hath he not threatned to do it too Why than should you think your selves more safe and secure from danger then they were as long as you take so little care to prevent and avoid it Go too therefore ye hardned and impenitent Wretches ye mockers and deriders of all that is good and serious ye that are apt to tempt and encourage one another in an evil way take heed you do not provoke God to make you the next instance of his fierce Anger and Indignation take heed you do not draw down the Wrath and Vengeance of Heaven upon your heads and that sooner than now you think for For truth it self hath told us that great Plagues remain for the ungodly Psal 32.10 That to God the Lord belong the issues of Death but God will wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goes on still in his Wickedness Psal 68.20 21. When they shall say Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction shall come upon them as Travail upon a Woman with Child and they shall not escape 1. Thes 5.3 But he that being often reprov'd doth harden his neck shall suddenly be destroy'd and that without Remedy Prov. 29.1 After all this can ye imagine that the Patience of God which hitherto hath been so forbearing and long-suffering will always wait in vain and suffer his goodness to be continually affronted and despised by the vilest of his Creatures No reason to think that Obstinacy and Impenitency shall always go unpunisht for you have but your time and others have had theirs before you who now reap the fruit of their Folly and find to their Grief and Sorrow what an evil and bitter thing it is for to sin against God Or suppose punishment should be delay'd and no remarkable Judgment should overtake you in this life but you die in as stupid and secure a manner as now you live Yet the less you are punisht here the more reason you have to fear that God doth but reserve you for greater punishment and vengeance hereafter For the Lord knows how to deliver the Godly out of Temptation but to reserve the wicked to the day of Judgment to be punisht 2 Pet. 2.9 The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of Evil Prov. 16.4 And again the wicked is reserv'd to the day of Destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of Wrath. Job 21.30 Therefore Sirs think often of these things and weigh them well in your Minds for as Moses told the Israelites it is for your Life for the Life of your precious and immortal Souls which are in danger to be lost and the loss so great as can never be recompenc'd by a whole Life of Sin and Pleasure much less by those Pleasures that last but for a moment and die away in the Enjoyment of them I shall conclude all with those Remarkable words of the Son of Sirach to this purpose Follow not thine own Mind and thy Strength to walk in the ways of thy Heart Say not who shall controul me for my Works for the Lord will surely revenge thy Pride Say not his Mercy is great he will be pacify'd for the multitude of my Sins for Mercy and Wrath come from him and his indignation resteth upon Sinners Make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord and put not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth and in thy Security thou shalt be destroyed and Perish in the day of Vengeance Eccles 5.2 3 6 7. Consider this all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Psalm 50.22 FINIS
Estate But alass Unless our Hopes of Happiness are firmly settled and well grounded they will most certainly deceive and disappoint us in the end for 't is only Repentance for Sin past and a Life of Holiness and new Obedience for time to come that can give us good Hope through Grace 2. Thess 2.16 And make us Partakers of that Glory which hereafter shall be Revealed 1. Pet. 5.1 They are such only who truly Believe Repent and obey the Gospel and spend some considerable part of their Lives in so doing that can have any solid Hopes or Comfortable expectations of their future Safety and well being whereas the confident Hopes of bad Men and presuming Sinners which Job calls the hope of the Hypocrite shall perish and like a Spiders Web deceive those that shall trust to it Job 8.13 But now to come more closely to the matter in Hand If we would have our Repentance to be Repentance unto Life or such as will entitle us to the Pardon of our Sins and acceptance with God we must take the Holy Ghost's advice in the Text not to harden our Hearts nor stop our Ears against his Calls and Invitations to this Duty but we must set about it presently to day while it is called to day v. 13. because to morrow 't is possible may be too late We must resolve to Repent immediately and without delay before we have provok'd God too far or tempted him to give us up as he hath done many others to a hardned and impenitent Estate for 't is possible a Man may outlive the Seasons of Grace and Sin away the acceptable Time and Day of Salvation he may sink and plunge himself so far into that depth of Guilt and Wickedness by adding one Sin and provocation to another as it will be scarce possible to recover himself out of the Snare of the Devil or to free himself from the gall of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity be sure not without a great deal of Trouble and Difficulty nor till after a long time spent in deep Sorrow and Contrition and in the painful acts of Mortification and Self-Denial The time past can never be recall'd and time to come is very uncertain the present time is only ours and what we can be most sure of and therefore we should be careful not to let it slip from us without improving it to the great ends and Purposes of Religion to the reconciling our Selves to God perfecting the work of Repentance and giving all Diligence to make our calling and Election sure To which purpose I shall apply this Advice which the Holy Ghost gives us in the Text To day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts c. The words contain First An Exhortation to Belief as appears by the Context exprest here by Hearing or Harkning to the Voice of God Secondly A disswasion from Impenitency or Hardning our Hearts through Unbelief both which are in the third place reinforc'd by the Authority of the Holy Ghost whose Exhortation this is Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts From which words I shall discourse unto you on the Three following Particulars First That Unbelief is one great Cause of Impenitency or Hardness of Heart Secondly That Impenitency or Hardness of Heart is a Sin very provoking of God and admits of great Aggravations under the Gospel Thirdly I shall endeavour to disswade from this Sin and reinforce the Exhortation of the Holy Ghost by laying before you the great and absolute necessity of Repentance and improving the present Time in order thereunto First Unbelief is one great Cause of Impenitency and Hardness of Heart Infidelity hath been judg'd the root of all Sin especially in Christians for did they really and heartily believe the great and important Truth of that Religion they make profession of wherein the motives and arguments to a good Life are so very strong and powerfull and the threats and disswasives from Sin and Vice are so convincing and amazing 't is scarce possible they should allow themselves in those Vile and Sinful courses which are so rise among Christians or give such small hopes of their Repentance as many do Did they believe in good earnest there was a God a God of that infinite Power and Purity hating of all Sin and threatning to punish it in the most severe and terrible manner they would not dare to affront him and fly in his Face with their horrid Oaths and Curses Blasphemies and Imprecations as frequently they do they would not live without God in the World nor cast off all Fear and Reverence to his Holy Name and Righteous Laws Did they believe in Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of the World they would not with the Jews murder and crucifie him afresh by their oft repeated Sins and Impieties nor do despite to the Spirit of Grace by quenching his holy Motions or resisting the checks of their own Conscience Did they believe a future Judgment and Life to come they would stand in greater awe thereof and be afraid to provoke him that will be their Judge and call them to a strict account for all the Actions of their Lives past for all the neglects of his Grace contempt of his Mercy and Defiance of his Judgment they would not then increase their Accounts nor swell them up into such a frightful Mass of Guilt as will make them one day stand amaz'd at the Sight thereof Did they believe there was a Heaven for the reward of good Men and a Hell for the Punishment of the Bad they durst not make so light of either but become more Carefull and Sollicitous to secure the Happiness of the one and avoid the unspeakable Torments and Miseries of the other But all Men have not Faith saith our Saviour no nor all Christians neither they do not heartily believe what they profess for while they profess to know God in their Works they deny him being abominable disobedient and unto every good work Reprobate Tit. 1.16 The effect commonly points out the Cause and the Action usually discovers the Principle from whence it flows and if so we may justly suspect the greatest part of the Christian World to be void of that Faith they make Profession of and to believe as little of their Religion as they practise of it Their Lives and Actions bespeak many of them to be rather Atheists than Christians and downright Infidels than true Believers for true Faith or the through Belief of the Doctrine of Christ would influence their Lives in another guise manner than what is commonly observed in the World it would make them live better be more shy of Sin and cautious of offending if therefore Men would examine their Hearts and Souls or search into the Root and bottom of their Actions they would find a great deal of Infidelity or Unbelief to lurk there and that Christ among all his Nominal Professors and
astonishing will the approach of it be then and fill you with dreadful Agonies and Convulsions of Soul beyond what I am able to express or 't is possible for you to conceive at present Sometimes the Despondencies and Misgivings of heart which have siez'd Good men at their Death have been very great and apt to fill them with Fears and Apprehensions O how Frightful and Intolerable then must those Horrours and Confusions be which the Consciences of wicked men usually feel at the approach of Death Conscience I say when throughly rowz'd and awaken'd in the sense of their former Guilt and approaching Punishment the Anguish thereof in some Men and Women hath been so great that they have thought themselves in Hell already and that their condition could not well be worse in the very Place of Torments Therefore Sirs think often think seriously of these things before hand call to mind your latter End and prepare for it in good earnest before it comes and that may be one way to prevent the bitterness of Death and take away the Sting of it For without a timely Repentance and Preparation for it 't is not a saying God be merciful to me a Sinner Luk. 13.25 or Lord Lord open unto us Matth. 7.21 that will gain us admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is not a little outward Grief or forc'd Sorrow that can supply the want of Repentance or be accepted by God in the stead thereof No no To Repent is to be so heartily Troubled and Sorry for your Sins as to grow out of Love with them and to Resolve immediately to Leave and Forsake them to Repent is to Amend and Reform whatever you see amiss in your selves 't is to become Wiser and Better for the future and to lead your Lives according to the Directions of the Gospel and Precepts of your most Holy Religion And he that doth not endeavour to do this in good earnest knows not what true Repentance means he is a stranger to the Grace of God and is not yet arrived to the condition of Life or terms of Salvation and consequently not in a capacity of being sav'd Now we cannot but think and therefore ought to let you know as much that it will be too late to do this when you are Sick and Dying you will want time and opportunity for it when life is drawing to an end and Death with all his Terrours and Affrightments is hastning toward you O then what would you give for a little of that Health and Strength which you have formerly mispent in Sin and Folly in gratifying the lusts of the Flesh in complying with the Pride and Vanity of the World and running your selves into the Snares and Temptations of the Devil what would you not do to gain a little more of that time and leasure to go through with your Repentance and Preparations for Eternity which you have wretchedly abus'd and thrown away upon your Excesses and Debaucheries upon your Lusts and Pleasures in a Vain Sinful and Unprofitable manner what Fruit will you then have of those things whereof you will be asham'd For the end of those things is Death Rom. 6.21 6. Then you will see that the least hour of your mispent time will be worth more than a whole Age of Folly and Vanity you will wish then whatever you may think of it now that the greater Portions of your life had been spent in the Closet at your Private Prayers or at Church in the Publick Worship and Service of God or in seeking and finding out opportunities of doing Good rather than in Dressing and going Fine in Gaming and Playing in Idle and Impertinent Visists in Censorious and unprofitable Conversation which engrosses so much of the time of our People of Quality both Men and Women many of whom are mightily guilty this way and are observ'd to spend their time the vainest of all others Nay some among them that are pleased to take up a shew and Profession of Religion give us too much reason to fear 't is rather for Custom and Fashion sake than out of Conscience because so very few are known to become any whit the better or more serious upon that account And for my part I do not see how 't is possible to reconcile the strictness of Religion and a Holy Life to which the greatest stand obliged as well as the meanest with those undue Liberties which our People of Quality do commonly take in many things and particularly in the instances before mention'd O my God! What account will they be able to give another day when all those Helps and Advantages both of Time and Leasure Riches and Honour Interest and Authority wherewith they might do a great deal of good to themselves and others and become Exemplary to their Inferiours shall yet be abus'd and misimploy'd in the worst manner that can be and to become matter of publick Scandal and Offence Is this to answer the end of their coming into the World or the way to prepare themselves for a happy Exit or departure out of it Is this to live like Christians or to spend their time like those that must be accountable to God for it But Death when it comes will open their Eyes though they shut them now and convince them of their errour and mistake though we cannot But then it may be too late and out of their power to retreive or amend it Remember you can never be too fit to die nor too careful and sollicitous in preparing your selves for it because it is a thing that can be done but once and Eternity depends upon the Well-doing of it He then that shall deferr his Preparations for Eternity till he comes to be sick unto Death and ready to go out of the World hoping that may be time enough for it will find himself very unfit for so great a Work and mightily deceiv'd and disappointed of his Hope For Experience tells us whatever is done in hast is commonly done by halves and hurry'd up in a slight and imperfect manner many things are wont to be forgotten and over lookt at such a time and therefore the Errours and Mistakes the Omissions and Oversights of a Repentance hudled up in hast when we come to die must needs be many and great the least whereof may prove Fatal and undo us for ever 'T is Wisdom therefore to set about it now while time and opportunity are before you while God offers you his Grace and stretches forth the Arms of his Mercy to welcome and embrace you as the Father did the Prodigal Son upon his Repentance and Return Do it to day while it is call'd to day for you know not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27.1 or what danger you may run to all Eternity by the least delay A day an hour nay a few Moments may pass you out of this life into the Regions of the shadow of Death and land you upon the Confines of the other World