way to God and all the Efficacies of his Grace for Pardon and with a Respect to the Blood of Christ under the Hysop Particular 3. In true Repentance the Soul makes Full and Fâ—â—m Resolâ—tions of New Obedience and Amendment of Life and such as are ready to issue out into Aâ—tiâ—n and this through the Grace and Power and assistance of the Divine Spirit And herein indeed is the very great Point of Repentancâ— anâ— that gives Evidence to the Truth of all that goes before When there is such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such an after sollicitude and serious afflictive Concernedness for the sinfulness and unholiness of our former Actions and Life that we can no longer endure that State or Course in regard of the very anguish and trouble of Thoughts upon us as it also issues into a strict Care and Government over all our Future Actions to keep them within the Holy Rule and Government of the Word of God the Laws of Holiness and of Obedience to him And herewith is joyned a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such an After-mind such an After-counsel such Second Thoughts as change the whole Purpose and Manner of Life Matt. 3.8 such an engaging the Heart to approach to God Jere. 30.21 So that the True Penitent is prepared and actually brings forth Fruits meet for Repentance and amendment of life Acts 26.20 There is a turning from Darkness that is from the whole Night of Ignorance Injudicious Mind Unholiness of Action Sinfulness of Life under a continued Night and Darkness to Light that is to a true sound Judgment and Mind â—ven the Spirit of a sound Mind and rightly Inform'd Vndâ—rstanding to an high and perfect sense of things and to an universal Holiness Purity and â—leansâ—dness from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and so a perfecting of Holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 a just Account of â—he Time past as that which may have much more than sufficed to have wrought the Will of the Gentiles and to have spent in the Lusts of our Ignorance and now we are wholly Dedicated to God This is the Noble Grace of Repentance that is indeed to salvation and never to be repented of So wonderful and admirable a Contrivance of the Grace of God and such an Illuststration thereof that Angels even the whole Heaven Rejoyceth over one sinner that repents more than over Ninety Nine just persons that need no Repentance That is there is a greater Resplendency and shining out of the Glory of the Divine Compassion and Efficacious Power of his Spirit in Repentance than even in an Innocent State It is the Joyful Astonishment of Angels and Saints They adore and throw their Crowns before God even the Crowns of Angelical Perfection Luke 15.10 and adore the Infinite and Incomprehensible Mystery of the Divine Will that when the sinning Angels had no allowance of after or second thoughts of after-care or judging better of an after-mind but are under Final Impenitency and in Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the Great Day when Repentance to Life is granted to men The Lord hath been pleas'd to bring out of that Reprobate Silver in it self such Vessels of Mercy Jerem. 6.30 which he had before Prepared to Glory 2 Tim. 2.21 making them by Repentance Vessels meet for the masters use prepared to every good Work and who herein yeild this great Glory to Righteousness and Hâ—lyness that upon full Jâ—dgment and Experiment made They imcomparably prefer Holyness to all the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a season and choose even the bitter Draught if I may so speak the bitter Waters of Repentance before the Intoxicating Cup of the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a season and
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
its Instructions and what seems a Death-bed prove only a Discipline It may be a happy beginning of a true Repentance to him who lives after his being near the Grave to perfect it according to that of Job 33. ver 22 23. Thus this Opinion doth not cut off the Action of its desperate Person and if by that Action he pass the needles Eye and get through the strait Gate of Repentance and Regeneration it will be able to give him no Resistance For those to whom the two-leav'd Gates of Faith and Repentance open this Air of Discourse cannot bar that they should not enter into life But on the other side they that are confident and make themselves sure of Repentance and Mercy cannot when they meet the solid Obstacles of things force their way by the Breath of their Mouth but they and their intended Repentance are together locked up in the closeness and compactedness of those Decrees First They cannot Repent Then they cannot be Saved To conclude let such a Decision of this Case be never so austere it is a thousand times more Just than the delay of our return to God in the Contemplation of doing it at the last can be and the Reasons upon which it is planted are such that though they may not reach the height designed yet do they exclude thousands from Eternal Happiness and although they may not make good the Complement of the Censure yet are they of so awful a regard and so worthy of all Observation that they are most vehemently to be pressed to the main scope that Men would by no means trust to this Extreme Repentance to which purpose I shall hereafter take further advantage of them But let us come to that tenderer apprehension of the generality of Divines with which I will concur that all things of Opinion and Dispute may be taken away in so great a Point Let it then be allowed that a Death-Bed Repentance is no impossibility First in regard of infinite Mercy that cannot be limited but by it self Now long Impenitency though it be often doomed irrevocably by God in particular Generations of Men or Persons yet is not that Sin that shall never be forgiven Nor is it upon that account that the Scripture saith of some It is impossible to renew them to Repentance So that though there be many Examples of such Impenitency that have proved in the Event unpardonâ—ble yet not from the precise Nature of the thing it self We may rather believe that as the unmeasurable Being of God hath delighted it self in so many varieties and gradations of the Creatures down from Angels to the darkest foot-steps of himself in the World so the unsearchable Riches of his Grace are made known in all kinds of Pardons As therefore it hath chosen some of the worst of Sinners for the sorts of their Sins chiefest of Sinners and brought them home so some that have made the utmost adventure of continuance in Sin that in these manifold Glasses it might be seen Where Sin hath abounded Grace hath abounded much more 2. Though the time of this Repentance be short and narrow and the Duties of Repentance exceeding long and broad yet where there are found the true signatures of Repentance unfeigned God beholds the Fruit in the Seed and Root he knows the Perfection of his own Creation though Infant or we may conceive such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Repentance Repentance born out of due time as Paul was in the Apostleship suddenly accomplished though they had not the regular time of forming like a Nation brought forth in a day * Cyprian de coena Domini Thus thou Lord anointest in a Moment Herdsmen into Prophets Shepherds into Kings Publicans thou ordainest Apostles nor doth their Disease take leisure to remove whom thou recoverest but in that very Moment thou makest them every whit whole wherein they have thee for their Physician 3. Although there be according to the general Rule a necessity of living to God here in the World yet God may dispense with the Continuation or drawing out of the Action of it in these late Penitents as we easily allow in the case of Infants or Men dying within short space after a Repentance begun upon sad Consideration and not in the Exigency of a Sickness In the mean time it is not at all supposed that God dispenses with the sincere Preparations and Resolvedness of the Mind to that Action but that they must be most true sound and unfeigned and the very Action it self according to the time high full and most significant and as extraordinary as the Repentance it self 4. Although the Condition of a Dying Man do in many regards nearly resemble the state of him that is already in Eternity as he is under a necessity of leaving Sin and the World and set at a distance from Temptation yet it differs in that great Circumstance that he is not in Termino he is not fixt upon his unchangeable Point he hath not undergone that Sentence that immediately passes upon the Soul removed and so may not either have suffered that more secret one conceived by God upon long Provocation The whole time of Life may be a time of Grace and he that hath not yet been concluded by the incommutability of Eternity may hear the Voice of Christ and enter into his Rest * Quando isthinc excessum fuerit nullus jam poenitentiae locus Libr. ad Demetrianum Cyprian who is positive That whenever a Man is launched into another World he finds no room for Repentance he is out of the climate of Repentance who is beyond the line of Time All kinds of Penitencies which are a secondary Satisfaction under the Sufferings of Christ are then desperate and fruitless Yet he allows the greatest liberty to Repentance in this Life For he says * In isto adhuc mundo manenti nulla poenitentia sera est c. No Repentance is late that is earlier than the Grave He says Here a Man takes hold of Life or loses it for ever Yea he grants †Ad immortalitatem sub ipsa morte transitur De coena Domini It is possible by Repentance though we are just a Dying to be safely landed in a blessed Immortality And ‡ In eodem articulo temporis cum jam anima festinet ad exitum c. when the Soul hath left its inward Residences and is now sitting upon the dying Lips before its last farewel to the Body and when in haste to be gone yet even then infinite Clemency disdains not Repentance nor accounts that late that is true nor deprives that of pardon which hath the free and full act of the Soul in return to him Et quaecunque necessitas c. Yea though as he goes on this Repentance had its first rise from Necessity yet neither that nor the Immenseness of Guilt nor Straitness of Time nor the Lateness of the Season nor the Foulness of former Actions fore-prize
greater Punishment and heavier Condemnation and though it seem more chooseable than a fruitless Repentance yet doubtless Eternity makes a difference though not such an one as should give any one Confidence to imbarque into it in a Coffin-Repentance But whether it be rather to be chosen or not this is past question It is unavoidable to some whether they will or no they are surprized with Thoughts what will become of them for ever and few Men but have thoughts this way at such a time above ordinary But I intend to speak of the fairest and best spread Repentance that is found upon a Death-bed That which gives the liveliest Hopes of it self that it is true and sincere not such an one that to a serious Observer betrays it self not either that forced composure to the Expectation of the World which looks for a solemn Profession of God from every one that dies nor an ignorant and formal Repentance but a Repentance that hath much of Vigor and inward Affection and is driven on by great knowledge and light that is accompanied with much Sorrow and very considerate Apprehensions of Eternal Things And if such an one be so questionable what can become of others There is no reason any Repentance should be the better esteemed because Men are Dying but much the less Now while Men are living a thousand of these seeming Changes for the better are evidently confuted without more ado by after returns to Wickedness and they that have to do with such shews of Reformation have no regard of them nor of the Persons for them Apud illum Cordis Interpretem Ars non admittitur ad salutem August Serm. 120. Now God who is the exact Searcher of Hearts can much less be imposed upon by the fairest appearances nor can Men wise according to the Rules of Scripture be easily well perswaded of them and when they are best perswaded there must needs be a very trembling Consideration of so great a hazard But to come more particularly to what I have proposed viz. To shew that Repentance is a Height to which these general Motives of this late Repentance can never mount the Soul In which I will begin with the Descriptions of true Repentance in that wherein it is most difficult not to say impossible to rise to it upon a Dying Bed Repentance in all the parts of it is the fullest clearest act of the Soul and Judgment wherein it is most perfectly it self Remove a Man never so far from all kind of Fears from the Appearances of Death if he were to live Ages he would be of the same Sense He that truly Repents doth not snatch up Repentance as an Expedient for a present Extremity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hieroc Carm. Pyth Pura voluptatum mutatio Cypr. but chooses it as an entrance into the best state of Life and lives always and rests himself in this choice For however this may be introduced by very troublesom and tumultuous Motions yet it is it self the easie sitting down of the Soul with abundant Pleasure and Satisfaction in the abhorrence of Sin and love of Holiness in the dislike of Vanity and Sensuality in the Approbation of heavenly Purity of Heart and Life It is not a Trance wherein Sin lies dead and a Man is in a Rapture of Goodness for a time but a most setled State Godly sorrow that worketh Repentance worketh Carefulness Fear Revenge Desire 2 Cor. 7.11 and by these accomplisheth a Repentance to Salvation that hath no after-pain or trouble no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 10. These Affections are Preparations Repentance enters as a Soul into these which is a still solid clear Act of Reason renewed and a Mind which gives an uniform Vote at all times A Change that is never changed back again no more than things can put off themselves or evil it self become good It is therefore upon fullest Deliberation to choose with Joshuah I and my house those whom I can govern will serve the Lord Josh 24.15 It is Engaging the Heart to approach to God the joining our selves to him by an everlasting Covenant never to be forgotten Jer. 30.21 and 50.5 The cleaving to him with full purpose of Heart Acts 11.23 When all forerunning Affections are laid and quiet or worn out this Judgment still remains and raiseth other Affections like it self that ever remain with it into which the Spirits of the former are extracted and wherein they exercise all the true power they had But now on a Death-bed there is often a great Commotion raised a loud blustre of Passion never arriving at this point at this Settlement But if a Man should live after it would go off as Clouds and Storms that when they have spent themselves vanish and lie down And when a Man dies it is to be fear'd that as they were raised by approach to the unappeasable Tempests of Darkness so they are hurried with their Violence 2. It is carefully to be observed that there is in true Repentance a due Proportion betwixt the contrite Indignation of the Soul against past Sin and the love and zeal it hath for Holiness whereas in Death-bed Repentances it is oftenest found that there is either a terrifying Presence only of former Sins appearing to the affrighted Conscience without a more hopeful Indication of the Soul truly composed to Righteousness or else some high flying Resolutions of better Life afterward offered as a kind of Bribe to the Patience and Mercy of God in hopes of present Deliverance or at best as a Ransom from Hell and Eternal Damnation but without a deep sense of the guilt and evil of past Sins or the just apprehension of that continually running issue of Corruption that is still defiling anew Either of these is a main Error and pernicious For if on the one side the Heart in a Rage be forced to cast out some Sins for the turbulency of them if it be not immediately filled with better Guests Seven other Spirits are ready to enter and make the last state of that Man worse than the first Mat. 12.43 For Repentance is no void space no silent or unactive state but when it hath dislodged Lusts furnishes and fills the Soul with the best things and carries the vigor of a Man's Action to the best effect When by repentance a Man ceases to do evil he learns to do Well Isai 1.16 17. And brings forth fruits meet for repentance and amendment of life Mat. 3.8 On the other side he that seems to make a hasty motion to Holiness without due sense of Sin first thinks to overrule the method God hath set who requires Humiliation godly Sorrow Anger Revenge Fear as preparing to Repentance And further he conceits a freedom to himself when he is fetter'd and bound without a power given him from God he offers to cast out Devils with ease that cannot be cast out but by fasting and prayer Mark 9.29 that is severe courses of Self-abasement and lowliest
dependences together with earnestest Application to the Grace of God These unclean Spirits therefore that dissemble a retreat return immediately and make a Prey of the deluded Soul Acts 19.14 c. 3. Although Heaven and Hell Happiness and Misery take up the thoughts of a true Penitent yet not separated from God and Christ but as it were compounded into the Sense of God angry and the desire of Attonement with him in Jesus Christ. Happiness and Misery considered apart are not the object of the gracious Soul But God and Christ considered apart are an infinitely sufficient Reason of Repentance The clear love of God upwards the Soul as a Father in Christ without Reflections upon Happiness is though not the single yet the paramount Consideration in Repentance unfeigned But Men a Dying are generally so over-possessed with the Terrors of an Eternal Suffering and meer desires of Freedom from pain and of well-being and so in haste that they generally miss these higher Considerations which being further off not only from corrupt Nature but even from natural Conscience are not commonly espied but therefore argue greater Sincerity and truth of Heart 4. The truest Repentance lies in the bosom of Faith the apprehensions of the Love and Goodness of God in Christ melt the Soul and give it most perfect Separation from Sin the most effectual Purification of the Heart all which express the height of Repentance Upon the soft Fire of the pardoning Goodness of God the Soul most kindly distils into repentant Tears Here flows that Spirit of Grace and ingenuous Goodness which bringeth forth the clearest and holiest Affection towards God But at the time we are now speaking of It is very seldom that either Horror or Presumption do not swallow all Presumption where there is little Sense or Judgment of the Case Horror where the Judgment is clearer and the Sense quicker for evey thing disposes now rather to Fear and to the Spirit of Bondage Rom. 8.15 and a Man naturally does all he does under a servile dread of God and his Eternal Justice And though there may be much mention of Christ and desire of Mercy through him yet it is but as a Malefactor convicted beseeches the Mercy of the Judge no otherwise than as of a Judge So such call out for the Mercy of God to pardon them but still as a Judge not with the Spirit of the Son sent into the Heart the Spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father Nor with that love that casteth out unworthy Fear Gal. 4.6 And indeed how can it be otherwise there having been no acquaintance with God in the way Job 22.21 but a long Enmity and the time now too strait for a free and full Consideration of the riches of Grace such as may still an awakened Conscience Fear presses in every way and shuts out Faith What can now redeem the Soul from this hellish Terror but a light from Heaven immediately darting into it a Grace above that Grace that ordinarily saves Men For a well setled Trust and Confidence in Mercy according to the general Rule is not but after some sad debates and experimental Consultations that have passed between the sense of Sin and the affiancing Acts of the Soul upon Christ This Repentance then is in great danger of missing the Spirit of the Gospel and falling into the Rank of those Repentances of Cain Esau Judas This I have endeavoured to shew that though we suppose a Dying Man to spread his Soul and Thoughts every way and to all the parts of Repentance yet it is extremely to be suspected there will want the true and right quality of them in regard of the very disadvantageous Circumstances wherein such an one is found and the great unfitness of the Soul at that time to begin to do anything worthy to which it hath not been before inured or if it did begin it would be much more unlikely to bring forth fruit as our Saviour speaks to perfection Luke 8.14 I add nothing of the Exercises of a full and well grown Repentance whereby it is daily espying the risings of Sin and suppressing them and filling up the Defects of Holiness and Obedience because they are not to be thought possible in the point I am now speaking of and I have already given a Resolution in that Case I shall now set my self to find out the low Causes that are alway to be suspected to have the great Influence upon such a Latter-end Penitency In general therefore we must take notice that there are several vapors of misapprehension rising upon the Soul when we are a Dying that do so disguise it to it self and disfigure the true face of it that from thence arise dangerous Mistakes concerning a Mans Condition towards God We see into how many shapes upon ordinary Occurrences we change and how easily we exchange them for quite different without any good Cause what continual Ebbs and Flows there are of the Humours and how do these cast the Ballance of the Superiour Soul One Man is every hour some several sorts of Men. How much more do great Accidents and removes out of one Condition into another alter us Which yet are but the sudden and just now state of our Minds upon such Alterations which not continuing we return to our former Figure Vnstable and weak as water Gen. 49.3 we take the form of every Vessel we are put into Who knows then whether his Dying Repentance be any more than the Mould not of his Mind but of his Dying Condition approaching him big with so great a Change We know many things befal us in our Lives which put a greater sense of Religion upon us than we find at other times and yet how variable are we our goodness at such times is as the Morning Dew and as the early Dew it goeth away Hose 6.4 How often are we from the occasions of Mercies Afflictions Fears Hopes good Discourses carried into high Apprehensions of God And we lose them again we know not how Now out of doubt a Dying Condition of any thing we meet with in the World is most apt to move us upon God and a Sense of him But can we think Those fleeting Shoots of the Soul that have no certainty are accepted for Repentance How strangely doth Melancholly and Oppressions of that transform Men which when it falls upon the Motions of Conscience gives us strong Imaginations of Eternal Things which yet being nothing but the cast of that Melancholly upon the Thoughts when that is removed they are quite of another hue It is evident the Mind sees much through the Body and the Representations are coloured by its Temper As the Eye sees through yellow or green Glass differently from the things themselves So the Serenity or Cloudiness of the Humours makes a different Reflection of things upon the Mind and the liveliness or heaviness of the Spirits incline us to very varying Apprehensions Now what time is more like to be so incumber'd with
therefore it hath been noted The question is not whether God accepts a true Repentance how late soever but whether God will give a true Repentance so late and herein the question is not of the limits the absolute limits of infinite Mercy and Power But what limits it hath set to it self and what Seasons it hath limited to us and whether according to these a Death-Bed Repentance be not almost if not altogether an Impossibility I 'll therefore lay down several degrees of Impossibility notwithstanding infinite Mercy and Power that must necessarily abate the Irregular Confidence of such a Repentance and under one of them I shall be bold to place it 1. The highest degree of Impossibility is of those things that are utterly and absolutely impossible with God because they are irreconcileable with his Nature and such wherein if they were he must deny himself which he cannot do For though there is nothing above God not so much as any Goodness or Righteousness abstracted from himself that should give him Law Yet he being himself that supreme Goodness and Righteousness He is a Law to himself His Nature is his supreme and inviolable Law And his Will stands always even with his Nature For his Will is himself reciprocal with his Nature And all his Actions keep perfect Correspondence with his Will Upon this immutable Reason God cannot lye he cannot do any thing weak or that argues Imperfection He cannot but be righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Upon this Reason also he cannot he will not acquit the guilty He cannot he will not save or make Men happy in their Sins God himself speaks this Sense Ezek. 18.31 32. and c. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the Death of him that dieth why will ye die Turn your selves and live ye As if he should say except ye turn all my Mercy can do you no good For such a Mercy as God the Father of Mercies will not give would not be a Mercy but either a foolish Softness or loose Indulgence to Sin Such a Power were not a Power but an Impotency or turning all things to Confusion These therefore are as inconsistent with God as Folly Imperfection Sin The Gospel the highest display of Mercy rests upon this Principle being not a Salvation of Men in Sin but a most effectual Redemption of Men from Sin Of all that God can be supposed to do for Men there is nothing more impossible than this more repugnant to all the true Sense of Man more overthrowing of the undertaking of Christ more contrary to the Nature of true Happiness An Opinion of the damned in Hell being annihilated or recovered to Holiness and Happiness after some Ages of Torment were a high Probability compar'd with this He that can tempt himself to believe this may believe any thing and needs no Confutation but his own Unreasonableness Against this I have been thus large because it secretly lurks in Mens Hearts that God may save them without so much ado about Faith and Repentance though being afraid to speak a thing so monstrous they disguise it under the Pretence of a faint Repentance at last But from what I have said It is plainly to be inferred First That some things which God cannot will not do are not the reproach either of his Mercy or Power but the Glory and Greatness of both And this that He neither can or will save Men without sincere Faith and Repentance that is without a recovery to Holiness is one of these things The Death-Bed Repentance then that is unto Salvation must without all dispute be a sincere Change from Sin to Holiness 2. There is an Impossibility that arises from the peremptory and absolute and irrepealable determination of the Will and Council of God concerning any thing In this degree of things I account * I cannot acquiesce in the Exposition of the Learned Dr. Hammond in his Annotations concerning these two Cases the unpardonableness of the Sin against the Divine Spirit The unrenewableness of total Apostates from Christianity to Repentance The impossibility of Repentance after this Life Now though these carry not their own Evidence of being inconsistent with the Divine Nature as the former yet the Declaration of supreme pleasure against them is so effectual that we must needs look upon them as impossible And we may see a great consent a high Congruity between the things themselves and the Determination of God concerning them which Reasons are yet clearer with God For in the Sin against the Holy Ghost there is so mature so perfect so concocted a Wickedness so high a contumely against the Godhead it self that it is very irreconcileable with Repentance and so with Pardon The total Apostacy from Christianity and the Evidences of it mentioned Heb. 6. from the very Nature of the Case appears irreparable because there is no other or higher Grace than that of the Gospel for the Apostates to remove to no more sacrifice for sin nor are there any higher Evidences of that Gospel than those he is supposed to revolt from and no more perfect Acts of Contrariety to the Gospel than the crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to an open shame the doing despite to the Spirit of Grace the treading under foot the Son of God and counting the Blood of the Covenant an unclean thing in the Parallel place Heb. 10.29 Besides all other Reasons the unchangeable State of Eternity is so consolidate with so fixed into our very Being that the Perpetuity of it is very accountable to our Reason so that there can be no Change after this Life From hence then we derive thus much farther against a Death-Bed Repentance First that some things wherein we cannot find an express Impossibility in their Nature are yet made so by Gods absolute Resolution concerning them into the Reason of which he also is pleased to give us some light And that many Expressions of Scripture as They shall seek me early but shall not find me the Parable of the foolish Virgins with many others make this Repentance very dangerous with which also the very Reason of the Case concurs Yet not amounting to this kind of Impossibility 3. There are some things impossible according to the Rules and general Laws of the Creation and Government of the World which we call Nature and which Rules infinite Wisdom and Power hath so prescribed to it self that he hath yet reserved to himself freedom to shew himself above them as Founder and Lord of Nature Thus it is impossible for the Sun to stand still to raise the Dead that the Fire should not burn That is It is impossible at all times but when infinite Power is pleased to be seen riding in the Heavens far above all Nature that is when he is pleased to work Miracles suitable to these Laws of the first Creation there are also Laws of the new and second Creation viz. the Redemption of
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.