any Incouragement to a departure from God in any thing much more in this Unbelief signifies a not agreement to the Propositions of the Word Revealing the Will of God Or a Distrust in God for the fulfilling of his Promises whether relating to special Providence or special Grace or Eternal Life Study therfore to be Rooted and Grounded in the Faith that you may firmly Believe these things 1. That there is a God whose Right it is to Rule and Govern us to Order us and our Affairs and Conditions and to dispose of us and who will one day Judg us and deal with us according to what we have done Whosoever it is that liveth not under this Conviction must needs think himself in his own Power and that he may do with himself what he pleaseth his Tongue is his own and he may speak his Hands are his own and he may do what he list and his Life is his own and he may deny himself in it and throw it away as he pleaseth for to whom should he be accountable for it O therefore set God always before your Eyes possess your selves that you are not your own but Persons under Authority and upon whom a Superiour Being hath a Superintendancy you will fay Are we dead Doggs that we should think any thing contrary to this Thus we think But the Truth is we profess an assent and agreement to many Propositions which are not so fastned upon our Hearts so rivetted in our Souls as they ought to be For it must be a mighty inordinate Act and contrary to the Dictate of all Reason for a Man to undertake the disposal of that over which he hath no Dominion and for the disposal of which he must be accountable unto a Superiour Indeed there is something of Atheism in every Sin but there must be abundance of Atheism in this Sin It is impossible that while a Man entertaineth Thoughts to destroy himself he should fixedly believe that he is not at his own disposal as to this Life but at the disposal of God and he such a God as is to be his Judge and whom will one day call him to Account as well for what he hath done with the Life which he gave him as with the Estate Parts c. which he gave him I would therefore never have a man think that he sufficiently believeth this first Principle of all Duty and Religion but be ever whetting it upon his Heart That God is and what a God he is 2. That every Man and Woman hath a Spiritual Part an Immortal Soul that can no more be extinguished with the Body then Eat or Drink or Sleep with it but goeth to an Eternal Existence when it is seperated from the Body Where the Body raised up from the dust shall one day meet it and be united to it and with it either suffer Eternal Torment or enjoy Eternal Happiness according to what it hath done in this Life Certainly no Rational Being no Man could possibly entertain a Thought to Kill himself if he were firmly perswaded That it is a thing impossible for him to determine his own Being We cannot desire nor attempt to go about what we are fully perswaded is an impossible atchievement A thing impossible to be obtained our Reason will not suffer our Mind to run upon or our Hearts to run out after things which we clearly apprehend are not possible in Nature Now admitting these Principles That Man is something more then Flesh and Blood animated That he hath a Spiritual Part that this it is Immortal and cannot Perish with the Body but when it parteth from the Body goeth into Eternal Mansions either in Happiness or in Misery That the Body after Death shall revive again in the Resurrection and there both the Soul and Body of every Man and Woman shall be again united and make one Person and shall both together enter an happy or miserable Eternity I say admitting this it is impossible for a Man to determine his Being all he can possibly do is to determine his Being in this World He can neither by such Act determine his Being nor yet his Misery he may determine indeed his Misery as to this Life but his Soul will then but enter into a state of Ten thousand times more Misery in another World and there will be a time after the revolution of a few years when his Body shall return to Ten thousand times more Misery than it ever felt in this World Now certainly no Person under any command or conduct of Reason can possibly be induced to attempt a thing impossible to deliver himself from any Evil Nor yet throw himself into an infinitly worse state to deliver himself from a present bad estate All the Entertainment therefore which such Temptations have in our Hearts must be advantaged from Unbelief of these great Principles which indeed are the Foundations and Principles of all Religion Labour therefore for as much as in you lies to Root your selves in the belief of these things that you may not have the least doubt or haesitation of in your Hearts with relation to them Live in the daily Meditation of them suffer not your Souls to call them in Question be acquainted with those Portions of Holy Writ where the Revelation of these things is clearest to you Take heed of Unbelief as to these things 3. A Third thing as to which the Soul should be fully perswaded that will avoid the dint of this Temptation is as to the Truth of the Holy Scriptures in the general so of those Portions of them in particular which reveals the Will of God as to the preservation of our own Lives and the Lives of others and the Wrath of God against such as commit Sins of this Nature Such as those Gen. 9. 6. Num. 35. 32. Thou shalt not Kill No Murtherer hath Eternal Life and all such as express the greatness of the Sin of Murther for it is but an easie Conclusion of Reason from these Principles If I ought not to Kill another I ought much less to Kill my self If I ought to preserve the Life of my Neighbour surely I ought to preserve my own Life If I ought to preserve my Chastity to preserve my Vessel in Honour surely I ought not to dash it in pieces If I ought not to maime or dismember my self surely I ought not to destroy my self The truth is no Soul can possibly be guilty of this Sin who either doth not in whole disbelieve the Scriptures or in whose Heart the disbelief of them doth not prevail to a very high degree at that time when he is prevailed with by any Temptation to do such a thing But there is also another Unbelief which must be predominant in the Soul at that time when it is prevailed upon by this Temptation and that is a Distrust in God for the fulfilling of his Promises either with relation to special Providence or special Grace or Eternal Life Those who
and yet blesseth himself in his heart and saith I shall have peace though I walk in the Imagination of my Heart and add drunkenness to thirst Now what shall the Righteous God do to such a Man v. 20. The Lord will not spare him but then the Anger of the Lord and his Jealousy shall smoke against that Man and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall be upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven v. 21. And the Lord shall seperate him to Evil out of all the Tribes of Israel according to all the Curses of the Covenant that are written in this Book of the Law What is possible to be added to that Commination What can be more severely spoken So as if we may judge of the greatness of a Sin by the greatness of the Curses that are annexed to him that committeth it we have all the reason imaginable to judge Presumption one of the greatest degrees of sinning by which it is possible that a Sinner should provoke God 2. A Second thing which I offered to your consideration was the danger of Presumption as to these things Presumptions as your reason will tell you in other things are very dangerous in three Cases and such all wise Men will take heed of 1. Where the Good expected or the Evil we expect an immunity from are of a very high and important Nature A Man may venture to Presume of a Victory in a Case at Law where if he be overthrown he may lose 40 50 100 l. in such Cases he will say he knows the worst of it if he be mistaken it is but a money matter it is but the loss of such and such a sum of money but a man will not do so where his life is in danger he will there look for sufficient grounds to hope he shall escape his Enemies charge Christian the concern we are speaking of is not the concern of thy Estate 't is not the concern of thy Life it is the concern of thy Body and Soul to all Eternity it becomes thee as thou art a Reasonable Creature here to beware of presuming or building upon the sand of insufficient grounds Thy Soul thy Eternal well or ill Being is the concern of thy hopes here if they be wâ—ll bottomed thou art happy for ever if they be ill bottomed thou art undone for ever It is not triffling nor flattering thy self here Eternity depends upon it thou art a Creature ordained to an Eternity of Bliss or Misery it is about this thy hopes is exercised O Consider of what import this good or evil is 2. Presumptions are very pernicious when a due care might in time be taken to prevent the Evil or obtain the Good Only Presumption of the needlessness of care hindreth In Law Presumptions are never admitted for proof if more positive proof can be had a man in pleading might speak for a Sinner building upon Presumptuous Hopes if he could come to no other but this is not the Case of any Soul We indeed cannot come to one Soul in our Congregations and say to him or to her Thou art Elected and shalt certainly be saved but neither can we come to any one Soul and say Thou art a Reprobate and shalt certainly be damned Any Soul for ought we know lies fair for Heaven especially such I mean as are within the bosome of the Church and in whose streets Christ is Preached We indeed considering the courses of Sin in which many live can come to them and tell them In this state wherein you live at present and according to that course of life which you at present follow you can have no good hope that God hath forgiven your Sins or that you shall ever come into the Kingdom of God But what you may do what change may be made in your hearts what alteration or reformation in your life that we cannot tell Now Men and Womens Presumptions hinder the use of those means by which they might make their Calling and Election sure they say They have their life in their hands therefore they are not grieved as the Prophet speaketh though in another case Isaiah 57. 10. They say with the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3. 17. That they have need of nothing when in the mean time they are Wretched and Miserable and Poor and Blind and Naked and therefore it is they look no further after the Eternal Concerns of their Souls they do not buy of Christ Gold tryed in the fire that they may be rich and white Rayment that they may be Cloathed and that the shame of their Nakedness may not appear 3. Thirdly those presumptions are dangerous which lead into a destructive error which cannot be amended when discovered If a man hopes without ground that he may get an Estate by some way by which it is not to be got he may by his presumption be a loser of time and a loser in some part of his Estate but yet when he seeth his error he may correct it he may redeem his time he may recover his Estate But to presume for a good as to which if our expectations fail they fail for ever and of a deliverance or immunity from some evil wherein if our expectations fail we shall be irrecoverably immerced in that evil This no Wise Man will do It is true in our present case it is not so While there is life there is hope That man or Woman that hath hatched up presumptuous hopes that he is in favour with God that his Sins are pardoned and he Eternally saved may examine the grounds of his hopes if he finds them insufficient he may acquit them and use means to obtain a good hope through Grace But dying presumptions they are desperate for saith Solomon Eccles 9. 10. There is no device no work no knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither we are going Psal 49. 8. For the Redemption of the Soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever As the Soul leaves the Body so it shall be with it as to Eternity It was a desperate presumption of the foolish Virgins to come knocking and crying Lord open to us when the door was shut Matth. 25. and for those mentioned Matth. 7. 12. that will in the Great Day say unto him Lord Lord have we not prophecyed in thy Name and in thy Name have cast our Devil and in thy Name done many wonderful workâ— To whom he will say v. 13. I never knâ—w you depart from me you workers of Iniquity Take heed of carrying on presumptuous hopes to a dying hour 3. The Third Thing which I under this Head offered to your Consideration was the multitude of those Souls that so far as we can judge split upon this Rock It is a great piece of Wisdom to take warning by the harms of others The Scripture tells us that Without Faith and Holiness none shall see God Heb. 12. 14. It telleth us 21. Rev. 8. That the fearful and
the return of them that I have thought every Limb of him shaked and trembled I have heard another that had recovered once from these violences hearing me Discourse of them say O Sir it is an Hell upon the Earth And these are but two Instances of diverse I could name so that apparently here is nothing of the Will imbracing and chusing these things nothing of the Affections desiring loving delighting in such Thoughts so as they cannot be the Souls defilement and guilt tho they indeed be its most insupportable Burthen and Affliction This is to me so plain that I can hardly conceive upon what mistake a Soul under this intollerable Burden should charge it self with Guilt with reference to these Thoughts Yet two things it may possibly say 1. That it is hard to conceive that the Tempter following this poor Soul from day to day but that it should have so far deliberated upon or consented unto such Thoughts as to be rendred Guilty before God 2. That by giving Ear to some Atheistical Discourses or by Reading some Blasphemous and Atheistical Books or it may be Entertaining some such Atheistical Thoughts formerly and Arguing within it self for them it is become Guilty and now God doth but Righteously punish it with them To both which I shall oppose but two things 1. That as to the first it must be determined by the Soul that is under these Impressions they troubling it from day to day month to month and it may be year to year whether it hath not at all in any degree deliberated upon them consented and agreed so far to them as to make it Guilty in some degree and indeed it is hard to conceive that in this thing the Soul should be wholly and intirely Innocent but admit it be not yet surely these are no other Spots then what may be found in the Faces of Gods dearest Children no other then Sins of Infirmity and Humane Frailty and such as in other cases the best of Men and Women daily incurr the Guilt of which upon our daily Confession and Repentance of a Soul may warrantably expect Gods Pardon for through the Blood of Jesus Christ and so ought not to ly so heavy upon the Soul 2. Secondly Admit that the Soul before its turning unto God may have given too much occasion and advantage to the Tempter to offer those Impressions and that these are but youthful vanities repeated to us by the Tempter yet certainly the Souls present abhorrence and detestation of them its present trembling and trouble at the repetition of them ought to be a far greater comfort and relief to the Soul than the repetition of them ought to be trouble or disturbance Thou heretofore had'st such Thoughts but then they did not trouble thee thou didst entertain and cherish them now the repetition of them makes thee weary of thy Life are the greatest burden that thou didd'st ever feel What is here to disturb thee If thou indeed didd'st delight to roll over those Follies former Follies in thy Thoughts if thy Soul allowed them its close embraces and pleasure this were something formidable but while thy Soul abhorreth detesteth them while with all thy might thou repellest them it is a sign God hath both pardoned thy former Guilt as to them and also renewed and changed thy Heart then which nothing can speak better for thee So that if we wistly consider it we shall find That admit a Christian under these disturbances can justly check himself for too free an Admission of such Thoughts formerly yet his present Affliction for them abhorrence and detestation of them speaks comfort not trouble to him and from this Discourse it may easily be concluded That the great Torments and Disturbances of Souls upon this account are generally groundless The Souls which shall Account unto God another day for Atheistical and Blasphemous Thoughts are generally such as never made any complaint of them A Man never feels the Eternal Wrath of God in another Life for those sins the burden of which he hath felt in this Life and the Guilt of which he hath been truly afraid of and trembled at and studied to avoid Much less for the sinful acts of another to which he hath not consented This is a thing so obvious that one would wonder that any thing of this nature should stick with an Intelligent Christian or with any Soul that is but indifferently acquainted with the Covenant of Grace and the Promises of the Gospel Hast thou formerly been Guilty of some Atheistical Blasphemous Thoughts which for a time thou entertainedst without any just regret Or hast thou not made so quick and ready an Opposition to them as thou oughtest yet thou hast a Promise Matth. 12. 31. All Sin and Blasphemy wherewith a man shall blaspheme shall be forgiven unto Men. To what men thinkest thou What to them that persist in them and study to maintain them or to those that repent of them Thou wilt certainly say to the later not to the former Why are thou then thus unreasonably disturbed Thou hearest that even for this Guilt there is a Balm in Gilead there is a Physician there Doest thou say Ah but I do not repent What doest thou understand by Repentance Is it not an hearty Trouble for them an hearty Loathing and Detestation of them a Trembling at the very remote Thoughts of them an hearty desire to be rid of them and to entertain them no more Repentance What is Repentance then With what Imaginable colour of Reason or Pretence of Scripture canst thou charge thy self with the Guilt of that Sin which thou truly Loathest Abhorrest Tremblest at Studiest to avoid And indeed this Temptation hath apeared to me sometimes conversing with Souls in their Distress one of the most Inaccountable Things in the World as to the causes of it especially when this Disturbance hath fallen upon Intelligent Souls acquainted with the Gospel and the Terms of the Covenant of Grace For whereas the Devil useth this ordinarily but as a praevious Temptation to enforce another to Self Murther or habituated Despair one would wonder that any such Suggestions as these no better entertained could possibly induce the Soul to those other Sins but so it is upon Experience we find it that these are oft times most unspeakable disturbances It will be therefore worth our while in the last place to consider what may be done by or for our Souls yet at Liberty to prevent these great incumbrances of our Peace as also for the Relief of those Souls who through the permission of a Wise God are fallen under such a tremendous Providence as this is and this is my last Work CHAP. V. Christians under these Temptations advised To fix upon this That they are not the Souls guilt Luther's Advice in the Case 2. To possess it self with true Notions of God from Scripture avoiding the taking such Notions from Sense or Reason Three advantages from that This one 3. Not to forbear
are in any Measure acquainted with the Holy Scriptures know that they are full of many great and precious Promises as to Eternal Life and also as to this Life As to Eternal Life made under such Conditions and upon such Terms as his infinite Wisdom thought fit to Prescribe and Limit Those as to this Life are of various sorts many of them relating to an afflicted state That he will put Strength into us That he will lay no more upon us then he will inable us to bear That he together with the Temptation will also give an happy issue and many more of like import as to which the Soul that Trusteth God and in which the Exercises of such Trust and Confidence in God are lively and vigorous can never be Guilty of this Sin for how shall that Soul go about to deliver it out of a Misery which believeth that God will in his own time deliver it and in the mean time Support Uphold and Comfort it and make its Affliction issue in Good and for its advantage working for it a far more Eternal and exceeding Weight of Glory Or how shall that Soul Trust in God for Pardon of Sin and Eternal Life which knoweth that Repentance and Faith are the ordinary means prescribed by God for obtaining these things and do the last Act of his Life of such a Nature as leaveth no room to be renewed by Repentance and is such as God hath said None that doth it hath Eternal Life So that as it is apparent that this Temptation is advantaged by nothing so much as Atheism and Unbelief so there is no such Antidote against it as vigorous Habits and Acts of Faith Nor is it possible that a believing Soul should be under the Power and Prevailings of it while it keepeth under the Conduct and Command of Reason CHAP. IX An Holy Life and Conversation an excellent Preparative to this Spiritual Combate This opened Terrours of Conscience for Sin oft times one great cause of such Thoughts These not ordinary but for great Sinnings some more notorious Acts of Vngodliness or of Vnrighteousness great Sinnings against Light c. 5. FIfthly There is no better Preparative for this Spiritual Combate then an Holy Life and Conversation Although the Holiest Men alive are not exempted from this Fiery Dart even Christ himself heard the Devil say Cast thy self down yet you shall observe these Temptations mostly fall upon Men of loose Lives and Conversation at least do most ordinarily prevail against such The ordinary Motive that prevaileth with Souls to do this thing is the avoiding of some great Evil which either they have in prospect or feel the burden of Now this Evil is either more External such as Slavery and falling into the hands of Enemies This made Saul fall upon his own Sword and Cato kill himself Or horrible bodily Pains and Tortures being exposed to some shameful Death c. Or else they are more Internal such as Horrours and Pangs of Conscience They are rare Instances that either Holy or Civil History gives us of Persons putting an end to their own Lives to avoid Imprisonment Shame or Tortures from Men and not many that we have of Persons who in Terrible Bodily Pains have exposed to the Prevailings of this Temptation Now these Terrours and Pangs of Conscience arise from the Souls Reflections upon its Guilt in respect of Sin Thus the Scripture tells us Judas hang'd himself crying out he had betrayed Innocent Blood Thus History tells us Pontius Pilate killed himself and thus we Read of many others in History And although there be no Sin so little but if God setteth it home upon the Conscience and supporteth not the Soul with his Grace it is able to drive the Soul to this desperate issue yet it is not ordinary for Sins of a more minute Nature and such as the best of Men commit to be followed with such horrours as seize the Spirit of a Man or for Satan to take such an advantage from them The reflections which produce this effect are usually upon some Sins of a more then ordinary Tincture and that have had some more eminent circumstances of Aggravation From whence it followeth that a Godly and Righteous Conversation Religious towards God Just and Righteous towards Men is one of the best Preservatives from the violence of this Temptation A Prâ—fane Atheistical Blasphemous Person is highly exposed to the Impetus of it so is any who hath bin guilty of more notorious Acts of Unrighteousness such as Murther Persecution high degrees of Violence and Oppression For though it be true that God is able to pardon many Sins as well as few great as well as small and the Promise extendeth to all Sin and Blasphemy to Scarlet and Crimson Sins yet we shall find it an harder thing to be beleeve in Christ for the Remission of Sins of so high a Tincture Besides that Courses of Sin of this Nature have a very ill influence upon the Heart to blind and to harden it so that poor Creatures under the Guilt of them are often more sensible of the Wrath of God due to those who commit such things then of the Evil and Filthiness of them O therefore flee such things as these are you know not how far God for them may leave you to Satans Buffetings of this Nature you know not what it is to Repent of them nor how hardly the Soul that is under the Guilt of them is brought to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or to hope in him for the free Pardon and Remission of them or to arrive at any sense of the Pardon of them In short take heed of all bold sinnings against Light and Checks or Reverberations of Conscience If we will not hearken to the lighter Checks and Dictates of Conscience we are often and but justly repaid with the severer Terrours and Affrightments of it for our doing of such things contrary to its Dictates and lighter Admonitions But the holy Man that walketh closely with God that liveth up to his Light and Revelations of the Will of God is very much out of this danger and though he may have some impressions of this Nature yet they rarely are advantaged from an aking Conscience in the sense of Guilt CHAP. X. Directions for them who are already fallen under this Temptation Melancholy to be evacuated by Natural Means 2. The Motive is to be considered which usually is a freedome from some present or imminent Evil. Two things to be considered 1. Whether it will free us to destroy our selves 2. Whether there be not a more safe and certain way to be free I Have thus far onely prepared you against a wrestling with this Temptation and given you preventing Physick which indeed they say is best and it is better indeed to keep such an Enemy as Satan is Armed with this Dart at a distance then to trust to our own Strength in the hour of Combate But possibly as to some poor Souls
as he tells him was ready to have done greater things for him against all this he sinned in the matter of Bathsheba and in the matter of Uriah It is true this cost him many Tears many Prayers yet he obtained Mercy Peter was a Man of great Light and had been made the Object of great Love Christ had said to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church yet this Peter cursed and sware and denied his Master and after this when he had gone out and wept betterly Christ remembred him and I doubt not but you believe Peter is in Heaven Thou canst not say that thou hast sinned against greater Light or greater Love than these two eminent Saints in Glory sinned against To have sinned out our Light indeed that is to such a degree as we have no more Checks no more Rebukes of Conscience this is very sad and the Interpretations of it be to the Enemies of God To be past Feeling that is sad but by thy Trouble and Complaining it appeareth that is not thy Case but it is plain that many have sinned against Light much Light and against much Love too whom God hath from the infiniteness of his Mercy forgiven and rereceived up to Glory 3. Temptation But will such a Soul say It is true had I in time turned unto God there might have been hope but alas time is past time is past with me had I turned to God in my Youth but I am in the declining part of my Life God hath said His Spirit shall not always strive with Man The Fig-tree was Cursed after Three years in vain expecting Fruit. God hath a long time been looking for Fruit of my Soul and hath found none I have sinned wilfully after I had received the Knowledge of the Truth there remaineth now I fear no more Sacrifice of Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgement and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries Heb. 10. 26 27. To which I say 1. This is indeed a very sad and bitter Reflection and I desire that such Complaints as these when we hear them may be sanctified to all that have time before them to take heed how they mispend it and trifle it away but where this Counsel is too late the Question that we have in hand is Whether there be a sufficient Warrant for a Souls Despair 2. The sadness Secondly of this Case is aggravated from the appearances of Scripture for this Temptation It is generally held by Divines That as Countries and Nations have their Periods of Grace so particular Persons have their Days of Grace too and Periods beyond which Gods Spirit shall not strive with them and it appeareth by that Text Heb. 10. That there is a wilful Sinning after the Knowledge of the Truth after which there will remain no Sacrifice for Sin But what that degree of wilful Sinning is and how it must be circumstanced that is another Question But to speak more directly to the Temptation 1. In the first place I would have thee scriously consider Whether the Freeness of Divine Grace in the Remission of Sins be duly thought of by thee who objectest thus against thy self Take heed thou hast not some Thoughts within thee that thou shouldest recompence God by thy future Holiness for thy past Provocations and whether that which discourageth thy hoping in God and looking up unto him for Mercy be not a prospect that thou art not like to have time enough to make this Recompence If thou hast any such Thoughts as these thou dost not well attend to the Promise of Pardon which runs thus I will blot out thy Transgressions for mine own Name sake and we have Redemption even Forgiveness of Sins through his Blood The end which God aimeth at in the Forgiveness of any Souls Sin is his own Glory the glorifying of the riches of his Grace not receiving the Homage of an Holy Life though that be thy Duty and what God requireth of thee yet I say that is not Gods great and ultimate end He will have Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and extend Compassion to whom he will extend Compassion The Consideration upon which God doth it is the Price paid and Satisfaction given by the Blood of his Son It is not for our sake nor for our future Works sake but for his own Name sake and for his dear Sâ—n's sake that he granteth unto any Pardon and Forgiveness of Sin Now although the time of thy Life yet to come in probability will not be commensurate to the time of Life which is past and spent in Sinning and Dishonouring God yet why may not the great God glorifie the Riches of his Grace in the free Forgiveness of thee Why may he not exalt the Blood of his Son in washing thy Soul 2. Secondly It is not for us to know times and seasons which are in Gods Power onely It is true God seemeth to have revealed that every Soul hath a set time beyond which be will shew it no favour and that this is not onely the end of our Life but may be sometime before our dying day but we know not what time that is and therefore it is rashness for any Soul to conclude my time is past Where have we any Directions from the Word of God to fix any such time or to conclude it as to any period of time We know the Master of the Vineyard called to some to come and Work in his Vineyard at the 11th hour and we know also that the Thief upon the Cross was told in the last hour of his Life that he should that Night be with Christ in Paradise Secret things belong unto God Revealed things onely to us and to our Children Unless we had some certain Rule to determine the Time to us we have no Reason to determine it our selves to discourage us from what his Word commandeth us as our certain Duty 3. Thirdly Supposing there be an heart found in us to be sorry for our Sins humbled for them and to turn from them to God and to accept of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Salvation tendred unto us in the Gospel it is certain our time is not yet past The Reason is because the promise of Pardon and Salvation is made unto such So that no Soul hath reason to conclude there is no hope for him in God but that Soul that laboureth under impenitency and hardness of heart and findeth in it self a resolution yet to go on in its sinful courses And therefore you shall observe in that dreadful Text Heb. 6. the Apostle saith of them that have been once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and the Powers of the World to come and have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost c. if they fall away it is impossible they should be renewed again by Repentance if they could Repent it were not impossible they should be Pardoned or obtain Eternal Life and Salvation but