this thing in the Gospel let us therefore by Repentance press home and return to God in Christ 2. Again Repentance is the gift of God a Grace given by him If God peradventure will give Repentance and then hath God granted unto the Gentiles Repentance unto Life Christ is a Prince and Saviour raised up by God to give Repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 Acts 5.31 and Remission of Sins So Repentance is a Gift or a Grace It cannot be Educed it cannot be drawn out by anâ— Powers of Nature It is not of Man or of the Will of Man It is not of Bloods It is not by Derivation or Descent from Adam It does not run in the Channel of Human Blood God therefore does not give such Grace in Vain but when he hath settled a Fund of Pardon Reconcilement and Salvation He first settled that else Repentance had been in Vain as the Eye would have been if God had not first made Light Light is alone in Christ He does not give Grace that shall be to no purpose he gives no man the Repentance he will not Accept and Pardon upon He does not expose his own Grace to Damnation or to the Flames of Hell nor does he give any Grace but in the Mediator in the Redeemer So the Redemption of Christ must needs be the Foundation of Repentance there had never been else the Notion the possibility of Repentance there had never been the sound or report of it heard in the World This then being the Foundation let us take the true degrees of the state of Repentance in two Positions Posit 1. God hath wriâ—ten in the very Heart of Man the excellency of this Grace â—nd Duty of Repentance thaâ— it is not far from him that he should go up into Heaven Rom. 10. or down into the Deep or beyond the Sea for it It is in his Heart So the Knowledg of it is very near him God hath also put a Tenderness towards it a Flexibleness he hath made the Soul of Man the Conscience and Affections plyable to it And this we shall see is from the Mediator I confess this may seem hard to be understood seeing Repentance is fitted and prepared for a sinful fallen Creature Now in that man was at first Created upright and perfect and good and what was written in mans Heart was written there in his Creation what place could there be for Repentance Adam was so righteous a person he could need no Repentance why then should repentance be written in his Heart And yet notwithstanding we find by experience and universal Observation It is a notion very intimate to every mans Soul and even indear'd to his Thoughts Every man seems to be glad there is such a notion such an Idea in his Soul and they that hear of it and know it from Scripture acknowledg immediately the goodness and reasonableness of it and rejoyce in it And tho a man do not fall down right upon the Practise of it yet he is pleased with the promise to himself he will at some time repent and reform and grow better and there is proportionably a general Faith Repentance will be accepted and the repenting Offender Pardoned If men are told they must of necessity change repent and reform from their sinful courses If they are perswaded to become other men they are not so apt to be Angry but rather say Acts 24.25 They will take a convenient time for it tho Temptation carry them away yet they heartily Embrace the thing it self as to the assent and submission and acknowledgment that it ought to be so Men are convinc'd that while they defer to enter into the Practise that yet they ought to repent This I assert is through the Grace of the Redeemer I would therefore endeavour to find out how this notion of repentance comes to be so very intimate and connatural to mans Soul and with such a Engraven Engrafted Hope and belief of Pardon upon it How it comes to pass that the demands of Natural Conscience do so wonderfully lead to Repentance and are like those of Natural Justice and common Honesty of Soberness and Temperance of Truth Mercy and Compassion or whatever is accepted in the World as morally good and excellent and even as the deep impressions of natural Religion sense of God and obedience to him All these give an honour â—o Repentance exert and urge the Soul to it By the same sentiments of Soul we allow the one we allow the other also If the remains of natural Conscience call a man out to the one they summon him to the other also And yet all this I affirm is from the Grace of the Redeemer And this I would make out by two things 1. The Lord Jesus Christ the one Mediator between the one God and man who is the Light that Lighteth every Man that commeth into the World 1 Tim. 2.5 John 1 9. Heb. 1.3 hath natural Conscience under his hand and upholdeth all things â—ven as Redeemer by the word of his Power He thâ—n bears up that Law of Holiness engraven on mans Heart in Creation he holds up that rational Moral Frame he keeps that Light that Candle or Taper of God in mans Spirit that it may not be a Lamp put out in obscure Darkness Through him therefore there are remains of that excellent Image wherein Man was first Created even in that Knowledg Righteousness and true Holiness so that Man does not sink either into that blackness of darkness an utter Ignorance of God and insensibleness of him or into an extreme hatred and enmity to God and all Goodness as damned Spirits do Here is the great Efficacy of the Mediator that he shores up and staies this Law of Original Goodness and Holiness in Mans Heart that it does not slide utterly away nor sink 2. Through the Redeemer there is yet so gracious an Administration of the Government of the World the Vengeance of God his just Indignation and Fury against a sinful World and against particular Sinners is restrained God Refrains himself in and through Christ and does not speedily execute Judgment He Exercises an admirable Patience and long Suffering Jere. 9.24 and loving Kindness in the Earth The Earth is full of his Goodness in the midst of much Provocation Lamen 3.22 Malac. 3.6 It is of his tender Mercy we are not Consumed and because his Compassions fail not I am the Lord I change not therefore you the Children of Men are not Consumed The Lord is gracious merciful long-suffering slow to wrath Exod. 34.6 and of great mercy And all this is very Visible every Man may see it Job 36.25 Man may behold it afar off The Heaven and the Earth the Sun and the Moon and the Stars Proclaim it every motion of Nature within and without us Psal 136. tell us that his mercy endureth for ever Now these two laid together explain to us how Repentance is through the Grace of the
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
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
the midst of the Paradise of God and even in any of the sadnesses of the Servants of God by reason of Afflictions Temptations any Agonies of Conscience Desertions there is Light in the midst of that Darkness whereas in the false Joys of counterfeit Repentance there are such either presumptuous sensual Intermixtures or such a want of true Spiritual Light that the midst of that Joy is Heaviness But the Fruit of this Repentance is that Peace of God that passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 guarding the Heart and Mind through Jesus Christ 5. To all these both Motives Means and Signs of Repentance must be always added Prayer even all Prayer and Supplication with Perseverance and continuance therein even to extraordinary Watchings and Fastings as occasion requires Ephes 6.18 Colos 4.2 Luke 11.9 For as the Soul in Prayer and Supplication feels the strong motions and excitations of Repentance by setting before our selves and making close Applications of our selves to the great considerations of God of Christ of Sin of Holiness of Eternal Happiness and Misery so herein is the earnestness of Supplication asking seeking and knocking for the Holy Spirit engaged and employ'd as knowing him the supreme Mover Principle and efficient of Repentance and the Divine Spirit coming down to Dwell in the Spirit of the true Penitent and shedding its efficacies and operations in it as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication seals to the Soul the truth of Repentance and becomes a spiritual visible sign and evidence of the Truth of it as Christ says of Paul upon Repentance behold he Prayeth Acts 9.11 6. Some Great and Heroick Acts and Effects of Repentance according to the Ability and Opportunity of Persons and according to the Sins persons have been guilty of before Repentance are sometimes absolutely necessary Evidences of the Truth of Repentance and sometimes Illustrious and extraordinary Signals of the mighty Power and Force and largeness of Efficacy in this grace of Repentance where it meets with Subjects whom God by outward enablements of Providence as well as inward Grace and Power hath fitted hereunto Such are in cases of great Scandal and publick Offence publick and open Confessions of sin endeavours and close Applications upon Persons that have been of the knot and fellowship of our sins or private Parties and confederates in them moving them by all the Sentiments of our Minds and the Affections of our Hearts to Repentance sollemn Fastings and Humiliations with usual Watchings not only for the Taming bringing Down and Abasing of our selves and by the acknowledgment of our own unworthiness of the least of Mercies and that we are worthy of Wrath and Judgment only and to be strip'd of all Enjoyments but because the Heart is so taken up and engag'd that it can mind nor attend nor be at leisure for the most necessary Refreshing of Bodily Nature which is made and taught and disciplin'd as heretofore to serve sin so now to cry out for Mercy and Pardon and to undergo the severities of Repentance and to be brought under to them in extraordinary Weepings according to the most Affectionate Emotions of the Soul and suitable Temper of Body And such as these are also the Acts of just Restitution to persons injured according to our utmost Abilities or great Alms-givings and acts of Mercy of which Zaccheus Luke 19. is a great Example Great Acts of Service to Jesus Christ in the Salvation of Souls either by our own personal Ministry as Paul so zealously Preaching the Faith Gal. 1.23 Psal 66.16 he once destroyed or private endeavours by Holy Discourses and Declarings what God hath done for our Souls by Exhortations and good Counsels by Holy Examples by great Liberalities for the promotion of Christianity and the Powers of it in Repentance and general Reformation and bringing in Souls to the most publick open and notorious renunciations of former sins and the very instruments of them of which we have a great example in the burning their Magical Books of so great valew Acts 19.19 Job 34.31 These are not to be bound as heavy Burdens to the entanglement and enthralment of Conscience upon All but according to the opportunities and advantages Persons have their state of Body temper of Mind freedom of Time abilities of Estate and leaving to supreme Grace the giving of various degrees of Grace and making among the Pleiades the watry Weeping Stars of Repentance one Star to differ from another in Glory But when there is a meeting and concurrence of all these or an eminency in any they who can shew forth the truth of Repentance in these Fruits Job 38.41 1 Tim. 3.13 purchase to themselves good Degrees in the Academy or School of Repentance and bring great Honour to Christ and to it and according to our Talents receiv'd sincerity in each of them is essential to the truth of our Repentance and if they are in us and abound they make us to be neither Barren nor Vnfruitful in this great Gospel Grace given from the Lord Jesus but without any trurh of them we are as a Well without Water Clouds without Rain frothy Waves driven of some Imaginary or Earthly Winds and Vapors Epist Jude v. 12. and tossed and in great danger of prooving falling Stars for whom is reserv'd the blankness of darkness for ever 4th I come now to the Fourth Head in this Head of the Doctrine of Repentance viz. The great saving benefit the blessing of this Grace and Gift of Repentance which hath the upper and the neither Spings Josh 15.19 from the neither Springs all gracious Affections and Fruits of a sollemn and serious Resipiscency or growing Wise upon sad Afflicting Remembrances and reviews of sinful ways and the upper Springs of Joy Peace Happiness and Blessedness for ever and eternal Rejoycings we have so Sorrowed so Repented Of this I will give but a very short Representation because the enlargement upon it more properly belongs to another grand principle in the Doctrine of Christ and yet what I do say I will endeavor distinguishingly to Discourse it to the Doctrine of Repentance and with a peculiarity to it 1. In that it is Repentance to Salvation wrought by a sorrow after God it is ordain'd by God as a security and preservative by his especial Grace in Christ from everlasting Weeping Wailing and gnashing of Teeth a Repentance without any Fruit or Effect but a continual Circulation of it self in Horrors and fruitless renewals without ease or remedy without possibility of Amendment of recovery to God and Holiness For in Hell there is no such Woe therefore to you that Laugh now without this true Repentance For you shall weep and weep for ever it is the state of utter Darkness extremity of Darkness and to extremity of Duration even Eternal Duration But true Repentance hath had its Proportion here 〈◊〉 this World of sorrow that God Accepts in Christ and through his Agonies for sin 2. It is not only a
and Applying as they find just occasion all the Promises to the True and sincere Repenters and the Denunciations and threatnings to the Obdurate Obstinate and Impenitent Sinners and on Insincere Repentance and if they do this Errante Clave not according to the Truth of the Gospel it neither Binds on Earth nor in Heaven else the Power of the Church or the Ministers were Despotic and Lordly they would Exercise Authority to purpose which Christ says They shall not nor be accounted Evergetae Indulgers of a Repentance however but Counterfeit or Insincere or on the other side Dominate over true Repentanc Luke 22.25 They have no Dominion over their Faith no more have they over their Repentance but are helpers of their Joy or Godly sorrow and the Publishers of the Wrath to come on all obstinate Sinners or Hypocritical Repenters 2 Cor. 1.24 c. 10.6 Answ 3. Although it is indeed the Duty of a sincere Penitent to Ask Forgiveness of those whom they have offended either by Injury or Scandal and to make all the Spiritual Reparations they can in case of Scandal and in and by this Worlds goods as they are able in case of that Kind of Injuries Yet it is also the Duty of those who are or have been so Trespass'd upon either way to Forgive and under that highest Obligation that except they so forgive as They are Commanded their Heavenly Father will not forgive them their Trespasses But whether they do according to their Duty or do not God retains those supreme Keys of Pardon of sin and Absolution of the Penitent in his own Hand and he hath the right and just Title so to do For he is the not only Law-Giver Paramount and if there be no Law of his broken there is no Transgression but if he Pardons and Justifies none can condemn Transgression is Cover'd and taken away whether men forgive or not else they could not be Blessed to whom he imputes not sin if men had power still to Impute it And lastly he is the Sovereign Proprietor the Offender and the Offended are alike his They are both not only his Vassals but have Forfeited themselves and their All to his Justice upon all these Accounts David said against thee Psal 51.4 thee only have I sinned and not against Vriah but in such an Inferiority as that my offence against him is Bound or Loosed as thou Pardonest so then if God Pardons though Vriah's Family or Posterity or himself if he could have surviv'd had not Pardon'd yet God would be Justified in Speaking or declaring David a Pardon'd Sinner and clear in Judging him so in so taking away his Iniquity that he should not Dye for it And this is the true sense of that great Penetential acknowledgment of David and not any intention of setting himself up in his Royal Dignity as above the general and ordinary Rank of Sinners or Offenders He had something else to do when he was thus humbling himself before God and beseeching mercy than to Magnify himself above his fellow Creatures He was laying fast hold of Infinite Power and Grace and Pardon and from which there was no Appeal For unto thee Lord belongs Mercy uncontrollable who hast the Ultimate Judicature of Rendring to the Trespassor and Trespassed according to their Works Now Seeing the generality of Christians trust to Death-Bed-Repentance I should give a Resolution to that great and concernful Question whether there be a possibility of a Sinner and saving Death-Bed-Repentance But in answer to that there is added unto this Treatise of Repentance a Discourse Printed several years ago of the same sense and Spirit with this Doctrine of Repentance and is therefore under review and as in second Edition presented with it I will therefore conclude this with some few and short Practical Inferences the whole being compos'd to Use and Practise Infer 1. How admirably Wise and Holy is God in his Grace Mercy and Pardoning Goodness He is not Loose or Prodigal in his Forgiveness but hath provided this Admirable Grace and Duty of Repentance to shew that as he does not cut off Awes of him and Reverential Returns to him by offering no Mercy but giving up to Despair so he does not turn Wild the Hearts and Consciences of them whom he Pardons by Licentious Forgiveness but so stated and bounded that his Grace may not be turn'd to Wantonness And this is the Name of God in the Redeemer he is a Holy and wise Redeemer he does not Redeem without Repentance he hath upon him the Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding and of the Fear of the Lord he is quick of Vnderstanding in the Fear of the Lord he does not judg after the sight of the Eyes nor Reprove after the hearing of the Ears But righteousness is the girdle of his Loyns and Faithfulness the girdle of his Reines Esay 11.2 Let us then aright understanding this Wise Grace of the Gospel as not take Sacriregiously out of it these Richest Jewels of its Wisdom and Holyness denying Repentance in either our Doctrine and Principles or in our Lives and Practise Infer 2. Seeing God hath not only in his Gospel but by the very Law and as I may call it Gospel of Natural Conscience Commanded all Men every where to Repent and Because that is not full enough clear enough to lead to true saving Repentance he hath therefore written it to us with the Sun-beam of his Gospel let us therefore think If it be Intollerable for Tyre and Sidon for Pagans and Indians in the Day of Judgment How much more will it be for us in that day For if they are Condemned who have not Comported with so clear so absolutely necessary so Wise so Holy so every way Rational Gracious Inviting Doctrine made known to be so by a much dimmer Light what will be done to us who have not been drawn and led to it by so Glorious Rayes of the Sun of Righteousness whom such Riches of Goodness have not led to Repentance Infer 3. How Adorable is the Grace of God in Jesus Christ who hath not only given us the Doctrine of Repentance but by his Spirit gives the very Grace it self He hath put no Trust in our own Powers of Vnderstanding Will Affections Natural Conscience Reason or Morality but only in his own Spirit and Grace in his Son nor doth he Accept our Repentance upon its worth valew perfection but wraps it up in the rich Robes of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ and so it is pleasing in his sight so he does not lessen nor derogate from the graciousness of his Gospel by Imposing such a Duty But he magnifies it by giving so high and admirable a Grace and Divine Power within us Infer 4. Seeing Repentance is a Grace of such truly Evangelical Excellencies so agreeable to the Infinite Wisdom and Holiness as well as Mercy and Compassion of the Redeemer let us trie this Gold in the Fire of severest search and examination by the Gospel Light
that we may not be pleased and contented with a Counterfeit with any other Repentance than that unto Salvation not to be Repented of Least we for ever Repent of our Repentance in Hell where there is no place of Evangelical saving Repentance but of that only which is a barren Fiery Horror and Despaire scorching the Conscience for ever and not allaying it with a Drop of Water to Cooll outragious Tongue Luke 16.24 Blaspheming at the same time God and Christ and our impenitent selves who would not Repent while we had space and place for our Repentance Infer 5. Let us by all the most moving Considerations of the Evil of sin the hatefulness and unreasonableness of it the sense of the Goodness and Grace of God in Christ all his Judgments all his Mercies the sense of an Eternal Misery and Punnishment from his Presence be strongly mov'd excited stirr'd and led to Repentance Infer 6. Let us rejoyce in the sweet Reposes of Conscience when we have truly Repented in the infinite Power Authority and Supreme right of God to Pardon upon Repentance not dependent upon Man nor upon the Will of Man Who is a God like unto him who Pardons Iniquity Transgression and Sin and casts it into the depth of the Sea who makes by his Pardon sins as Scarlet and Crimson to be White as Snow and Wooll that blots out Iniquity as a Cloud and a thick Cloud with the same Potency and Ease that the Sun does off a Cloud and with infinitely greater Let us Rejoyce in the great Efficacies of the Redeemer Pardoning sin upon Earth as the great High Priest of our Profession and the Bishop of our Souls Absolving truly Repenting Sinners by the Witness of his Blood sprinkling the Heart from an evil Conscience and speaking better things than the Blood of Abel The Blood as of a Lamb without spot Offer'd by the Eternal Spirit Purging the Conscience from dead works together with and even as the Author and Finisher of faith and repentance from dead works to serve the Living God Heb. 9. c. 10. c. 12. Let us rejoyce in the Witness of the Divine Spirit Sealing and Witnessing to us by Repentance washing the Body the whole Conversation as with pure water Let us rejoyce in all the Blessed Promises and Assurances of the Word of God made by it to sincere Penitents which are yea and Amen in Christ For all these are of far greater Authority Truth Certainty than All Bindings or Loosings on Earth whether by the Ecclesiastical as we call it Administration of the Keyes or by Men forgiving one Another however necessary these may be in their place Infer 7th Seeing the Kingdom of God and of Heaven is the great Motive to Repentance as hath been before on great Reason made out The high Reason we have to believe that by the Apostles calling it the Last time the last hour the ends of the World so many Hundreds of Years ago we must needs be now upon the very last issue and determination of that Time when the Kingdom shall appear in Glory and all other kind of Time shall be no more How great a Cloud does therefore Encompass us that we should by no means be willing or able to Rend to Engage us to run with Patience the Race of Repentance set before us Heb. 12.1 and to that End to lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Repentance that it may be to Salvation and never to be Repented of Hearing him who in the days of his Flesh because the offers and first appearances and First Fruits of his Kingdom were then begun Preach'd saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand so the full Harvest of that Kingdom being now ready to appear he does by the Voices of all his Prophets in the Old and New Testament instantly Preach to us Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand And of how strong and close Connexion the Kingdom of God and of Christ and Repentance are I shall more fully and largely at this time Represent as a most solemn Conclusion of this Discourse There is a fixed space given and a peculiar Interval Appointed Lying between the time of the Apostacy call'd the Time Times and Half Time or the 1260 Days and the Time of the Vials And it is 30 years making the 1260 1290 Years Dan. 12.11 even as the 45 Years of the Vials to the Absolutely blessed state of the Kingdom of Christ in Glory when the Saints shall all stand in their Lots fill up to that very Fulness of Times Now at this space of the Thirty Years the Spirit shall be powred out from on High The Song of the Lamb which hath been so long out of use that it becomes as it were a new Song and can be at first learnt only by the 144000 shall be Taught by them immediately and the Everlasting Gospel shall be without delay upon it Preach'd to every Nation Tongue and People under Heaven and then there shall be as in preparation to the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ but under the Influence of that Kingdom in Succession a mighty Spirit of Godly Sorrow working Repentance to Salvation never then indeed to be Repented of pour'd out upon all Flesh Now because this is a point of great moment to the Doctrine of Repentance and sets forth much of the Excellency of Repentance I shall give very great Scriptures and argue upon them for the truth of ir Scripture 1. The first Scripture I would insist upon shall be from a consideration of that great Ordinance of God concerning the Day of Attonement among the Children of Israel This Ordinance We find Levit. 23.27 In the tenth day of the seventh the Sabbattical Month there shall be a day of attonement It shall be an Holy Convocation to you and you shall afflict your Souls And you shall do no work in that same day For it is a day of Attonement to make Attonement for you before the Lord your God for whatsoever Soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same Day he shall be cut off from among his People And whatsoever Soul it be that doth any work in that same day the same Soul will I destroy from among his People It shall be a statute for ever throughout your Generations in all your Dwellings It shall be to you a Sabbath of Rest and you shall Afflict your Souls And on that day there were the great rites of Sacrifice the Bullock the sin Offering the Blood of which was carried into the Holy of Holies to make an attonement for the Vncleannesses of the Priests and People and to reconcile the Holy of Holies and the Mercy Seat and the Tahernacle of the Congregation and the Goat that was to be Kill'ed in the same Manner and the scape-Goat throughout c 16. Now that which I lay in the Foundation is That God never appointed
any of these great Rites but they had a Solemn signification a signification as sollemn as the Type was So that there must be some great sense of this day of attonement I know it had a great fulfilling in Christ and in him as an Offering once for all that immediately Entred into the Holy of Holies with his own Blood to appear in Heaven for us It had very great parts of its accomplishment But there are other great Parts that are to be fulfill'd in his Saints and for them as in themselves And especially in this solemn Affliction So that as if any did not afflict their Souls they were to be cut off so now And in these things this day had many very remarkable Lines of the sollemn affliction and attonement that shall be in the very last parts of Time and near the state of the Kingdom of Christ 1. It was an Ordinance throughout the Generations of both Natural and Adopted Israel A Statute for ever that is until the very Kingdom of Christ. 2. It was in all parts of it Sabbattical prepar'd for the great Sabbatism of the Kingdom of Christ. 3. It was when the Holiest of all and the Tabernacle of the Congregation and even the Mercy seat and Altar were Purified and Reconcil'd not in themselves for they were separate and pure especially the Holy of Holies much more the Heavenly Antitypes But in regard of the Vncleanness of the Children of Israel For with relation to all the Saints and Servants of Christ even to the very last of them in this corrupt World of the First Adam they must be Purified and Reconciled that so God and the Lamb coming down with the Holy of Holies and Tabernacle to be with Men and to dwell among them may appear in visible Glory 4. That peculiar Sacrifical Rite of the Scape Goat on this day sent away into the Wilderness was a most lively signification of the final act of Oblivion and act of Amnesty upon all sin and the Curse for it born away into the Land of Forgetfulness and so perfect attonement made and all former Evils of the Curse Forgotten Esay 65.16 17. 5. It was followed immediately by the Feast of Tahernacles So great a Type of the Kingdom of Christ in the Trees of Paradise and the Paradisiac Branches when the Tabernacle of God is with Men as before When thus the Glory of the Attonement and Redemption of Christ shall come into open View and the Holy State fully purified from all Vncleannesses of the Saints and perfectly reconcil'd above manifest and reveal it self Before that there shall be a general Afflicting the Soul the most solemn Penitential that ever was in the world Script 2. The Second Scripture I urge to this purpose is Psalm 84.6 Who passing through the Valley of Baca or weeping make it a Well The Rain also filleth the Pools They go from strength to strength every one of them in Zion appeareth before God So Jerem. 50.4 5. In those Days saith the Lord the Children of Israel shall come they and the Children of Israel together Going and Weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God they shall ask the way to Zion with their Faces thitherward This speaks a solemn weeping and mourning immediately before the going up to Zion as if the Rivers overflowed in this Day of Mourning with the Tears of the Servants of God as after some great slaughter with Blood or as the Blood at the Battel of Armageddon shall come up to the Horse-Bridles of Christ and of his Saints upon their VVhite Horses of Triumph So before this the Pools and Wells shall be fill'd with the Tears of Saints in their Day of Great Mourning and Repentance Script 3. A Third Great Scripture I insist upon is Zech. 12 12. In that Day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo And the Land shall mourn every Family apart and the Families that remain apart This Prophecy is most apparently by all that went before and follows after a Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ and for that Kingdom of Christ there is so great a mourning as in preparation to it There shall be a Spirit of Grace and Supplication an admirable universal Grace of Repenting in all parts of Repentance poured out upon the Israel of God in Jerusalem looking on him whom they have peirc'd and so long Rejected and a joynt mourning of Convert Gentiles represented by the Mourning of Hadad-Rimmon or of the very glory of Assyria known by the name of their God Rimmon and their Dedication to his Glory this Mourning of the Gentiles shall be in Megiddo as in Israel for all their Idolatries and Crucifying of Christ in his Witnesses slain in Spiritual Egypt of which that excellent Prince Josiah slain in the Cause of Assyria by Pharoah King of Egypt was a Type and so lamented by both Israel and Assyria Israelites by Nature and Adoptive Israel in that great day shall mourn and it shall be so deep and sincere that all Families shall Mourn not only together but apart They shall not Mourn for shew form and Company or need that Natural Excitation of Mourning the seeing one another Mourn but they shall Mourn apart The Royal Family signified by the House of David the Prophetick Families signified by the House of Nathan the Priestly Family signified by the House of Levi and Scribal Families signified by the House of Shimei and the converted Gentiles signified by the Families that remain the usual Character for the Heathen Nations Because Israel in God's account is the principal The Remnant whom the Lord our God shall call Joel c. 2.31 and the Residue of Men even all the Gentiles as the Apostle James Acts 15.17 interprets Amos 9.11 Now in this Day of the great mourning and afflicting the Soul this Day of attonement there shall be an opening the Fountain for Sin and for Vncleanness for the washing of the Robes of all Saints and making them white in the Blood of the Lamb that as it is granted to them they may be arrayed in Linen white and clean which is the Righteousness of the Saints Rev. 7.14 c. 19.8 4. The last Scripture wherein I will draw up and sum this Point is Revelations 14.6 I saw another Angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to all c. saying Fear God and give glooy to him by Confession Humiliation and Repentance At which time the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the Earth and say Our Fathers have inherited Lies and things wherein there is no profit Shall a man make himself Gods of them who are no Gods who have not made the Heavens nor the Earth the Sea nor the Fountains of Water This shall be when God this once that once when he is just ready to shake Heaven and Earth and this once signifies the doing it so that it shall never need to be done any
Malach. 1 4. Infer 10. Upon all this I conclude with that great Scripture Hosea 10.12 Sow we to our selves in Righteousness the Righteousness of Repentance springing from Faith in the Blood of Jesus Let us break up all our Fallow Grounds For the Just and proper time is near for an universal seeking God till he come and rain Righteousness upon us upon all the Earth This is indeed prepar'd peculiarly for Israel the Ten Tribes at their Conversion after the so long Captivity shadowed under riding ploughing breaking the Clods till the sowing in righteuusness at their restoration It is now near that they who have been so long lost that it shall be said of them These where have they been shall with the whole Gentile World seek the Lord. Let us count which way we can the time must be near exceeding near Whoso is wise and he shall understand the Scripture concerning these things prudent and he shall know them For the ways of the Lord are all righteous and true concerning them Vpright men shall know how to walk in them while transgressors fall most dishonourably and finally therein And when this is there shall be a great Rain a Rain of Righteousness that shall come down upon the World This shall make a mighty Change as the Earth is changed by a mighty coming down a pouring down of Rain after a long Drought so this Rain shall refresh the Inheritance of God that hath been so long weary Righteousness shall come down as showers upon the Grass and as the soft Rain upon the mow'n Grass as the former and latter Rain in their seasons It is prophesied of Jesus Christ coming in his Kingdom he shall come down so Psal 72.6 c. So that in his days Righteousness For the Righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace so long as the Moon endureth and then as Psal 85.9 10 11. His salvation shall be nigh all them that fear him that Glory may dwell in all the Earth Mercy and Truth shall meet together Righteousness and Peace shall kiss each other Righteousness shall look down from heaven or as the Rain from heaven shone upon with the healing wings of the Sun of Righteousness It shall represent the bow of the Covenant in the Clouds in the Day of this Rain Ezek. 1.28 Rev. 10.1 and Truth shall then spring out of the Earth in abundance This State shall be as irresistable as the Rain against which tho Princes Powers Councils and all their Armies should conspire they cannot help it yea the Heavens themselves commanded by God cannot withhold or restrain their showers any more than they can give them till the time appointed by God So it shall bring into the ways of Righteousness when Righteousness shall come down thus from Heaven All the prophaness and wickedness that is at this time shall not be able to hinder it any more than we can hinder the Rain It will not stay nor tarry for the children of men All the Promises and Prophecies shall come to pass at this time that God hath appointed and shall tarry no longer the windows of heaven shall be opened the waters above the Firmament shall come down the deep shall be broken up And whatever shall not then be rained upon shall be given to salt for ever And This shall be sudden as Elijah's Rain sudden and at an Instant beginning in a Cloud about as big as a man's hand and so covering the whole heaven But it cannot be till after the Apostacy till the droughty Moons of the Gentiles and of the Beast are expir'd It cannot be while the Days of the VVitnesses Sackcloth Prophecy last For they have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their Prophesie That is it is determined by God It shall not rain in those Days Rev. 11.6 There was some of this Rain in the very beginning of the Reformation when the Thunders uttered their Voices But it stopped at their sealing yet the Effects remain to this Day in so much enjoyment of the Gospel as we have The heavens opened so far because it was the Morning of half time It stopp'd because it was but half time begun and not râ—n out At the end of half time or 1697. there shall be a full and effective Thunder and a much greater Rain of Righteousness even preparing for the Harvest Then he who sits upon the white shining Cloud shall bring forth even the harvest it self in the Glory of his Kingdom when he will weary as the Expression is in Job c. 37.11 the thick Cloud of Righteousness by so abundant a watering the Earth and scatter the bright Cloud by dispersing Righteousness in so great an abundance And it shall be turned about by his Counsel to do whatsoever he commandeth upon the face of the world in the Earth He causeth it to come whether for correction or for his Land Judgment upon his Enemies Mercy for his Kingdom Hearken unto this Oh whoever we are that profess the Name of Christ Stand still and consider these wondrous works of God as held out to us in the Prophecies of Scripture And then shall be held that great Feast of the Thousand Years to the Lord in which all the Feasts of the Lord that were the Types shall concur meet and unite the Feast of Weeks or Harvest the Feast of Passover the Day of Trumpets and Attonement the great Feast of Tabernacles Brief Considerations OF THE Late Trepidation of the Earth so sensible in this City and other Parts of this Nation and beyond the Sea particularly in the Kings Camp TOGETHER With that Tremendous Judgment on our English Plantation in Jamaica and so as upon our Selves by an Earthquake as both an earnest Persuasive to Repentance and Prognostick of the Kingdom of Christ. UPON Hebr. xii 25 c. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh c. Whose Voice then shook the Earth but now he hath promis'd Yet once more I shake not only the Earth but Heaven also c. I Hope it will not be thought impertinent if I take advantage of the fresh Providences that have given an Alarm to this Nation by the late Concussion of the Earth most gently and by way of Admonition in this Chief City the Royal Camp and with so much dread and terror in that Colony of it self Wherein 2000 perished according to the most perfect Account Printed by Mr. Miller at the Gilded Acron in St. Paul's Church Yard Price 2 d. in Jamaica Because the Things are very great as they reveal from Heaven either the Power and Wrath of God in the Desolation he made by the last mentioned and of his Power and Goodness in the first mentioned within our selves immediately that he did so much and no more and so both ways move to Repentance and to Serve him with more Heed-taking of him with Reverence and Godly Fear as being a consuming Fire And also because this Warning God hath hereby given in this Nation
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
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
against the old one beyond hope of Pardon whence Men generally receive this Recompence that Conscience is put into amuse having nothing at present to say against it And had this been the top of his Case that it had been thus could it have been saving Nay that it might possibly have been thus though indeed it had been otherwise yet this very liableness to such a mistake had unspeakably abated the rational Security and safety of his Condition so that there had remained good cause for Conscience to have mistrusted which way his Condition would have fallen to Eternity 3. The Third thing therefore that gave him and gives to all Ages undoubted Testimony of the Truth of his Conversion is the immediate attestation to that Truth and Sincerity of it This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Now that Repentance which enters into Heaven that passes into Paradise not hinder'd by those flaming Cherubs of Divine Truth that which is within the Door before the Master of the House is risen up and hath shut it to Luke 13.25 that is true Repentance and prosperous and successful how late soever But to know that it is true when it is so late needs a Voice from Heaven or something proportional to it to verifie it as is after to be urged The last thing I take notice of in this Repentance is the unparallellable Circumstance of time wherein it was accepted 1. It was in the time of a publick act of mercy to the World Joh. 3.16 God was in love to Mankind giving his only begotten Son Eph. 5.25 Christ was giving himself at this time Therefore that there should be an Instance and Monument of this Mercy seem'd condecent to so great and solemn a time 2. This Penitent stood close to that Sacrifice that was offering it self up to God He stood within the Savour the Odor the Incense of it That Sacrifice that purchases men from a vain conversation 1 Pet. 18. that draws down all the Blessings of Salvation that therefore the force of it should reach so near it self is not strange I know no nearness of place signifies at all How many saw his Miracles heard him Preach look'd upon him Dying without benefit yet was his Presence also as he pleased full of Divine effects That therefore there should be an experiment of so great a Balsom just as it was preparing was most suitable 3. It was in the time that Christ was triumphing over Principalities and Powers and making a shew of them openly upon the very Cross * Vicem versam reddidit Christus Diabolo quemadmodum Diabolus depravando hominem abstulerat de Paradiso sic Christus latronem confitentem erueret de inferno Ille de interdicto ligno praesumentem decepit Iste pendentem de poenali ligno redemit Aug. Serm. 122. De Temp. That he should bear off in the Field the prey taken out of the mouth of the proud Foe was very agreeable to the expectation so great a Conqueror raises Colos 2.15 But whoever considers the Thief on the other side not converted or saved will find Cause to observe The Salvation of Christ doth not sweep the World but is rarelier vouchsafed than we think That a man may die without going to Heaven That the mercy of the Gospel is most arbitrary and sovereign chusing and leaving That it depends not on humane Expectation or any Superstitious phancies that have been raised about the Cross of Christ for so much appears by one only taken here the other left though upon the Cross together with Christ and near him in the great and mediatory Act who that considers will not tremble to think of one left in his sins falling down into Hell from such a Heaven as Christ in his great Act of Redemption And although it may be truly said it was the fault and negligence and obstinacy of the Unconverted Malefactor that he did not use aright the Grace offered or the Light vouchsafed him yet it doth not alleviate the danger for it still remains very uncertain to whom God will give a Heart to use Opportunities aright though they have them from God with an equal Liberality as those that do so improve them But indeed the Supremacy of Grace is here very much acknowledged by all that a Ray of the Divinity of Christ with infinite kindness smote his Soul * Nova insolita quaedam divinae virtutis efficacia in exemplum omnibus seculis memorabile c. Grot. In locum I infer nothing from that increase the Evangelist Matth. c. 27.44 gives the Miracle That he was Converted after he had joined with the other Malefactor in reproaching Christ Because †Hieron In locum some Interpreters question it Upon the whole then of this Example let Men that would be befriended by a Dying Repentance examine whether these things found in this Example are like to meet upon them I will not say till there be a time Beneficium multis modis insigne non temere trahendi in consequentias exempli Grot. In locum a fulness of time wherein Christ shall again die for Sinners such a Repentance is not to be expected but I may safely say he that in the Observation of this Example trusts himself to a Dying Repentance should startle his Presumption with this Interrogation Will there ever be such a Conjunction as was here again while the World endures I come now to the last Head of down-right Arguments against committing our Eternal State to a Death-Bed Repentance 1. It is against all the Prudence and Providence of a Man seeing no Man knows what kind of Death he shall die whether it will afford him the possibilities of Repenting How many die suddenly and in so short a Breath that they have not time to desire Mercy in general How many of Apoplexies seizing upon the very Top of Sense at first Many by Phrensies have no rational Motions of themselves innumerable Accidents and oft-times made dreadful by the Wickedness wherewith they have been accompanied have snatch'd away Men in a Moment Such are taken away living and in his wrath before the Pots can feel the Thorns Psal 58.9 before ever those hasty flames of Motion towards God blown up for such an Extremity can be raised Such are taken in the very manner without so much time as to put off the Every-Day Habit of Sin like those that were carried out dead in their Coats Lev. 10.5 And though from the ordinary manner of Dying we may hope for the warning ordinarily given yet we see others surprized who have had the same reasons of Hope with our selves We cannot then without madness trust our selves to accident or boast our selves of to morrow of which we know not what is within it Prov. 27.1 seeing the future is wholy concealed from us They that make a Covenant with death and are at an agreement with Hell meet with nothing but Perfidiousness when the overflowing