The Danger of Delaying Repentance; Set forth in a SERMON PREACHED TO THE UNIVERSITY AT St. Mary's Church in Oxford, ON NEW-YEARS-DAY, 1691/2.  
By Ar. Bury, D. D. Rector of Exon College.  
LONDON, Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the Kings-Arms in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1692.   

The Danger of Delaying Repentance; Set forth in a SERMON Preached to the University of Oxford, etc.  EXOD. iv. 24, 25, 26. 
And it came to pass by the way in the Inn, that the Lord met him, and fought to kill him.  
And Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her Son, and cast it at his feet and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.  
So he let him go. Then (or as the vulgar Latin, better, When) she said a bloody husband thou art, because of the Circumcision.  
MOses was now in a Journey, undertaken with great Reluctancy in absolute Obedience to God's repeated Commands: He made what shifts he could from the unwelcome Employment. First, on the People's part, he pleaded that they would not believe him; then on his own part, that he was not qualified; and when he was answered in both, he fell from pleading to downright begging; Then was the Lord's anger kindled against him. Now therefore, without delay or dispute, he obeyeth the second Command, and by the way in his lodging (for Inns properly so called, there were none in those Days) by some preternatural Disease, which spoke the immediate hand of God, he fell into imminent Danger of Death, and (by what Revelation we know not) the neglect of Circumcising his newborn Son, appeared to be the provocation: But the Disease which punished the neglect, now hinders the performance; and he must have perished, had not his Wife with a sharp Knife (for the word in the Hebrew is the same in Joshua 2.2. where it is so translated) she circumcised the Child: And as the fore skin and blood fell at his feet, she uttered those words which our Learned Mede probably believed to have been the ritual Form in that Ceremony. For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not signify a Husband, but a Spouse not yet married, and was often used for the nearest Allied: and in this Office might be used by the Circumciser to the Child, pronouncing him Circumcised, and by the blood of Circumcision betrothed to the Covenant: And this Opinion giveth a fair Account of the 26 verse, not otherwise easily proved worth mention.  
So the sum of the Story is this, Moses had not circumcised his Son at the time prescribed by the Law, which appointed the 8th. day upon pain of death; he was about to suffer death as a punishment of That neglect; but escaped by his Wife's care in Performing what he had Neglected.  
This neglect of Moses, we may take as a Foil to illustrate that exact obedience of our Lord, which we this day commemorate. Moses was the Mediator of a Covenant whereof Circumcision was the Seal; our Lord was Mediator of a Covenant, whereby it was abolished; yet did he submit to it: and not only to Circumcision, which was commanded, but to Baptism too which, without any command, was practised by such as professed singular perfection. For we read, Matth. 3.13. Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptised of him, but John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest thou to me? and Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, than he suffered him, i. e. it is not necessary, indeed, but it becometh me, to fulfil, i. e. to be perfect in All Righteousness, i. e. in  is excellent.  
Thus far the Letter: but the Collect for this day assureth us, that we do not thus solemnly celebrate the naked History, but the Mystery therein contained; which we find thus displayed, Col. 2.10. Ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.  
Godliness is so adaequately the end of all our Lord's actions, that not only his Moral, but even his Ritual Performances are thereto referred. Yea, not his Obedience only, but his Sufferings and Exaltation, his Death, Burial and Resurrection are made Engagements, Encouragements, and Emblems of it. For so the Apostle goeth on, Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the dead. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.  
Nor is this the only Text wherein we find the Apostle at this holy Chemistry, distilling the Spirit out of the Letter.  
This, this is truly to apply Christ to ourselves. Thus doth our Church teach us to commemorate our Lord's Circumcision, praying that God would grant us the true circumcision of the spirit. Whereof to show the Necessity, and the Danger of delaying it, I have thought it proper to view Moses' case, and apply it to our own in his Sin and his Danger.  
HIS SIN was his delaying the Circumcision of his Son beyond the time prescribed by the Law. That this proceeded not from any compliance with his Wife or her Father (as some imagine) appeareth from this, that Midian was one of the Sons of Abraham by Keturah, and all Nations that came out of his Loins celebrated circumcision; nor did Mahomet learn it of his Jew, but derive it from his Ancestors. Besides, we hear of another Son of Moses, Gersom, whom we therefore must believe to have been duly circumcised, because we find nothing to the contrary. It was not therefore his neglect of the Law, but the Time, which he delayed, not out of Contempt, but upon plausible Reason. He was in a journey upon God's Errand, his Son so newly born as not to be able to undergo such an operation, and then such a journey. Such an excuse God himself afterward approved in the whole people, who were all Uncircumcised and Blameless, during a journey of 40 Years, as appears, Jos. 2. I say not, that Moses had Then God's approbation, but he might Then well judge That a competent excuse, which God, in the like case, admitted for such. And that this was Moses' reason, we may judge by his leaving his Wife and Child, to stay till they might return to her Father; of whom we read in the 18th. Chapter, that he brought them to Moses in the Wilderness.  
So the proper weight of Moses' guilt seemeth to be this, That he took his Wise and Child with him, and thereby cast himself into such circumstances, as made it necessary for him to delay his duty, till the journey were ended, and the Law transgressed. And what is such an Error in comparison of ours?  
The Gospel maketh the circumcision of the Heart no less necessary, than the Law made that of the Foreskin. That allowed 8 days respite, but This, by fixing no Future day, maketh every day of Delay a day of Disobedience. God be blessed, there are not many who deny the duty to be necessary, but too many who hope they may safely delay it. And those hopes they build upon the unhappy Translation of the Greek word, which importeth A Change for the future, into a Latin one which signifieth only A Sorrow for what is past. For thence men rashly, if not wilfully, infer that the Gospel promiseth pardon to every one that repenteth, and That may be done at any time; but never more seasonably than in the last scene of life, when they shall have nothing else to do. And what is this but a defiance to the Apostle's caution, which the last time that I appeared in this place, we heard him give the Galatians in these words, Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for what a man soweth, that shall be also reap.  
I shall now repeat no more of what I then said, but this, That God hath established the same Rule for the other life, as for this; That the Harvest shall answer the Seed in Kind, yet so as to multiply it; but at some distance of time. For there is one time to sow, and another time to reap; and in this spiritual husbandry the earliest season is always the best: for Two great Reasons. First, Because delay multiplieth Difficulties, and, Secondly, Because it multiplieth Dangers.  
1. It multiplieth Difficulties, because by repeated Acts, the Habits will grow to a second Nature, for so the Prophet declareth as little hope that those who are accustomed to do evil, should learn to do well, as there is that a Bluck-a-moor should change his skin, or a Leopard his spots. And as Difficulties increase, so do the Helps decay. The Light of Conscience, the Word preached, and the Grace of God, by frequent baffles, lose their power, and in time grieving the Spirit, cometh to quenching the Spirit.  
It is a dreadful Consideration, That the day of Grace is shorter than the day of Life; that there is a measure of iniquity, beyond which God's Spirit will not strive with man, but leave the Reprobate to his own ways, wherein he must certainly perish. This is lively set forth in the latter half of the first Chapter of the Proverbs of Solomon, wherein Wisdom is personated, first, Wooing, then Threatening, and at last Deserting, the obstinate, and therefore, perishing fool. This brought us to the Frontier of the other Argument against Delay, it multiplieth Dangers; which it is my present business to survey, taking our view from Moses' Case.  
I. God sought not to slay Moses in the field, but in his lodgings; but we are not sure we shall die in our Beds.  
II. Moses knew his danger, but we know not when our disease is mortal.  
III. When Moses was disabled, his Wife acted his part; but if our disease disable us from Repentance, we cannot do it by Proxy.  
iv As soon as the Child was circumcised, the destroying Angel left Moses in safety: but we have no certainty that God will pardon us in consideration of a Deathbed Repentance.  
I. THE first danger is, That we may not die in our Bed, and thereby have opportunity to repent.  
What, is there no other way to the Grave, but from the Bed? Or hast thou any Revelation, that however many other ways there be, and however many other men pass those other ways, yet thou hast a particular protection against them? What creature so Mean or so Weak, as not to be able to destroy the Wisest and the Mightiest man? Anacreon's Wit could not deliver him from a Grapestone; nor Pope Adrian's triple Crown, from a Fly; nor Herod's joint Wit and Power, from Worms. Zeuxis was strangled with a fit of Laughter, and many by a fit of Grief: Wine engageth one Man in a Quarrel, another in a Fever, a third in a Ditch, and others in other destructive Accidents. How many every Year fall by some violent Death? And what Year more fruitful than this in Apoplexies, which have knocked down, one in the Court where Laws are Made, another in That where they are Executed; one as he is about to sleep, another when he is about to eat. Sudden Deaths are almost daily of those who depended upon Death-bed-Repentance, with as much confidence as any of us, who survive, perhaps to be made the like warnings to others.  
From this slippery station let us view the fall.  
In play, we allow men to hazard so much as they may reasonably spend upon one pleasure; but those who put their whole Livelihood to the Mercy of a Die, are Blamed though they prove Fortunate, and Scorned if they be Ruined. Yet have they as much Hope of Gain as Danger of Loss: But the Impenitent staketh eternal Life against a Lust, a Brutish Pleasure, which is overpurchased at the much greater Loss of that, which a virtuous man enjoys.  
If it be pleaded, that there is great odds against this danger, because those who die in their Beds are many more than those who die otherwise; we ought to reply, that a man ought not to stake his All against Nothing, though there were but one bad Chance in the Dice. And we are further to consider, that if we were secure from this, yet there are other dangers. For,  
II. A second Danger is, that if we die in our Beds, we cannot Know, and are loath to Believe, that we must die by This Disease. For, on the contrary, all our worldly Friends and spiritual Enemies combine with our own Self-love to flatter us. The Physicians, by their Art, are obliged to fortify their Patient's Spirits, the better (if possible) to resist the Disease; and by the same rules, all that come near him, must speak Comfort, or Nothing concerning his Condition. So fondness for his ease tempts him to continue his Inveterate Practice of dismissing his Repentance to a more convenient season. Yea, so powerful is this fondness, that it infatuateth those who have no hopes either to Escape their present sickness, or to Continue any considerable time in it. The Consumption which hath devoured all the inward and outward Flesh, hath not consumed this Humour: And in old men, this Disease is no less incurable than the natural Infirmities of Age. No man (saith Seneca) is so old ut impiè alterum diem speret; he may well hope to live some days longer, and one of those days he will do the Work: but for the present he cries with Solomon's Sluggard, yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, and death cometh upon the one, as want upon the other, like a Traveller not Expected, and an armed man not to be Resisted. For the Bed cometh within that Petition in our Litany, from sudden death, good Lord, deliver us; the Death that surpriseth us unprepared, is sudden in whatever circumstances it seizeth us, whether in Bed, or Field.  
Nor can it now be pleaded as before, That the odds is great in favour of the Impenitent; for the odds is come over to the other side. In the midst of Doctors, and Nurses, and Languors, this is no less properly a sudden Death, than that which strikes with Lightning. Yea, nor can it be denied to be in a fatal sense Sudden, though Expected: For though the man know himself dying, yet  
III. A third Danger is, that the same Disease which must shortly deprive the Man of Life, hath already deprived him of all Power, to do that which too late appeareth both Necessary and Impossible.  
Moses had a Zipporah to help him, but this spiritual Circumcision cannot be performed by Proxy, nor so easily as the fleshly. There are indeed, that talk as if it were much easier. It is no more but be Sorry and Absolved. The former, Nature will perform; and the latter, the Priest: and the Deathbed is the most proper Season for both. He that can do nothing else, can grieve for what is past, nor can that more Naturally or more Passionately be done, than at sight of approaching Judgement. Body and Mind are best disposed for this performance, when disabled from all others. When old age shall stoop my back, then will my head naturally hang like a Bulrush; when my head shall be full of Rheumatic Clouds, then will my Eyes easily rain plentiful showers of Tears; when my Palate can no longer relish Wine or Banquets, nor any other parts of my Body feel pleasure; then will it be easy to be sick at remembrance of my surfeits. Or if I die by an acute Disease, the pain will force me to howl upon my Bed.  
But alas! What is all this to saving Repentance? The Psalmist promiseth that they which sow in tears, shall reap in joy; and immediately explaineth it, he that now goeth on his way weeping, and beareth forth good seed, shall shortly return with joy, and bring his sheaves with him. It is the good seed, not the showers without it, that produce the sheaves: he that soweth nothing but Rain, cannot hope to reap any thing but Dirt.  
This Spiritual Circumcision is not like the Fleshly, one short act, but a constant course of life, not performed by a few drops, though of blood. It is no less than a Death unto Sin; but it is more, a Resurrection to Newness of Life. Old habits are not easily destroyed, yet must this be done, and that by new habits of contrary Virtues; the one and the other are works of time and constant industry, they require the best of a man's powers, and the assistance of greater.  
We cannot be too frequently admonished, that this is the great design of the Gospel, that all our Lords Actions and Sermons, Precepts and Promises, Death and Resurrection relate to this, as Enconragements and as Emblems, and must be answered by the Duties they represent. His Birth, by our Regeneration; his Circumcision by our putting off the sins of the flesh; his Death, by our mortifying our old man; his Baptism and Burial, by our spiritual burying deep our mortified Lusts; and his Resurrection, by our New and better Life.  
Let the malicious take notice, I deny not, with the Socinians, That Christ died to purchase Pardon for penitent sinners: but I deny, and all the Apostles deny it with me, That any shall have benefit of his Purchase without participation of his Holiness. Yea, I may further add, That the Apostles are more frequent in declaring that he redeemed us from the Dominion of sin, than from its wages. And our Church Catechism teacheth us, that by Baptism is signified a death to sin, and a new birth to righteousness, whereby we are made members of Christ: and this sure, is no easy or short Work, nor wrought in a small or busy Time.  
It requireth a Chamber, but a Council-Chamber, not a sick man's. The Psalmist prosseth it with a Selah, Psal. 4.6. Stand in awe and sin not, common with your own hearts, and in your Chamber, and be still. Selah. Here is a weighty Affair to be settled, a long Account to be stated, and a steady Course to be established. To this end, a solemn Conference to be held, all Parties heard, all Objections debated, all Pleas fully heard, that final Sentence may be given between God and Sin: Let therefore the Rabble be excluded, all Noise suppressed, all Disturbances prevented.  
And can no privater Chamber be had than the sick man's? No other wherein to be still, but that which of all other is most troublesome? How many Diseases are there, that make any Consult impracticable? The Fever by its Fires; the Lethargy by its Waters, the Colic by its Gripes, and most other Diseases by their proper Torments, give the Patiented business enough to employ his whole mind, and if he can bear them, he doth all that is possible for humane nature.  
And those Diseases which do not utterly disable the mind, do certainly disorder it; If they do not make the Consult utterly Impossible, yet they make it more Difficult than in the day of Health, when all Faculties are free, and all Powers entire, yet eat the work as too hard to be undergone.  
Let us now suppose the man so happy, as to enjoy the concourse of all the circumstances of Death, which without warrant he promised himself. He dieth not a violent Death, but in his Bed. He is not deluded with vain hopes, but knoweth his Disease to be mortal; It is not a disabling Disease, but a gentle, linger one, which alloweth him full exercise of his faculties; and he employeth them all in the work which through the whole course of his life he cut out for this time. He is upon due consideration so sensible of his past Follies and present Danger, as to be firmly resolved that if God be pleased to grant him longer life, he will make it a new one, no less industrious in his service than he hath formerly been in that of his lusts.  
These are the weak and dying Man's Resolutions; And whether they be not weak and dying like himself, at another time may be questioned. General Experience telleth us, that the Resolution which is brought by fear, departeth with it, and the former Life returneth with the health of the sinner. But this Danger, since it hath no place in my Text, shall have none in my Discourse: but I pass by it to  
iv The last, but not lest Danger is, that God will not pardon the impenitent upon his late Repentance, as he did Moses upon the late performance of his neglected Duty.  
What hope there is for a wicked Man's repenting upon his Deathbed, is a question more disputeable and more worth disputing, than any, yea, than all of those, wherein we weary ourselves, and think them most Learned, that can speak most of them to no purpose. Let me admonish and request you to be so kind to yourselves, as to allow some serious thoughts to this most important Question which you cannot study in vain; and do not rashly take every thing for Orthodox that is Vulgar.  
The Question is not concerning God's secret but his declared Will: not how for reasons to himself alone known, he will deal with some particulars. For who dares pretend to such knowledge? Our business is to inquire for God's declared Will, and that ordinary Rule whereby he professeth to judge the World. Search then the Scriptures, for in them ye hope and must hope to find the way to eternal life clearly revealed. Search them, and if in them you find any one word, I say not of positive Promise, but of probable Intimation, that God will accept of a Deathbed Repentance in commutation for a Holy Life; than you may boldly depend upon it: But if on the contrary you meet in every page of the New Testament express and frequent Declarations, in all kinds of styles, that there is no other way to Happiness, but by Holiness; that our Lord's Design in coming into the World was to destroy the works of the Devil, and at his second coming he will render to every one according to his works; then, to depend upon any extraordinary Favour against his established Rule, cannot be the practice of any wise or considering Person. This is a question of Fact, your Bible's are Witnesses, your care must be to examine them.  
And when you do, you must not hope to find equal Weight in your own Deductions, and in clear Positions; nor equal Security in your own Apprehensions of God's good Nature, and his own professed way of exercising it.  
Indeed those hopes whereon men build so great a weight, are so weak that they are easily overthrown, and so few that they are easily reckoned up.  
1. Some depend upon God's natural Goodness, which we gladly acknowledge to be Infinite: Otherwise, we should not have Pardon offered upon such easy Conditions, nor such Rewards promised to such slight Services, nor such Patience exercised amidst so many Provocations: But what hopes belong to the impenitent from this Goodness, the Apostle proclaimeth aloud, Rom. 2.4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Affrontest thou the riches of his Goodness, and Forbearance, and Long-suffering, not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God, who will render to every man according to his works? Go now, and make the Goodness of God thy pedestal for impenitence.  
2. Some presume upon the Parable of the Labourers. He that came not till the last hour, sped as well as those that bore the burden and heat of the day. But consider, that when he was interrogated why he stood all day idle; he answered, because no man hath hired me: Canst thou return the same Answer to the same Question? Wert thou never invited to Repentance? However, I now invite thee, and thereby adjourn thee from this Parable, to the more pertinent one of the ten Virgins, whereof five were wise, and five were foolish: yet not so foolish neither, as to seek to supply their want of oil, with water, though drawn from their own eyes.  
3. But the main ground of hope is the late conversion of the good Thief: which being a single Example against a established Rule, must be an exact Tally, to our case in all material Circumstances; but fails in many, especially two most considerable, the Person and the Performance.  
1. The PERSON is precariously taken for a wicked Man. I say Precariously, for we have no evidence of it. The Law made not the Cross a punishment for Theft; the word in the Greek signifieth no worse than a Soldier: that there had been a Sedition, we find, and may probably believe these two to have been of Barabbas' Party; To fight for the holy People against the Heathen, was reckoned by the Jews, not only Innocent but Meritorious, and so the Man was not a Thief, but (perhaps) a Zealot: and though he confessed he suffered justly, in relation to the Government; yet his Zeal and good Intentions qualified him for mercy, especially from a gracious Fellow-sufferer. At worst, if his Crime were great, yet will not This prove him a wicked Man. A good Man may fall into one great Fault, be taken in it, and die for it. That this therefore was a wicked Man, where is your Evidence? If you have none, where is your Confidence?  
2. The PERFORMANCE was Extraordinary. When all our Lord's Disciples and his very Apostles had forsaken him, when all that passed by reviled him, When his Fellow-sufferer mocked him, when he was covered with shame and hatred of all the World, when in all Appearances and his own Apprehensions he was forsaken by his Father himself; then did this happy Man, in defiance of all Discouragements, plead his Cause, and pay him his Devotions. And such heroical Performances may, by a Gracious God, be accepted as Equivalent to a whole Life of Piety.  
Here then is the Ground and Measure of the hopes that an Impenitent may depend on from this Example. If he can match the good Thief's Performance, he may expect the like Acceptation. But let him take this into the account, The Devils and damned Souls have the same title, even in Hell: When any one of them can so love God as the Gospel requireth, he may obtain Eternal Life: Upon the same account, there is just so much hope of Salvation by a Death-bed-Repentance, as there is of such a Love. And how much that hope may amount to, is our great Consideration.  
Either the man is sensible of his Danger, or he is not. He that is not, must die in his Impenitence. He that is sensible, must needs be tempted to hate God, as the Malefactor doth his Judge. For this reason hath he always wished there were no God, whom in his own Defence, were it possible, he would deprive of his Being. However, he hath by all means endeavoured to destroy his own Sense of him. He hath laboured to Drown it in strong Drink, to Stifle it with worldly Care, or to Starve it by any kind of Diversion. He hath always shunned the Fear of God, and it hath always Pursued him, and now at last it hath Overtaken him, it Terrifieth, it Tormenteth him, it Amazeth him.  
What now can be expected, but the Reverse of St. John's Aphorism, Love when it is perfected casteth out fear, because fear hath torment: the requital must be, that Fear when it is perfected casteth out Love; and when is Fear prefected more than at the brink of Hell, when its Fires flash in the guilty Man's face?  
Let us now give the dying Man a visit, the first time (probably) wherein a Minister is welcome. It is no hard work to convince him of his past Follies at sight of his present Danger: nor to rouse him to earnest Resolutions to Amend his life if it may be Prolonged: Himself believeth his Resolutions to be unmoveable, and the Minister, in Charity, believeth so too. But is this more than the Rich man in Hell-Torments might equal? He that prayed to have some Messenger sent to warn his Brethren, would he not gladly have had the commission? and would he not have taken that warning to himself, that he was to carry to others? Such good Resolutions then, may possibly be found in Hell; and if they cannot deliver out of Hell, there is small hope that they can save any from it.  
However, Charity obligeth the Minister to give him some quieting drops of Spiritual Laudanum, which may (perhaps) give him some present ease, but can no more save his Soul, than the best Opiate can cure a Body whose Vitals are consumed: Nor can they give any other than sickly rest while the Disease disturbs it. I appeal to your own hearts, whether, at such a time, you can hope to be so confident of your own Resolutions and God's Pardon, as to have no Fears of Condemnation, and consequently no Wishes, that there may be no God to judge you: For if there be, Love will be thereby destroyed, since every such Wish is an Act of Hate, and that a Mortal one; for he that wisheth it, doth his most towards taking away God's Being, and were it in his power, would effect it. On the other side, nothing is plainer, either in Scripture or Reason, than this, that nothing less than the Love of God can make a Man capable of enjoying him.  
It is therefore absolutely necessary, that the Minister apply all his Endeavours so to display the Goodness and other Perfections of God, as to enamour the guilty and now terrified Soul, with such powerful Love, as to make him Rejoice in him, and not retain the least Wish to have him other than he is. And if he can, by the Assistance of God's Blessing upon his Endeavours, effect this, he works a great Miracle; he kindles the flame of Heavenly Love from the flashes of Hellfire; makes a Burning-Glass of Ice; enamours the Malefactor of his Judge; and such a miraculous Conversion may well hope for a miraculous Mercy. But a wise Man will not hang his Eternal Happiness upon such Miracles: he will rather walk the safe way than trust to such a jump, as must bring him from the Deepest Hate, to the Highest Love, and take its Rise from Fear, which puts at the greatest distance from Love: Those that do this, and fall short into the bottomless Pit, may curse God without End or Measure, but without Cause too, since he was not wanting to them in warning, wooing, and waiting; but They were wanting to themselves, in slighting all his Invitations to Happiness.  
 hath been said, is intended for a Discovery of that Ordinary, Regular Course, which God hath revealed to be That wherein he will deal with all Mankind in general: How often or how far he will departed from it, in favour of any particular Person, upon particular Considerations, is not for us to inquire, nor to judge any Man, concerning whom we can know but Little, and that the Worst.  
Our Church hath taught us to hope well of every departed Brother, without excepting those who to us appear least capable of it: and the Minister is to absolve, de bene esse, those who profess Repentance though late, for Charity hopeth all things: We have known some fall from great heights without hurt, and when we see a Man so falling, we hope he also will escape. But will not upon such hopes cast ourselves down a Precipice: Charity hopeth all things for our Brother, but it Feareth all things for ourselves: And it is a monstrous kind of Self-love, which, by keeping us in Impenitence, exposeth us to such a dreadful Gandelope of Dangers as we come now from discovering. We may not die in the Bed, which we appoint for the place of Repentance. If we die in our Bed, we may not believe it our Deathbed, and even then delay in hope of Recovery. If we know it to be our last Sickness, we may be thereby disabled from thinking of any thing but the present Pain. If it be a gentle Sickness, and we do all that, in such Circumstances, is possible, we are not sure that God will accept us. All this is practical, and needeth no other Application, but to our Memories.  
AND there we shall meet another suitable Memento from the Wise Man, Eccles. xii. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy Youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. This is another Caution. God will have no Pleasure, where the Votary hath none. He loveth a cheerful Giver of the Heart, as of the Alms. Nature hath taught all Mankind to worship him in a festival manner, in so much as the chief Pontif forbade a solemn annual Sacrifice, because the people was in grief for their loss at Cannae; and we have less reason to hope that God, who forbade his people to offer him any blemished or lean Beast, should be pleased with the worst of our days, because we wilfully offer the best to his Enemies. Therefore remember thy Creator in the best of thy days, while thy Spirits are brisk and vigorous, while the Wine may pretend to the Character which Jotham gives, that it cheers God and man, before it be soured to Vinegar by a sharp disease, or sunk to Lees by the dulness of Age.  
But the days of Youth are many, the Wise Man therefore calls for Now, a point without latitude, a short point that passeth away before you can speak the Syllable.  
Behold, Now is the time accepted, Now is the day of Salvation. For,  
1. Now is the Present time, we have it in possession; but of to morrow we have no certainty: and in a case of the highest import, the surest Course is the Best.  
2. Now is a Festival day; one of those few Festivals which our Church hath thought worthy to be honoured with a Collect which may outlive the next Sunday.  
3. It is the beginning of the New Year, and therefore seasonable for the beginning of a New Life. On this day the Romans (and (for aught I know) all civil Nations) used to send their New Years-Gifts to all those whom they professed to Love and Honour, and this so constantly, that the Emperors (some of them) required and exacted it as a Duty.  
Let us therefore present to God the Strena which alone is worthy or capable of his acceptance: A Circumcised Heart, lively representing his own Divine Nature, and the performances of his only Son our Lord, dead and buried to sin, but risen to newness of life, the old man put off with the old year, and the new man put on with the new one. This, and only this New Years Gift, will God accept, and what he Accepteth will not fail to Reward. He is not like the Roman Emperors now mentioned, who so claimed a right to the Strenae, or to reward the Payment only with a Discharge. When Moses his Child was Circumcised, the Lord left him (saith the Text) but our Lord hath declared and promised, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  
What this Abode in a Holy Soul importeth, we cannot reach, but may conjecture from what the Prophet saith of their Meeting, Isai. 64.4. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen O God beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness. This the Apostle citeth, 1 Cor. 2. and in ver. 14. gives the reason. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the sensual Man, cannot savour spiritual Joys: He must first put off the old man, which is a Circumcision, Painful to Nature, and therefore shunned by it, but Necessary to be undergone, and the sooner the better: nor did ever any one undergo it so early as not to repent that he had not done it sooner, even for this among other reasons, because he has lost as many Days of supreme Pleasure as he hath spent in impenitence: so that in all that I have spoken concerning Dangers, I have acted as one of those Servants which were sent out to the Hedges and Highways, to compel men to go in to a Wedding-Feast; whose Dainties exceed the boldest Wishes of the most Voluptuous: which is Another, a Better, a more Genuine, and Evangelical Motive against Delay, not now to be insisted on: nor shall I detain you longer than to call upon God, as the Church has taught us in the Collect appointed for this Day.  
Almighty God, who madest thy Blessed Son to be circumcised and obedient to the Law for Man; grant us the true Circumcision of the Spirit, that our Hearts and all our Members being mortified from all worldly and carnal Lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed Will, through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.  
FINIS.   

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