The Young Man's Duty. A Discourse showing The Necessity of seeking the Lord betimes, as also the Danger and Unreasonableness in trusting to a late OR, Death-bed-repentance. Designed especially for Young Persons, before they are debauched by evil Company, and evil Habits.  
By RICH. KIDDER M. A.  
{αβγδ}.  Marc. Antonin lib. 7. 
LONDON, Printed by H. L. for George Calvert and Samuel Sprint at the Golden Ball in Duck-lane. 1671.   

THE Preface.  
THE Author of these Papers do easily foresee, that this following Discourse will not be welcome to sundry sorts of Readers: As for those that are curious, and that are pleased only with Novelties, he expects to be despised by such. For he knows, that these Athenians spend their time in hearing or telling some new thing, and he will not wonder that these men should call him babbler. Nor does he much value the Censures of those men that had rather be learned then holy. But yet he hopes, if the following Discourse carry with it truth, that he shall not deserve a Censure, because it is not trim as well as true: For as he was at first cast upon these Meditations, to supply the necessities of such as required all plainness of speech, so it is now made public for the benefit of such; And if to any such, whose hearts are better then their heads, this Treatise shall afford any spiritual advantage, the Author will most cheerfully undergo the scorn of the more curious Reader: since his design in publishing these things was, not to entertain the Reader with quaint and airy forms of speech, but, faithfully to represent to him the great necessity of reformation in heart and life. And certainly, it would be a great Piece of vanity in so weighty a matter as this is, to flourish with affencted and ostentatious form of speech; And some men would question the truth of what we say; if we should dress our Discourses in such a Pedantry as Boyes do their Declamations. That man would be very cruel, that should see his Neighbours house on fire, but yet would not give his Neighbour notice of his danger, till he had studied a quaint speech to deliver the sad tidings with. When the flames of Hell are approaching apace to the men we preach to, the danger will command us to be earnest, but not oblige us to be eloquent. We must rather do as the Angels did by Lot, who instead of holding him with an eloquent Harangue,  told him plainly of the danger that did approach, and while he lingered, laid their hands on him, and brought him out of the City.  
To others this following Discourse will be mushroom, not onely because it hath been so hardy to come abroad in public, when there are so many Books already that can find no Entertainment; But also because this Argument hath already been handled by men of great worth and name. And indeed it cannot be denied that the world is too full of Books, and that this Subject hath been insisted on by men of great abilities. But then every one does not meet with what hath been said, nor can every one understand them, and there are very few that heed them, and yet is the thing itself of very great concernment to the souls of men. And indeed, considering how frequently men delude themselves with a promise of death-bed Repentance, and how they transgress in the mean time, and make their Accounts swell, and the Author having had too much sad experience of the prevailing of this conceit among those that have been committed to his care, thought himself obliged to bear witness against such a mistake as is at once both very common and very pernicious.  
But there is another sort of Readers, who though they may peruse the things that are here offered, and let them pass without a censure, will not be persuaded to an effectual and speedy Reformation. The most undeniable Reasons, the most passionate Exhortations, the most earnest entreaties will not prevail with them presently to forsake all their sins, and to love and serve God. They will still put the evil day far from them, and promise themselves time and grace enough to repent hereafter; and if one should arise from the dead, and from the damned, yet would they not be persuaded to make hast. These men are butted in sensual delights and pleasures, and have acquainted themselves with those things only that gratify and please the animal life, they have been brought up in sin and foolish pleasures, and taught to admire the pomp and gaiety of this present world, and to pursue earnestly the designs of their pride, and lust, and covetousness, and think that a little after-care about their souls, a few hopeful words at last will satisfy Almighty God for all. They know some care must be taken about their souls before they die, that they must repent and amend, and this they resolve to do some time before their death.  
I shall not forbear to say something to such a man that thus delays his repentance, over and above what he may find in the ensuing Discourse, by which it will appear, however he may deceive his own soul, that when he puts off his repentance to hereafter, in all probability he will never repent at all, but die in his sins, and be miserable to all eternity. And to convince such a man, that this may very justly be presumed and f●ared, I shall desire him to consider with me the following Severals, which will make it very probable, that whereas he says he will repent hereafter, that yet be will never repent at all.  
1. Consider, thou that sayest thou wilt repent hereafter, what should be the reason why thou canst not do it now; and whether the very same reason that hinders thee from reforming now, will not always hinder thee: Say what it is, thou that makest these delays, that keeps thee from reforming presently; it is the want of power to do it; and how dost thou know thy ability will be greater hereafter then now? Is it because the Rules of the Gospel are severe and strict, and will they not be as severe hereafter as now they are? Or dost thou hope, that God will unbend his Laws, which are unalterable, and stoop to thy profaneness? Or dost thou delay thy amendment, because thy sins are many and great, and thou despairest of mercy? And will not the heap be as great hereafter as now? Is it thy worldly business, and will it not always be so? That which now hinders thee, will always do so, till it is taken out of the way: things standing as they are, the issue and event must needs be the same. That which makes thee unfit to day, will make thee as unfit to morrow; Nay 2. More unfit. 
Citius sibi plagarum caro sociat●r quod non diu hiaro permittitur. Salv. ad Eccl. Cath l. 1.  Thou art like to be more unfit every day then other. It is here as in a wound or sore, the longer it continues, the more hard it is to cure it, whereas a timely dressing may cure it quickly: A disease that is timely taken is easily cured; but if it stay till it have altered the blood, and have amassed together a load of filth, and destroyed the tone and strength of the Principal Parts, and brought in a general ill habit of body; it maey then be past all remedy. Whatever unfits thee now, will make thee much more unfit hereafter. For as the work will then be more hard, so will thy strength be weaker, thy time shorter, thy discouragements greater, and thy temptations and objections more and more strong then they were ●efore. He that thinks of repenting on his death-bed, should remember that he will have a greater task to do, and less time and strength to do it in then now he hath.  
If thy sins are so● many and so great now, that thou dost almost despair of mercy, certainly they will be more and greater then: if it be troublesome to thee now to look back upon thy old scores, surely there will be more of labour and discouragement in it, to undo and unravel the many sins of a long life: if now thou thinkest the Commands of Christ severe and strict, certainly hereafter, when thou hast been more engaged in sin, and longer wedded to the world, and thy lusts are faster riveted to thy soul, thou wilt think more hardly of a holy life, and the Commands of Christ will be more grievous to thee. If now it be so hard a task, what wilt thou think it when thy day is almost spent, and thy Sun a setting! if it be hard now to cast out the unclean spirit, and bind the strong man; What a task will it be when there are more evil spirits to cast out. If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the Leopard his spots, then may ye also do good, that are accustomend to do evil.  
3. Consider, thou that sayest thou wilt repent hereafter, whether thou hast not formerly promised to repent, and yet broken thy word, and if thou hast, why shouldst thou believe thyself again. Didst thou never upon some sick bed, or under some great danger, make a Vow, that if God would deliver thee, he should be thy God; and yet for all that, when the danger hath been over, thou haft returned to thy sins and evil ways again. And hast thou not as much reason as ever to think, that as thou didst then but dissemble with God, so now thou didst but mock him. Thy deceitful heart is still in thy breast, and as ready to impose upon thee as ever it was.  
4. Consider, thou that sayest thou wilt repent tomorrow, when this morrow will come; Thou wilt repent hereafter thou sayest, but that is an uncertain and unlimited word, whereas God limiteth a certain day, saying, To day if ye will hear his voice, Heb. 4.7. And again, Behold, now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation, 2 Cor. 6.2. God says Now, we say Hereafter: God says to day; we say, tomorrow: Gods time is come, but when will our time come? It is a worthy saying of one of the Ancients, {αβγδ}. That, tomorrow hath no end. And it were well if it were not too often verified in the dangerous delay of sinners, 
Modo& modo non habent modum. Aug.  whose tomorrow and hereafter hath many times no bounds or stops, and is as far from coming to an end, as an Eternity itself. For he that makes delays makes no Progress at all, and is therefore very elegantly compared by Solomon, to a door that is turned upon its hinges, Prov. 26: 14. For as such a door, though it may be opened and clapped too, yet makes no progress at all, being held by the hinges to which it is fastened: so the slothful sinner is held fast by his delays till he be unhinged by a very effectual change. He that uses delays, how fair soever he speak, yet does not advance at all: He is like the hindermost wheels of a Chariot or Coach, which are indeed near the foremost wheels, and seem to run with a design to overtake them, but yet being fastened to a lower axletree, they never make any nearer approaches to them, 
Nam quamvis prope te, quamvis temone sub uno,  
Vertentem seize, frustra sectabere Canthum,  
Cum rota posterior curras& in axe secundo.   
2. There is no end of these delays; They are the devils device to draw thee into an inevitable destruction; 'tis the Sluggard that says, Yet a little sleep, a littbe slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall his Poverty come as one that traveleth, and his want as an Armed man. The Devil can well endure thou shouldst promise to reform hereafter, as long as in the mean time thou livest in thy sins. But it is a great peradventure whether ever we shall repent or not, if we do not do it presently. For 'tis likely that he that promises tomorrow to begin his repentance( and perhaps hath done for some years past,) should, when tomorrow comes, promise the next day, and so onwards till there be no time left to run out. This is well expressed by the satirist.  
Cras hoc fiet; idem cras fiet; quid. quasi magnum  
Nempe diem donas. said cum lux altera venit.  
Jam cras besternum consumsimus aliud cras.  
Egerit hos annos,& semper panlum erit ultra.  
Tomorrow shall my work be done,  
Or, when tomorrow's past and gone.  
The next day shall my morrow be,  
A day shall break no squares with me.  
He grants too little that doth give  
But one day both to turn and live.  
But when another day's come on,  
Our first tomorrow's fled and gone,  
Another morrow then makes hast,  
And our remaining time doth waste,  
And thus we make no stops, but say  
We still expect another day.  
And therefore I shall earnestly beseech the Reader to use no more vain delays, but to hasten out of his sins, and immediately to turn unto the Lord his God, who will be better to him then all his worldly profits and pleasures can. This if he do at all, he must do quickly: We must tread upon thorns while our shoes are upon our feet: There can be no fitter opportunity then the present to set upon this work. He that depends upon his last hour is like to be deceived: The Jews have a saying to this purpose worth our heeding {αβγδ} i. e. He that puts off the hour, the hours shall put him off. He that neglects the present season out of hopes of one to come, is likely to he deceived at last.  
Now the Lord grant, that what is here offered may do good to the souls of men. That we may so effectually lay these things to heart, that they may not make for our condemnation at that great day. If the Reader receive any advantage by what is here offered, the Author desires him first to give God the praise, and then to pray for him that hath made these things public, that when he preaches to others, he himself may not be a cast-away.   

The Young Man's DUTY &c.  
THere cannot be a more dangerous, nor is there a more prevailing error among those that call themselves Christians then this, that though we led our lives as we list, yet we shall be undoubtedly happy hereafter, if upon our Death-beds it repent us of our sins; when yet by repenting we mean no more, but a crying unto God for mercy, and a crying out upon ourselves as great sinners: If we can, like the Serpen●, become streight before we die, though our whole life were crooked and perverse, we shall think well of ourselves, and shall be thought to have made a godly and comfortable end, and to be unquestionably gone to a better place. Thus will a charitable neighbourhood judge, and perhaps the Preacher too at the Funerals will confidently pronounce it, and then 'tis easily believed; and every sinner comforts up himself in his evil ways, and thinks to get to Heaven at last at as cheap a rate. By this means the great purposes of the Gospel are made voided, and the design of our Saviours appearing defeated: Men think a good life is not of absolute necessity in order to their future happiness, and they take no longer care how they live, the most they aim at is, that they may die with a parcel of good words in their mouths. They run on in their sins in the mean-while, and think it will be soon enough to repent when they make their Wills, or when they lye a dying: Thus the poor sinner is blinded, and makes hast to fill up the measure of his iniquity, and repents not till he do it with the flames of Hell about him, till it be too late, and to no purpose. Many that are now in eternal torments, made hast to them with these foolish hopes about them: And we that remain behind them are posting on apace to the same lamentable destruction; I shall endeavour, with Gods assistance, to disabuse such men as these, and to show them their great mistake, before they feel the sad effects of it in sorrows that are unspeakable. I shall show the very great untruth, as well as the unreasonableness, and infinite danger of this conceit, and take off all those popular pretences and exceptions which the sinner can bring to confirm himself in his misbelief. God Almighty grant, that what is offered may be a means to stop the sinner in his career, and sand him home to himself, and to his God. I do conjure the Reader, as he loves his own soul, and as he would not be eternally miserable, that he would consider seriously what is here offered, that he would do it in his retirement and calmest thoughts, reflecting how far he is concerned in these things: I shall proceed and show the great vanity of this conceit by sundry Arguments.  

CHAP. I.  
And first of all, this will appear to be a great mistake, if we do but consider duly the nature of true repentance; which( however we thrust it into a narrow room) we shall find to be a duty more difficult and comprehensive, and which requires more time and pains then men are generally apt to believe it does. For though we frequently of Repentance, and pretend to it, and hear it preached of, yet, I fear, it is but little understood and less practised; and when men so little understand what Repentance is, it is no wonder that they mistake so widely in this whole Affair. The doctrine of Repentance is the foundation of the spiritual building, Heb. 6.1. which if it be not well laid, we build our house upon the Sands, and such an house must needs fall, Mat. 7.27. Before I come to show what Repentance is, I shall vindicate it from those mistakes that men are in about it.  
1. They are much mistaken that think Repentance no more but a parcel of good words, a loud crying to God for mercy, and exclaiming against ourselves as great sinners; This we can easily do, and love our sins nevertheless when we have done; It breaks none of our bones to do this, it puts us to no pain at all, nay, we can do it, and yet be inwardly pleased with our sin in the mean-while; This is all the Repentance that many men have or aim at; They sin, and they confess; but then they sin again, and confess again, and keep this round while they live. Many men do that which a little before they confessed was their sin, 
Eadem pené omnes jugiter faciunt, quae fecisse se plangunt. Salv. de Gub. Dei lib. 3.  and they will confess it again presently, and yet go on to commit again the same things. This black circled( as one well said) of Sin, and confess, Confess and sin, encompasses as well Protestants as Papists. We think ourselves very safe in this circled, and that our sins cannot do us more hurt then our confession does us good; But certainly, we have very base and low thoughts of God, if we think to charm and cheat him thus easily, if we think he will be mocked with such ineffectual confessions as these are; What man would endure such usage as this! Will our Neighbour be pleased with us, because we confess we have done him wrong, when he sees we continue to do so still. This were indeed an easy way to Heaven, a very sick man, and the most guilty might soon do this; I shall transcribe the words of a grave Author upon this occasion; If, says he, 
Sir W. raleigh his Preface to the History of the World.  according to St. Peter, the righteous shall scarcely be saved, and that God spared not his Angels, where shall those appear, who having served their appetites all their lives, presume to think that the severe Commandments of the All-Powerful God were given but in sport, and that the short breath we draw when death presseth us, if we can but fashion it to the sound of mercy, is sufficient?— But what shall we call a disesteeming, an opposing, or( indeed) a mocking of God; if those men do not oppose him, disesteem him and make him, that think it enough for God, to ask him forgiveness at leisure, with the remainder and last drawing of a malicious breath? For what do they otherwise that die this kind of well-dying, but say unto God as followeth? We beseech thee, O God, that all the falshoods, for swearings, and treacheries of our lives past, may be pleasing unto thee; that thou wilt for our sakes,( that have had no leisure to do any thing for thine) change thy nature( though impossible) and forget to be a just God; that thou wilt love injuries and oppressions; call Ambition, Wisdom; and Charity, foolishness.— Certainly these wise Worldlings have either found out a new God, or made one; and in all likelihood, such a leaden one as Lewis the eleventh wore in his Cap; which when he caused any that he feared or hated, to be killed, he would take it from his head and kiss it, beseeching it to pardon him this one evil Act more, and it should be the last; Mockeries indeed fit to be used towards a leaden, but not towards the everliving God: Thus he. Certainly, the Devil can well endure we should confess our sins, if we forsake them not; we shall not much disturb him by speaking against his works, if we destroy them not. These are words of course, that neither trouble the devil, nor yet please God. The Souldiers of Christ must fight, as well as thus bid defiance against his sins. Plutarch tells us, that when Memnon heard one of his Souldiers to ra●l against the graecian King, against whom he was entertained to fight, that he stroke him with his Lance, and  told him, 
Vide Plut. Apophegm.  He did not maintain him to rail, but to fight against Alexander. Certainly we shall show at once more courage, as well as more sincerity, by forsaking our sins then by speaking evil of them.  
2. They are much mistaken that think all sorrow that arises in their minds, upon occasion of their sins, is true Repentance. As if any sorrow, occasioned by reason of our sins, were that sorrow which is after a godly sort. Such men are ready to think, that a melancholic fit, a few sighs and groans, an hanging down the head like a bulrush, and a retiring a while from our mirth and company, a sour face, and moist eyes make up the whole and sum of Repentance. This certainly is a very wide mistake, for though this sorrow may be a step to, or a companion of true Repentance, yet alone it comes much short of the main work. For such men as these many times dislike the punishment, not the fault, and grieve not so much because themselves are wicked, as because God is just. Their sin brings a trouble upon them, it is the trouble, not the sin that makes them sorrowful. They have a certain Presage of the uneasiness of the flames of hell, their galled and a king conscience flies in their faces, they feel heavy stroke upon their hearts, for those sins which the World does not see; This makes them pale, and dampish, when they receive upon their souls the lesser stroke of Hell, and when they see the hand-writing point at them.— Tacita sudant praecordia culpa. This will make the stoutest son of Anak bend, and yet does it not make him a true Penitent. For the most wicked men may repent at this rate, and many times does it: Thus Judas, when he had betrayed our Saviour, when he saw he was condemned, repented himself, Mat. 27.3. That is, his Conscience had  told him he had done greatly amiss in that he had betrayed innocent blood, v. 4. He had a great sorrow upon him, a most excessive grief upon his mind, so great and so pressing, that there are that are ready to think, that( however our Translation tell us, that he went and hanged himself) he died of grief and sorrow, 
{αβγδ}  that there was no other thing that strangled and choked him but that; For it is thought, the word which we translate hanged himself, signifies being oppressed with grief and melancholy, with a sorrow so far from a godly sorrow, that it worketh death; Judas being strangled with his grief and sorrow, when yet no man will think that he had any repentance unto life; thus may we find an Ahab rending his clothes, putting on sackcloth upon his flesh, nay, fasting, lying in sackcloth, and going softly, 1 Kings 21 27. In so much that God himself takes notice how he humbles himself; Others we may find howling upon their beds, Hos. 7. ●4. and yet they are far from true Repentance, for it seems they did not cry unto God with their hearts; their want made them howl indeed, but not repent; for they assembled for corn and wine, and yet rebelled against God. The disgrace, and shane, and misery which the sinners wickedness has brought upon him may make him truly sorrowful, when yet he is far from being truly penitent. These things may humble the sinner greatly, and this Humiliation may keep off from him some temporal judgement, but will not secure him from an eternal one.  
3. They are as much mistaken that take passionate resolutions of amendment for Repentance, that mistake the purpose and intention for the thing itself. We are indeed sometimes in good moods, and then we are resolved for Heaven, and for an holier life. Thus it is many times with some men, that notwithstanding all this are slaves to the Devil, and lead captive by him at his will. Such men find they are in great slavery, through the chains and fetters with which the Devil and their own lust hath bound them, these out of a sense of this are ready to say, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast their cords from us. These men are surfeited by their sins, lashed by their consciences, terrified by their convictions, or sometime awakened by the judgements of God that follow them, and then they resolve most passionately to lay by their troublesome sins, and walk in the more pleasant and more lightsome ways of Peace. How happy were it for them if they had courage and constancy enough to do what they so well resolve; But alas, these men( though they call these purposes by the name of repentance) return quickly to their vomit and wallowing in the mire; And then their Actions testify to their faces they did but dissemble with God. These purposes are like the sudden resolutions that some young men take up, that have been intemperate the last meal, to fast the next, because their late excess has laid an uneasy load upon them, which then they find very burdensome; but when time hath wrought off the heaviness of the first excess, they forget their vow of Fasting quickly; what the Apostle said of some, that they are ever learning, and yet never come to the knowledge of the truth, is true of these men, they are ever repenting, and yet never arrive at true repentance.  
4. They are mistaken that think every outward abstaining from the grosser acts of sin, either deserves the name of Repentance, or that it is any certain sign of it. It is possible we may abstain from some sin, and be as faulty in something else.  
— Non ego avarum  
Cum veto te fieri; 
Horat.  vappam jubeo, aut Nebulonem.  
One disease may leave a man, and yet another may invade and arrest him, which is as dangerous. Men exchange one sin for another, oftener then they forsake all. And such an Exchange they judge very pardonable. They commute some one sin for some other that they esteem more expedient. They leave their youthful lusts perhaps when they grow in years; but then they are slaves to Covetousness or Ambition, or else are overgrown with Atheism or unbelief. Men will part with some sin they can best spare, or not so well follow, and think they have well acquitted themselves, though Agag and the fattest of the flock, their most desirable sins be spared. They will perhaps avoid the grosser enormities which the World observes most, and yet be full of more refined, spiritual and mental wickedness. They will not kill, but yet hate their brother, or are angry with him without a cause. They do not commit adultery, but yet they allow themselves to lust. They leave that sin which either they dare not or cannot follow, and not because they hate their sin, or love their God: Some Vices they abstain from, not out of disaffection, but out of Policy. Some other lust, it may be, has either more power, or more expedience; Nay, perhaps they sacrifice some of their lusts to the Religion they own, which they know exacts an obedience from them; It shall have some sins devoted to destruction that the rest may live; And thus men do not only abstain from some sins, that they may keep others safe, but even strive against them too; And upon these terms Satan himself( as one hath well said) will allow us to mortify some sins, nay, will himself cast the first ston at them: and like a rooking Gamester purposely lose these petty stakes, that he may afterwards sweep the board.  
These things I have name, are not worthy the name of Repentance, nor yet are they any certain or infallible signs of it; Though where there is true Repentance, there these things also are; Repentance requires this, and more then all this. It is a greater work, and makes a greater change then all the before-named particulars do amount unto; it imports no less then a relinquishing all our sins, and a turning unto God. He that truly repents puts away every evil thing, and subdues not only his sin, but his affection to it also. He puts off the old man, and puts on the new. For Repentance imports.  
I. A turning from our sins; A ceasing to do evil, Isa. 1.16. A leaving off our evil ways, and our evil affections; That is, we may turn from all our evil, from every sin, before we can be said to have repented truly, and not only leave our sin but hate it too; But that this may be the better understood we may take these following particulars.  
( 1) It is a turning from our sin when we have power to commit it. Of many men it may be truly said, that their sin rather leaves them, then they that; To leave off our sin when we can follow it no longer deserves no thanks, much less the name of true Repentance. It is too true an observation of Siracides, There is, says he, that is hindered from sinning through want, chap. 20. v. 21. We want strength, or means, or an opportunity and temptation, oftener then we do a will to commit sin. He that follows his lust till a decrepit age, hath put out his fire; He that drinks and games till he hath spent his estate and his credit too; In a word, 
P●ccare non desinit, quem in extremisitum recedere a cris minibus sola facit impossibilitas non voluntas. Salv. ad eccl. Cathol. lib. 1.  he that continues in his sin as long as he is able to follow it, does not forsake his sin, but his sin forsakes him. The man is the same though his strength and power be not: His actions are not what they were, but his mind is: And certainly God looks upon a man as he is in his mind and inclination, not as he is forced to be in his outward carriage. He is a Thief in Gods account( though he actually steal nothing) that would not fear to steal if he were sure that his wickedness might be hide or go unpunished; And he is a drunkard in Gods account, that would commit that excess, were it not that he wanted means, or feared the Magistrate: Where there is true repentance, the forsaking our sin is matter of choice, not necessity. We do not only abstain from our sins, but we abhor them. Our affection is changed as well as our life. Some men forsake their sins, as sick men do their meat which they love, they are denied it by their Physician as very dangerous for them, and therefore they forbear and yet long for it, and would gladly have the restraint taken off. Such men as these have the same desires as before, and that their actions are not the same also, is not the effect of their choice, but the result of a pressing necessity. But thus far we are hypocrites and dissemblers, not true penitents. But then that man that turns from his sin in his youth, and in his health, that wants neither power nor wealth to follow his sin, nor an opportunity to use that power, nor yet a temptation to embrace that opportunity, and yet abstains from his sin for no other cause, but because he loves God, and fears his displeasure, and hates his sin, this man truly repents; especially if he add  
( 2) Constancy to this: some men are very angry with their sins at fits, and for a short time, but by degrees their anger cools, and they run into the embraces of their sins again: They fall out with their sins just as a fond and foolish Lover falls out with his Mystress, when yet una falsa Lachrymula, a tear or a fair invitation, a smile or sigh shall make up this breach, and the man is then as fond and as foolish, as much a slave and servant as he was before. We are in little feuds and bickerings against our sins, but they rise to no height, and continue no time. 'tis our continuing in well-doing that speaks our repentance to be complete. Many men are ready to think themselves free, who yet draw their chain after them, and are easily overcome by Sin in fair Circumstances, 
{αβγδ}  Heb. 12.1. When their sin comes to them well arrayed and attired, when it courts them, and importunately wooes them, when it comes to them, as Jael did to Slsera, with a Turn in, my Lord, turn into me, fear not, judge. 4.18. when it comes to the sinner like the strange woman, Prov. 5.3. whose lips drop as an Honeycomb, and her Mouth smother then oil; And makes an earnest proffer of pleasure and profit, an all All this I'll give thee; then the sinner falls into the embraces of his sins again, and becomes a vassal and a slave again, and his love to his sin is, after his little quarrels with it, redintegrated and made strong: Such mens affections to their sins were never thoroughly subdued and mortified, their repentance was never perfect and complete. Know ye not( says the Apostle) that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness, Rom. 6.16. Not that I would be so understood, but that a man that hath truly repented may fall into some sins again, through infirmity or ignorance, through sudd en surreption or surprise, and sometime through negligence and want of due care and watchfulness. But then  
( 3) This is against the constant bent and meaning, the bias and inclination of the man: 'tis that which he constantly and earnestly desires to avoid and shun: He looks upon it as his great misery and unhappiness; And  
( 4.) He rifes again by a true repentance, by an hearty and godly sorrow; if Peter deny his Master, we soon find that he goes out and weeps bitterly; if such a man miss his way, yet he turns back again, and renews his place, and doubles his diligence, and returns home to his father again, and this leads me to the second part of Repentance, viz.  
II. A turning to God: I will go to my father, says the Prodigal son; and this may be called Conversion: But that we may the better understand what is implied in this, we may take the import of it in the following Severals. Now this turning to God does comprehend in it and suppose together  
( I) A due sight and sense of the danger and misery of our present condition that we are in, and here it begins. The sinner begins to consider now what he does, and whither he is going; he begins to discern his danger and misery. He is like a man newly awakened out of a deep sleep, when the house about him is on fire, when the Buil●ing trembles, and the neighbourhood cries out, and the flames begin to threaten him, and the man sees that danger which his sleep but now hide from his eyes. He sees himself now upon the very brink of Hell, and very near being devoured and swallowed up by those unquenchable flames. A sire from Heaven he sees is falling upon his Sodom, and the Avenger of blood he sees is following him, and his soul is in great distress for a City of Refuge to fly unto. He is like a traveller in a foreign land, that hath wandered securely from his right way, and is strayed into paths of very great hazard and danger, which makes him doubtful and at a stand. His heart misgives him, and he now begins to consider with himself whither his way will led him: He suspects his way too broad, and too much beaten to be that way that leads to life: He remembers now that he hath heard his Saviour say, that the way is narrow and straight that leads to life, and that there be but few that find it: And he now remembers that God hath  told him that the paths that he treads in will bring him unto death. He remembers that, that it is plainly said, that without Holiness no man shall see God, Heb. 12.14. And then he considers what a sad portion of things abides for him, how unable he is to lye down in everlasting burnings, and to lose the favour of God for ever, whose favour is better then life itself: He knows there is but a very little distance between him and eternal destruction, and that if God take away his life he is undone for ever, and that nothing in this world can countervail so great a loss as the favour of God, and the eternal welfare of his foul. Thus does the Convert begin his Conversion: Thus the Psalmist did, I thought upon my ways,( says he) and turned my feet unto thy Testimonies, Psal. 119.59. And the Prodigal son did thus also, he made this the first step towards his amendment, for of him the first good tidings, and hopeful presage we meet with is that which we red, Luke 15.17. When he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger?  
( 2) A firm resolution of turning to God. I will arise and go to my father; says the Prodigal son: And this resolution the true Penitent does not take up lightly and rashly neither, as many do that soon repent them of their repentance, but upon mature consideration he is resolved for God and Heaven whatever it cost him; though he pluck out his right eye, and cut off his right hand: That is, though he part with his most beloved sins: He will have the Pearl though he sell all he have, and endure great hardship to obtain it. He is willing to accept of Jesus Christ as his Lord and Master, as well as his Priest and Saviour; that is, he is as willing to be ruled by Christ as to be saved by him. He resolves to obey his Saviour, and to follow him through all difficulties and dangers. He will not leave him though others do; though his Friends and Relatives, the wife of his Bosom, or the son of his strength forsake him, and serve other Gods: Just as it was with Ruth, so is it with the true Penitent. She would not leave Naomi, though she not only bid her turn back, and discouraged her besides, and though her Sister Orpah returned unto her people, and to her Gods. But she tells her, Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest I will die, and there will I be butted, Ruth 1.11, 12. He that repents does so, he will follow Christ whither ever he shall led him, to a across, or to a Stake, to a barren wilderness, or to a place of Skulls, through afflictions and tribulations. He will part with father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, and life itself rather then not be his disciple, Luke 14 26, 33. For he considers, like a wise Builder, that this undertaking may cost him no less then all this. There are indeed but few such. Converts as these, I fear; yet do none deserve the name that do not do this? Many indeed partake of the Baptism of Christ; receive of his Body and Blood, that will do nothing for him. There are many that follow him for the loaves, that will not follow him to the across: they will cleave to Christ while he feeds them, but when he commands their estates or lives, they, like the Gadarens, for loss of an herd of Swine, desire him to depart out of their Coasts, Mat. 8.34. or they do as the Ruler in the Gospel did, who when our Saviour  told him he must sell all and give to the poor, He went away sorrowful, for he was very rich, Luke 18.23. But the true Convert counts all but dross that he may gain Christ, and he is so far convinced of his misery, without the mercy of God and light of his Countenance, that he is willing to accept of this mercy upon: any terms: And therefore he resolves to turn to God without any reservs whatever: He sets before his eyes all the difficulties and discouragements he may meet with, and resolves with Gods strength to undergo them all that he may obtain the prise.  
( 3) And actual and entire resignation of a mans self unto God: And this is that which perfects and completes our Repentance. When we come to give God our hearts, which we formerly set upon the World, and upon oursins, then have we truly repented, and not till then. For he that hath truly repented becomes a new man, he hath bid an everlasting farewell to all his evil ways, to all his old familiars in Egypt, and is now transplanted and engrafted into a new Family: and when he remembers his former evil ways, it is with tears in his eyes, or true sorrow in his heart, when he thinks how foolish he hath been. Now he hath left his former customs, company and pleasures: He is married into a new Family, he hath contracted a new Kindred and Relatives: He obeys another Master, and is ruled by other Laws, and is conducted by a better spirit, and hath vowed obedience to another and a better Lord: His Convenants are sealed, and he hath bound himself by all that is sacred or great to an universal obedience, and he cannot return or draw back without a strange destruction. He is not the same man which he was, other Lords have had dominion over him, he hath been enslaved by his vile affections and lusts, but he is now made free by the Son of God, and he that was before a slave of sin is now a Servant of Righteousness. In a word, All old things are done away, and all things are become new. There is a very great and remarkable change passed upon him.  
1. Upon his mind and understanding: For God works upon the understanding first, and does in this new creature use the same method, which he did when he created the World at first, where we find that light was the work of the first day, Gen. 1.3. before that light was made there was a great darkness upon the face of the deep, till God by the light he made had chased it away. It is just so with the natural and unregenerate man, he is in a very great darkness till the eyes of his mind are opened: And the Apostle seems to tell us that God makes a new creature after the same manner that he made the old, in these words: For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 4.6. Our blessed Saviour, who is the true light, Joh. 1.9. Came into the world, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet in to the way of Peace, Luke 1.79. While the sinner goes on in his evil way he walks in darkness: The God of this World blinds his mind, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God, should shine unto him, 2 Cor. 4.4. Ye were sometimes darkness( says the Apostle to his Ephesians) but now are ye light in the Lord, Eph. 5.8. Saint Paul himself was sometimes darkness also, I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, Act. 26.9. But it pleased God to enlighten him from Heaven with a light greater then that of the Sun, and then he becomes a Minister of that which before he persecuted, and is sent to open mens eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, v. 18. And so it is with every man that is converted from his evil ways to God; A great light breaks in upon his understanding: His mind before was darkened, and he is now like a man that comes out of a dark dungeon, or like one that never saw before, or never saw distinctly and clearly: But now the scales are fallen off his eyes, the veil is removed, and he is restored to sight. He sees now that his sin is no small matter, and that he is of all fools the most deplorable that makes a mock of sin: He sees that all wickness is folly, and that the fear of the Lord is the greatest wisdom: He sees that the Gospel is a great truth, and that he that preaches it hath all the reason in the World to be very earnest and importunate: he sees that Hell is no Fable, but the most necessary and unavoidable Consequent of a wicked life. Now he sees that God will by no means clear the guilty, and that he is not so merciful as to forget to be just: He sees now how woefully the Devil abused him, in leading him aside into the ways of sin, and misconceits of God and of Religion. He sees that he hath been a fool, and walked always upon the borders of Hell, and had not the mercy of God laid hold of him, he had never seen it till it had been too late. In a word, he sees that he hath no fruit in those things whereof he is now ashamed, for the end of those things is death, Rom. 6.21.  
2. Upon his will and heart: the bent and inclination of that is much changed and altered; His heart is now right in the sight of God: He had no savour or relish of the things of God that stayed with him before; So that when he prayed with his lips, his heart stayed behind: and though he had many notices of things swimming in his head, yet he had no relish of them in his heart: His good principles were weak and ineffectual, and he lived as altogether unconcerned in them: He could indeed before this great change was wrought, aclowledge God the Fountain of all goodness, and the root from whom every good thing did spring; yet then he did not live as if this were true, but still loved his sin and pleasure more then his God. But now he tastes and sees that the Lord is gracious, and what service he performs to God, he does it hearty: When he prayed to God before, he was like some Clock that strikes right indeed, but yet the hand of it points amiss, and not at the same hour that its striking gave you warning of: He prayed before as to the matter of his Petitions very uniformly and agreeably, but his heart was not right in the sight of God, that pointed at something else, and at something short of what his words did import. 
Aug. Conf. l 8. c. 7.  Thus St. Austin confesses of himself that he was wont to pray to God to give him Chastity and ꝯtinence,( and that was a good hearing) but then his heart stayed behind with a not yet Lord, his heart did not point so forward; for he confesses, that when he prayed thus, he was afraid that God should hear him speedily. St. Paul prayed doubtless before his Conversion, for he was a very strict. Pharisee, but he did not pray as he did after God had brought him home to himself; when the Lord tells Ananias of his praying; with a Behold he preys, Act. 9.11. The sinner preys perhaps for the same things that the true Convert does, but not so earnestly and so heartile. He preys for the holy Spirit as a very hungry man preys for bread; when he begs Wisdom of God, He seeks her as Silver, and searches for her as for hide treasures, Prov. 2.4. In a word, he does not only perform an outward worship to God, but he loves him with all his heart, and is inwardly delighted in his service.  
3. Upon his whole life also. He lived after the guise and fashion of the World before: He hath now left his old wonts, his sin and his evil company. He talks of other matters, he thinks of other things, and is delighted with other concerns: He that before delighted in nothing but Merchandise, or Farms and Leases, and Yokes of Oxen, in Mirth and jolly Company; in Chambering and Wantonness; Honour and Greatness, now delights in God, and in his Gospel: And do really value a Promise above a great Lease or Bond: and is more afraid of Gods displeasure then of a Famine or Plague.  
Thus I have shewed what true Repentance does imply: He that would enter into Heaven must thus be changed: No less then all this is indispensably required of us; which is a great work, and requires much strength and some time; and therefore to put it into so narrow a Compass as the remainder of our lives when we lye a dying, is most unreasonable. Repentance is not so easy and short a work as to be put off to that moment, when we have not only the least time, but the least strength also. And yet of all men's in the World, their Repentance will require the greatest labour and time, who, having always lived in sin, have the sins and evil habits of an whole life to unrawel and undo. And thus much of my first Argument.   

CHAP. II.  
Now this will farther appear to be a very great mistake, if we consider that an holy life is not only necessary to a comfortable death, but also to an happy Eternity: And if an holy life must go before an happy and glorious Resurrection, what shall we think of them that led a wicked life, and yet think hereafter to live with God in glory. Now that an holy life, and an universal inherent holiness of our Nature, is indispensably necessary to our eternal happiness hereafter, will abundantly appear from these following Severals.  

1. The holy Scriptures do very frequently and plainly teach us this Lesson. This is the constant language of them, which they speak all along. And the man that doubts of the truth of this, or else is ignorant of it, it is either because he does not red the Scriptures, or will not believe them: For though the holy Scriptures be in many things hard to be understood, and there be difficulties in them too great for the wisest Clerk, and many other things of less moment in which learned and religious men cannot yet agree: Yet notwithstanding all this, when they tell us the necessity of an holy life, they do it so plainly, that he that runs may red it, and there is not the least place left for dispute or controversy in this matter. This is that in which all Dissenters in other things do accord and agree; And that which may, without any learning or great scholarship, be very easily understood. For in this matter they give out a certain and distinct sound that every man may prepare himself to battle. They tell us that, without holiness no Man shall see God, Heb. 12.14. That, if we live after the flesh we shall die, Rom. 8.13. And that we must be holy in all manner of conversation, 1 Pet. 1.15. They tell us plainly, that except a man be born again, he cannot see into the Kingdom of God, John 3.3. Besides, they teach us that this World we now live in, is a Field, and intimate to us that our present time is a Seeds-time, and they tell us moreover, that whatsoever a man sows, that he shall also reap, that if me some to the flesh, we shall of the flesh reap corruption, Gal. 6.7. That is, our harvest shall be according to our seed so that if our works be evil, our doom must needs be sad. Besides this, they tell us distinctly and severally, what those evil seeds are that we must beware of, what those evil works are that will bring us to an eternal destruction, viz. Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness, Idolatry, Witchcraft, Hatred, Variance, Enialations, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, Heresies, Envyings, Murders, Drunkenness, Revellings, and such like, Gal. 5.19. Nay, the Word of God gives us in several Catalogues and Rolls of those sins that will keep us out of the Kingdom of Heaven, that we might be sure to avoid them, as appears in the places following, which will deserve our very serious perusal, 1 Cor. 6.9, 10. Col. 3.5. Eph. 5.5. And not only so, but it also calls upon us loudly to beware, lest by any means we be deceived, it being as much as our souls are worth: It bids beware, Be not deceived, 1 Cor. 6.9. And again, Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience, Eph. 5.6. And again the same Apostle cries out aloud, For these things sake, the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience, Col. 3.6. And again, the same Apostle having reckoned up the works of the flesh, earnestly cri●s out, Of the which( says h●) I tell you before, as I have also  told you in time past, that they which'd such things shall not inberit the Kingdom of God, Gal. 5.21. And again, Be not deceived, God is not mocked, Gal. 6.7. In which expressions so often repeated, and so earnestly recommended, and so plainly delivered, the Apostle shows an extraordinary {αβγδ}, and a very great care of the souls of men at once. Whatever we are mistaken in, he would not have us so greatly mistaken, as to think there is no absolute necessity of an holy life in order to our happiness hereafter: For there cannot be a more great and dangerous error, then to think we may live as we lift, and yet be happy with God hereafter. Now the Holy Scripture, that it might beat all men off from this mistake does moreover inform us, that God is no Kespecter of persons, Acts 10.34. And that be our privileges and Prerogatives what they will, yet shall none of them supersede the necessity of an holy life. For in Christ Jesus, neither Circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh by love. Gal. 5.9. Rom. 2.11.25. That we That we are baptized into the Christian faith, and continue within the pale of the visible Church, that we descend from never so religious Parents, and partake of all the Ministe i●s of the Church, that we profess ourselves of the strictest Sect, and that we have a very great discerning in the Laws of God. All this, and more then all this, will do us no good at last( but rather enhance our condemnation) if we led wicked lives. Though we have a Levite for our Priest, and never so Orthodox a faith, yet if lo●● the mean time we have an Idol for our God, and our manners be profane, we are still in the way that leads down to the Chambers of death. Nay, though we say unto Christ, Lord, Lord, and though we could truly say unto him at that day, that we had prophesied in his Name, and done many wonderful works. Mat. 7.22. yet he will not regard us, whoever we be, and whatever we have done for him, if we have been workers of iniquity. Nay, he would not regard us though we were of his Kindred, of the same line age and blood,( Mat. 49, 50.) though we were his Brothers or Sisters, or Mother after the flesh. If his own Mother had not believed on him as well as born him, she had been a miserable woman. For she was more happy in being his disciple, then in being his Mother. Nay, and our Saviour himself seems to intimate no less, when after a certain woman had cried out, Blessed is the Womb that bare thee, and the Paps which thou hast sucked: He said, Yea rather, Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it, Luke 11.27, 28. No less then this did God require in the old Law, and in comparison with this those sacrifices and rights of his own appointment were not acceptable to him: For even then a contrite heart was unto God the sweetest Sacrifice; a slaying of their sins was more pleasing to him then the blood of thousands of Bullocks: Sincere Prayer was then the choicest incense, and the paring away their proud and callous flesh was that Circumcision that God delghted in, Psal. 50.8.51.16.17. Jer. 6.20.7.22, 23. Esa. 1.11, 12. Micah 6.6, 7, 8. Amos 5.22. although God required sacrifices and other ceremonies, yet if they offered up the beast, and spared their sin, that {αβγδ}, the Beast within them, they were not welcome to Gods Altars. If they cut off the fore-skin of their flesh, and let their hearts in the mean time be overgrown with their pride and unbelief, if they offered incense up towards Heaven, and kept their hearts below upon the lusts of the flesh, God was not pleased with such a service, though of his own appointment. Thus he tells the Jews, He that killeth an ox( 
So the LXXII. render it, O {αβγδ}.  and in the mean time spares his sin) is as if he slay a man: He that sacrificeth a Lamb, is as if he cut off a dogs neck: He that offereth an Oblation is as if he had offered Swines blood: He that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol, Esa. 66.3. Such Sacrifices of fools were but {αβγδ}. They fed the fire upon the Altar, but they made no atonement. God abhorred such services as these, for with him to obey is better then sacrifice, and to harken then the fat of Lambs, 1 Sam. 15.22. Now if under the Law God required an holy life, then under the Gospel nothing can excuse us from it. And thus much the Apostle teaches us in these words; Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the Law but under grace, Rom. 6.14. After all this, one would think, that he that considers these things, and he that believes them, should no longer doubt of the necessity of an holy life, and therefore should not dare to go on in his sin, and think on his death-bed, to make an amends 〈◇〉 he miscarriage of a wicked life, with a few good words of course. Certainly, in other things there is nothing truer, then that the faults and defectiveness of any of the premises, are constantly found also in the Conclusion: And if it be true in this case( as the Word of God assures us it is) nothing can be more absurd, then to expect so good a Conclusion, as a glorious Resurrection, from the faulty premises of a wicked life. And we shall judge very strangely, if we think a few good words of a dying sinner, will avail as much with God as an holy life; we cannot say he lived a good life, that never called upon God till he lay a dying. The parts of our life must be holy, 
{αβγδ}.  before the whole can be called so: We do not call a Picture of Statue fair, that hath not all its parts and proportions. I shall end this particular with the words of a very worthy Divine against the Papists: 
Mr. Chillingworth.  His words are these, If I follow the Scripture, I must not promise myself Salvation, without effectual dereliction and mortification of all Vices, and the effectual practise of all Christian virtues. But your Church opens an easier and broader way to Heaven; and though I continue all my life long in a course of sin, and without the practise of any virtue, yet gives me assurance that I may be let into Heaven at a Postern gate, even by any Act of Attrition at the hour of death, if it be joined with confession, or by an Act of Contrition without Confession. Thus he to my present purpose.  
2. But if we add to this, the infinite and essential holiness of Gods Nature, we cannot imagine that he should receive the unclean and filthy sinner into his Embraces: 
— Quid enim sperare nocentibus aegris  
Concessum? ant quae non dignior hostia vita?  Who can believe that God, who hates sin with a perfect hatred, and cannot endure it in his sight; That is light, and in whom is no darkness at all, that cast the Angles out of Heaven for their pride, and our first Parents out of Paradise for their Rebellion, that drowned the old World for their ungodliness, and burnt up Sodom and Gomorrah for their wicked lives, and hath ever destroyed the Nations for their sins, should yet entertain the sinner into his love, receive him into his arms, shine upon him with his favour, and rejoice over him to do him good: Or that He, before whom all things are naked and open, should be so easily deceived, as to be charmed with a parcel of good words from a dying man, who in the mean time is an enemy to him in his heart. We know such a mans sacrifice is an abomination to the Lord, Prov. 15.8. And we know God heareth not sinners, John 9.31. Nay, the very Heathen could say, 
{αβγδ}. Hierocles in Carm Pytha●.  That an unclean person might not have communion with a pure Being. We may as well expect that all the Elements should change their natures, that the fire should become could and tame, and the Waters dry and hard; that an excess of light, and a thick drakness should amicably agree and sit down together at the same time and place, that contradictions should be at no distance, or that God should cease to be what he is; As that God who is holy, and cannot be otherwise, who hates sin perfectly, and cannot choose but hate it wheresoever it is, should be at perfect friendship and favour with that man, that loves his sin hearty, and embraces it with great delight. We deceive ourselves infinitely if we think he will or can, for it is contrary to his Nature. Indeed if the God whom we worship, 
Vidae. Cic. de natura dear. l. 2. Plut in ●●n. Periclis. Prudent. cont Symmach. l. 3.  were no better then the Heathen gods were reported to be, of whose quarrels, adulteries, murders and feuds, we red in the Writings of their own Worshippers, then might any man soon become a fit Companion of such a Deity: Adulterers, Drunkards, thieves and Robbers would be very fit mates for such false gods as Jupiter, Bacchus, Mercery, and such like, which were some of those whom the Heathens worshipped. For, to imitate him whom we worship, 
Jamblich de vita Pythag c. 28.  hath always been thought safe advice; And he was one of the wisest Heathens that said, That those men did ridiculously, that sought for that which is truly righteous from any other but the gods, or those that were like them. And he adds very well, {αβγδ}, That we must do those things with which God is delighted. Nor could there be a surer rule then this, had they not been mistaken in the object of their Worship: And it is likely the Heathen were the more wicked upon this score: 
Semina pene omnium scelerum a Diis suis peccantium turba colleg●t. Jui Fi●mich. de error Profan. relic. Vide Lactant. Inst. l. ●. c. 10  and if they were, they were not reprovable from their own principles. For why should Cicero inveigh against Verres for committing adultery; when Jove himself whom they worshipped, had done the same; or against P. Clodius for Incest, when their great Deity was known to have been incestuous. 
Aug. co nf. l. 1 c. 16.  St. Austin takes notice of the lewd young man in the Comedian; that justified himself in his uncleanness by the example of Jupiter, and did as it were animate and provoke himself to lust, quasi coelesti Magisterio, by the warranty of Jove. No better could be expected from those that worshipped such Deities, and believed such things of them: 
Lactant. Inst, l. 5. c. 10.  Who could expect any thing but cruelty from the Worshippers of Mars and Bellona? or any reverence to Parents from the worshippers of Jupiter? who would look for chastity from the Adorers of an Adulteress, or for Justice from them that served a Thievish Mercury: They were not like to be chased or sober that offered sacrifice to Bacchus, and those other false gods, whose adulteries and excesses were not only reported in the Writings of their followers, but represented upon open theaters, that all men might know them. But our God, whom we worship, is an Holy God, and we must be so also if we would worship him aright, or be acceptable to him. And this is an Argument that God himself uses with us, and very forcible it is, to be holy because he is so. It is written( says the Apostle) be ye holy, for I am holy, 1 Pet. 1.16. And indeed we often find this written in the Law of Moses, where the Jews are required to be holy because God is so, Levit. 11.44.19.2.20.7. Deut. 10.17. And therefore we may not expect any favour from God, unless we become like him.  
3. The necessity of an holy life here in order to our future happiness will farther appear, if we consider the nature of that happiness, or Heaven which God hath reserved for us: There is no one thing in which men more mistake, I fear, then in their conceits about Heaven: Men speaks of it much, and every man seems to desire it as a good place, or state in general, when in the mean time they know not what it is, nor wherein it does consist. We are very desirous of Heaven, but not careful to fit and prepare ourselves for it, The Mother of Zebedees Children would have her two sons sit by Christ in his Kingdom, but yet does not beg for them the grace that should enable them to drink the Cup, and receive the Baptism that should prepare them for it, Mat. 20. Men conceive of it after a carnal and fleshly manner. 
Vide Pembles Sermon of I●co ance.  Thus did he that thought it a Green meadow. Thus that great Impostor Mahomet promises his true believers a Paradise watered with delightful Fountains, 
Vide Amyrald of Religions part 3 ch 3. Vide Mr. Greaves his Description of the Seraglio. ch. 11.  adorned with stately Trees, and enriched with variety of fruits. Where men shall be magnificently clothed, and stretch themselves upon costly beds, and be attended with delicate music, and have Wives transcendently beautiful: Such a Paradise did that Beast promise his disciples: which is a clear Argument that the man was immersed in sensual delights, and unworthy of the reasonable soul. Much such a state do the poor carnal Jews dream, that their messiah shall bring them to when he comes, 
Vid. Chald Paraph in Cant 8.2. Vide Bua●. Synag. Judaic. c. 36.  when they shall be feasted with great Provision, and drink of the wine of Paradise, that hath been reserved for from the days of Adam: At this Feast they name the very dishes that shall be provided, and what sports shall go before, &c. Such conceits are men ready to have of Heaven: And indeed, if. Heaven were such a place as this kind of men speak of, it would much please a profane man, and the most wicked would at all times be very fit for Heaven. The Drunkard and the Glutton, the proud and ambitious, the worldling and effeminate would be well pleased with such a Fools Baradise as this; And there would be no man, though never so much depraved, but would be very fit for such a sensual happiness. But we are taught to think otherwise of Heaven, that there is no marrying, or giving in marriage there, Luke 20.35. And that no unclean thing shall enter into it, Rev. 20.27. And therefore as we would be happy, so we must be holy: For holiness is not only necessary by a necessity of Precept, but by a necessity of means. For as wickedness does lay a foundation for our misery, and a train for our destruction, 
Vide Smith's Select Discourses p 446.  every sinner being within the attractive power of Hell: Sin and Hell being of the same lineage, and always twisted together: So also is holiness of absolute and indispensible necessity to our future happiness: They being rather two several notions of one thing, then things in themselves distinct. And therefore no man may promise himself Heaven hereafter, that does not live an holy life here. We are here in a state of trial and probation, and as it were at School in a lower form, where if we improve our time well, and do our tasks, that is, if we mortify and subdue our evil affections, then we shall be removed to an higher form, and added to the spirits of just men made perfect. But if we trifle away our time, or spend it amiss, we shall be thrown down among Hypocrites and unbelievers. Nor can it be otherwise then thus. For what should a wicked man do in Heaven; Certainly, such a state would be a torment to him if the thing were possible. In stead of being his happiness, it would be his prison. He would be weary of that state, which now he seems so much to desire. What pleasure would he find in singing perpetual praises to God, that is now weary of giving him thanks! What content would the covetous Worldling find in Heaven! There he will find no Leases or Farms for purchase, no widows or fatherless to oppress, no poor mens faces to grinned, nor bargains to drive, nor money to put out, nor forfeitures to receive. The voluptuous man would find little pleasure there where is no marrying or giving in marriage, no beds of Ivory, nor meat or drink, nor Tavern or Alehouse, or jolly companion to carouse and quaff withal. The proud man would take little delight in a constant ascribing all honour and praise to God: Such men as these are not fit for Glory, who are so far from Grace. They must lye down with the devil and his Angels, they are not fit for God, and that inheritance among them that are sanctified.   
I might add to what I have said, this also; That it is nothing but Sin, and the want of an holy nature, that makes the Devil so ugly. and so deplorably miserable as he is, nothing but this obstructs his happiness. We all look upon the Devil as a most odious, and filthy, and miserable creature: He hath generally with us a very ill name, and that very justly also: But we do not consider what hath made the devil so ugly and so wretched: Now that is nothing but his sin against God. For God did not make ●im so, when he came out of Gods Hands he was an holy Angel, bright and spotless: But fince that his sin hath discoloured him, and left those filthy spots upon his nature, which if they could again be separated from him, he would clear up into an Angel of light, and be better then the best of us. But his Sin hath stained him, and stigmatized him now, and hath made him at once the most deformed and most miserable creature. And that man, whoever he be that lives in sin and loves it, that does the works of the Devil, i.e. that is a liar, a false Accuser of Gods children, an. enemy to the souls of men, that is malicious, envious and proud, such a man is ugly and miserable as the devil is. For, to say no more but the very truth, such a man is a Devil Incarnate: He differs only in name from him, while he hath the very same nature: And while he lives in these sins, the Devi● himself may belong to the Kingdom of Heaven as much as he: For who can believe that a man should be happy with those very sins about him, which at the same time make the Devil unavoidably miserable: Or that we should ever enter into Heaven with those very sins, which cast the Devil out thence; Did not God spare the Angels that sinned, but cast them down to Hell,( 2 Pet. 2.4.) And shall he spare man, and make him happy also, though he have the very same sins deeply rooted in his nature! It cannot be: It is true indeed, such a man as this may lay aside his sins, and obtain mercy at the hands of God through Jesus Christ; but if he do not this, the sins that make the Devil so vile in the eyes of God, and so miserable, will make him so likewise. And therefore when a wicked man pretends to defy the Devil, and professes to hate him, he ought to consider that these are but very vain words, when at the same time he embraces his works. For we are obliged by our Profession of Christianity, as well as by our first Promise, to renounce the devil and all his works. And if we defy his name only, and do not renounce his works, we do but like the Cowardly soldier that exclaims against his enemy whom he will not fight. It was an excellent saying of Sir acides, When the ungodly nurseth Satan, he nurseth his own soul, Eccl. 21.27. When a wicked man nurseth the devil, and is at the same time one of his children and followers, he does but curse himself.  
If then we will believe the Holy Scriptures rather then the definitions of a corrupt Church; and think that God is necessary holy, and not such an one as the Heathens worshipped; and that Heaven is an holy State, and not a paradise for fools and sensualists; we must also grant, that holiness here is of absolute necessity to our happiness hereafter. And then certainly, this shows us again the vanity of those men that led wicked lives, and live without God in the world, and think to make amends for all with a few good words at last( which they call Repentance) and by that means to get into a better world then this.   

CHAP. III.  
I shall now show the very great danger of delaying our repentance to the latter end of our days: What very great, hazards, and uncertainties, and peradventures we run when we do so.  
1. It is uncertain how long we shall live, and therefore there is danger in putting off our Repentance to our old age. God never gave us our life in Lease for Years; 
Natura dedit usura vitae tanquam pecuniae nulla praestituta die. Cic. so●c. qu. l. 1.  we are but Tenants at the Will of the Lord, and he may throw us out of our Cottages when he pleases. We have no day granted us to pay back the lives that God hath lent us, they may at any time be required of us. It was the Devils first lye, and he is always repeating it, Ye shall not surely die, Gen. 3.4. And if he can by this means rock us asleep he hath us fast enough. But yet we have daily experience how vain a thing a man at his best estate is, and how extremely vain it is to promise ourselves any long continuance, or design any great matters here. The Jews have a good Ptoverb, that Many old Camels carry the skins of the younger Camels to the Market. 
Vide Bux●. Floril. Hebr.  And indeed one would think that the sudden death of our Neighbors, of our Friends and Relatives, that were younger, and stronger, and better then we, should convince ●s that we have no assurance that we shall live long. How many have we known or heard of, upon whom death came, and gave no warning: For so many times it is, men die suddenly when they least think of such a thing. Many a man dies in the midst of a journey, in a crowd and throng of worldly business, when they are just arrived to their preferment and the sum of their hopes, upon their marriage or their new honours, in their meals or sports, in a drunken fit or quarrel, and when they thought least of such a thing; 
Tu oceupatus es, vita festi●at: Mors interim aderit c●● velis no is vacandum esi. Sen, de brev. vit. c. 8.  then hath death overtaken them, and laid on them its could hands, closed their eyes, and stopped their breath, and spoiled their designs, and put an end to their mirth, and caused all their thoughts to perish. And then the man that had not time to serve God, must find time to die, and he that had not leisure to amend his life, must now lose it against his will. We often hear such tidings as this, that such a man is suddenly dead, whom we saw a little before in perfect health, and heard contriving some great things he would do ere long. And indeed there is no reason we should wonder at any of these things; for, besides that such things are very common, it is more to be marveled at that we should live so long then that we should die so suddenly. For how very easily is this earthen vessel broken, in what great danger are we every day! Too great an heal, or too much could; too much sleep, or too great watching; if we either eat too much, or abstain too long; or else labour too hard, we are soon destroyed: And if we presume upon our own temperance, yet who can secure himself from enemies abroad: A wild beast may meet him, and tear him in pieces, 2 King: 2.24. Or an enemy may give him a thrust under the fifth rib,( 2 Sam. 3.27.) and let out his soul that way, or a fool or a Mad-man may strike him to the wall when an evil spirit is upon him: Thou mayst enter into an house that may fall upon thee and kill thee,( Luke 13.4.) Or thy horse may throw thee out of this into another world; thou mayst catch the Plague, or be surprised in thy games, or choked in thy meals. The rage of a Tyrant, the infection of a disease, the poison of a morsel or a draft, a Clap of Thunder, or a flash of Lightning may quickly sand thee to thy long home; The Lord may smite thee, or thy day may come to die, or thou mayst descend into battle and perish, 1 Sam. 26.10. Thy life is in Gods hand, who may take it away when he pleaseth, or whensoever thou displeasest him. And then if thou die in thy sin, thou must lye down in sorrow, and dwell with everlasting burnings. 
R. Eleazar.  And therefore it was wholesome advice the Jew gave his Scholar, that he should repent one day before he died: His meaning was, that he should repent presently, ●●●ause he could not tell whether he should live while tomorrow; and that he should be always exercising repentance, that so whenever death should come, it might find him prepared for it; And to that purpose he makes use of the words of Solomon, 
Vide R. Solomon Jarchi in Eccl 9 8  Let thy Garments be always white, and let thy head lack no Ointment, Eccl. 9.8. The Jews were commanded to afflict their souls at the day of Expiation, 
Maimonide●  Levit. 16.29. And one of their Writers tells us, that they were then obliged to confess their sins, and to begin their confession the night before this day of Expiation, and that before Supper also; and he gives this reason, because else perhaps he may be choked in Supper-time before he hath made his Confessions. Alas, what do we mean to talk of repenting in our old age, when perhaps our breath may be stopped by the next morsel we eat, or our souls required of us this night; And it is the greatest folly in the world, to live in that state of things in which we shall be afraid to die. It was great folly in the Virgins, to have their oil to seek when the Bridegroom called. If we do not repent speedily, it is very probable we shall not repent at all, and if we do not repent at all, we shall be unavoidably and eternally miserable: One delay may for ever hinder us; It is here as it was with the Pool of Bethesda, where we find he that first stepped in after the moving of the waters, was cured of his disease, John 5.4. He that repents presently may have pardon; but he that slips but one season, may perhaps never have it any more; for his life may soon be taken away, and then his hopes are ended. I have red a sad story of a Gentleman, who on his Death-bed imagn'd he saw certain Messengers that came to carry him away to Hel; whereupon he fell into great shrieks, and end his miserable life with these words, 
Drexel. Trib. Christ, c. 2. S. 4.  Give me respite till tomorrow. And Drexelius tells us a Story of another, of which he was witness himself; Of a certain rich man that fell sick, and in his sickness was desired by some that stood by to lift up his mind towards Heaven: He fetched a great sigh, and  told them, that he did look up towards Heaven, but that he perceived that the passage thither was now shut upon him. But what need I speak of these, how many have our own ears heard complain upon their uneasy death-beds, of the precious time they have lost, and the time they want, and cry out in vain, that their days might be prolonged, O that men were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end, Deut. 32.39. O that we would be wise in time, for there is no wisdom in the Grave, wh●ther we are making hast. We had need pray with the Psalmist, Teach us to number our days aright, 
{αβγδ} may be ●endred rightly. See Numb 27 7. Jer. 8.6. And the Chaldee Pataph. on Ps 127.2. Ex. 10.29  and we will bring a wise heart, Ps. 90.12. As those words may be well translated, That is, Grant that we may not be mistaken in the right numbering of our days, in thinking them longer then indeed they are, and then this right numbering our days shall teach us Lessons of great wisdom. He is recorded for a Fool that promised himself many years. And certainly, he can deserve no better name that does so: we find many times, that the men that die suddenly, are those men that thought to have lived longest. Let us not say we will repent hereafter, when we cannot tell but we may die presently.  
2. But suppose thou dost live to old age, yet it is very uncertain, and a very great peradventure, whether thou shalt have the grace truly to repent or not. Nay, perhaps thou wilt die suddenly still, and never have the opportunity or the heart to call upon God for mercy. Thou mayst perhaps be given over, to an hard heart, and a seared Conscience, and tempted to curse God and die. The Lord, it may be, may be departed from thee, and become thine enemy. As it was with Saul, 1 Sam. 28.15. It is most likely thou wilt die as thou didst live. What should make thee think, that the grace of God will follow thee to thy death-bed, and effectually bring thee home, after thou hast abused the love, and despised the grace of God all thy life time! Why shouldst thou think that God is so fond of thee, as that he will save thee whether thou wilt or not! Certainly we have more reason to fear, that God will no longer regard us, nor follow us with entreaties, nor yet hear us though we cry loudly to him in our calamity: Let us well consider what the Holy Scriptures teach us in this matter, Prov. 1.28.29.— Jer. 11.14. Ezek. 8.18. Indeed, if in our youth and strength we remember our Creator, as we are commanded, we shall be accepted. For God hath not only commanded us to repent, and return to him, but to do it speedily, which if we do we may be assured of acceptance, for we have a Promise for it, Eccl. 12.1. Esa. 55.6, 7. Prov. 8.17. But if we do neglect him Now, we have no assurance that God will regard us in our extremity. If we be profane, as Esau was, who sold his birth-right for a trifle, we have reason to fear that we shall lose our Fathers blessing also, and meet with the same event with him. For ye know that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of Repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears, Heb. 12.17. So that although we should live to an old age, yet may we die in our impenitence and hardness of heart, in the love of our sins, and of this world: And thus we shall do if God leave us without his special grace, which we give him just cause to do. It is to be feared we shall die as we lived; the three uses to fall that way that it is wont to lean towards. If we live without God in the world, it is much to be feared we shall die without any regard to him, and perhaps without so much as calling upon his Name, or crying to him for his Mercy.  
3. But suppose we do call upon God for mercy upon our Death-beds, and cry out upon our sins, yet we have great reason to fear lest we should play the Hypocrite at such a time as this. It is well if our Death-bed Repentance be any better then dissembling: We have great reason to suspect it is a forced, feigned, and slavish thing. It is no wonder we cry out for Mercy, when we find Gods Justice too hot for us. We easily give our enemy fair words, when his dagger is at our breast, or his knife at our throat: When we are within the view of the flames of Hell, within the staunch of the Brimstone, and the noise of the miserable. When we see ourselves just passing into an eternal destruction, no wonder that then we cry out for mercy. This may indeed affright us out of the action of sin, when yet we retain our affection to it. And though the sick man may cry out loudly for mercy at this time, and that with a bitter weeping, yet there are two considerations that will render this Repentance very suspicious;( 1) If we consider how this Repentance commences, and is first wrought in us: It is to be feared, that it is only an effect of Gods Power, and Vindicative Justice affrighting us, and not of his goodness that wins and draws us to him. We may cry out because we cannot withstand his power, when yet we do not grieve because we have abused his love. And such mens devotion is like that of the ancient Heathens to one of their Deities whom they worshipped ne noceret, lest their Deity should hurt them. Now most certain it is, that although the Power of God may scar us into some kind of Repentance, yet it is the {αβγδ}, the goodness of God that leads us to it, as the Apostle assures us, Rom. 2.4. The holiness and infinite goodness of Gods Nature, that he is infinitely better then all the World is, or can be, to us is the great inducement that brings a sinner home to God. Thus it was with the Prodigal son: When he came to himself he said, how many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger; I will arise, and go to my father, &c. Luke 15.17, 18. And thus it was with the people of Israel in the Prophet, who after they see the vanity of running from God, is brought home by this inducement, Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first Husband, for then it was better with me then now, Hos. 2.7. For the Almighty Power of God is not of itself an inducement to a poor sinner to come to Him, for that rather speaks terror then Encouragement. His power may sooner make us be afraid of him, then fear him as we ought, or love him as we should. For he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, Hebr. 11.6. There is Mercy with him, that he may be feared, We must fear the Lord and his Goodness, Hos. 3.5. Gods power may make us dissemble and fain ourselves obedient at such a time as this: And that is the meaning sure of those words of the Psalmist, Through the greatness of thy Power shall thine enemies submit themselves to thee, 
{αβγδ} LXXII. {αβγδ} targe. They shall be found liar. See the old Translation. V. Ps 18.44. 2 Sam. 22.45.  Ps. 66.3. They shall submit themselves, that is, they shall yield a feigned obedience, they shall dissemble or lye to thee, as the Hebrew word imports. What we do at such a time, it is to be feared we are forced to; we cry out upon our sins because they have made us miserable, we would now part with them, because we know not how to keep them any longer with safety. We hate our sins because they are hurtful to us, and the rod of God is upon us. 
Nemo invitus b●ne facit. Etiam si bonum sit quod facit. Aug;  But if we might have our sins quietly, might we enjoy them in peace, we should not then hate them. Our Repentance is in great part against our will, and therefore cannot be true repentance: We do at such a time by our sins, as a mariner in a tempest at Sea, does by his goods, who throws them into the Sea indeed, but it is because his life is in danger in a sinking ship, and not because he is weary of his goods. And as this can hardly deserve the name of a free or voluntary action, 
Vi●e Aristot. Ethi●. l. 3. c. 1.  and a matter of choice, so may we very justly suspect that repentance that begins upon no other accounts. For true Repentance is a free and voluntary Action. We must not think to impose upon God after this manner. He knows the voice of Jacob from that of Esau well enough.  
— Verum nec nocte paratum  
Plorabit, qui me velit in curvare querelis.  
The great and holy and alwise God, will accept of nothing less then a true and unfeigned, and hearty Repentance; A forsaking our sins, and a free parting with them. But then again another consideration, that will make this death-bed Repentance very suspicious to be a piece of dissembling is this; That( 2.) if we diligently observe the event of this matter, we shall many times find that those men that upon their sick-beds cried our so bitterly upon their sins, and so loudly for mercy, when God hath restored them to their health again, have embraced the very same sins which they lamented before, and have been as wicked, and far more wicked then ever they were before. Which as it is a clear evidence that this Repentance was no better then plain hypocrisy; so it may also teach us what little reason we have to trust to such a Repentance as this, or to measure ourselves by so uncertain and very fallacious a Rule. There are many men that in a sharp fit of sickness, or some great adversity, makes a very glorious appearance: You shall hear them complain of their forgetfulness of God, and tell you how they would live and serve God if he would spare them this once. But if you look upon these men after God hath restored them, you may find them many times far worse then ever they were known to be. Such men as these are like the tops that children play with, that will go no longer then while they are whipped: Thus the Israelites, when they were beaten, then they sought the Lord. But when Jesurun waxed fat, then he kicked. When he slay them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after their God, and they remembered that God was their Rock, and the high God their Redeemer. Now a man would think this a very good people: But let us mark what follows, Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongue. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his Covenant, Ps. 78.34.— For when God delivered them they soon forgot his works, Ps. 106.13. So far were they from being made b●tter by th●ir afflictions, which was Gods aim in laying them on, that they wearied God through their obstinacy, so that he complains of them by the Prophet. Why should ye be smitten any more, ye will revolt more and more, Esa. 1.5.  
In a word, it was always so with that people, that however they sought the Lord in their Calamity, yet in their Prosperity they ran from him as fast: And the Lord tells them as much by the Prophet: I spake unto thee in thy Prosperity, but thou saidst, I will not hear, this hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice, Jer. 22.21.  
And therefore it was a wise saying of Ben Sira, That we should honour a Physician before we have need of him. 
Vide Buxt. L●●ic. Rabbinic in NON.  That is, that we should honour God in our prosperity, if we would have him propitious to us in our adversity. To which we may add what we read in Siracides: Use physic or ever thou he sick: Before judgement examine thyself, and in the day of Visitation thou shalt find mercy. Humble thyself before thou be sick, and in the time of sins show repentance. Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy Vow in due time, and defer not until death to be justified. Ecclus. 18. 19, 20, 21, 22. To turn to God in ●n our youth and prosperity is a great Argument of the sincerity of our Repentance. Whereas we have great Reason to fear that our death-bed Repentance is but a●flattering of God, and that unto which we are craned and skrewed up by the ●errors of the Almighty, and not drawn to it by the cords of a Man, or the Bands of Love, Hos. 11.4. Whereas he that does truly repent and is converted, chooses to become a new man, and leads a new life, and would do so, if there were no Hell to punish, and Heaven to reward him. For he inwardly loves holiness, and hates sin with a perfect hatred. He is always acted by an inward vital principle that moves him and sets him forward. Whereas the hypocrite is moved just like a Clock, or some such instrument, that goes indeed, but it is no longer then there are certain weights hanging on, that they will move: For they have no vital principle to actuate their wheels, and continue their motion: So is the Hypocrite, a kind of instrument that goes by Pulleys or weights, which may be taken away and laid aside, and then the motion is stayed. Now the hypocrite upon his sick-bed hath great weights upon him, and no● wonder that then he goes faster, but when they are removed, it is as little to be wondered at that he should stand still. This is excellently expressed by Job, speaking of the Hypocrite, Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God? Job 27.9, 10. In which words the hypocrite is painted in his colours: He cries unto God, there's his Religion; but it is when trouble comes upon him, that is the weight that moves him. For he wants an inward principle, for he does not delight in the Almighty, He wants a vital principle to continue his devotion; he will not always call upon God. The hypocrites Religion is a burden to him, it is not pleasant to his soul. He carries it about with him just as the Kine did the Ark to Beth-shemesh, who lowed as they went along, 1 Sam. 6.12. But the true servant of God delights to do his Will, and keep his Commandments, and His Commandments are not grievous, 
{αβγδ}  1 John 5.3. That is, they are not heavy and burdensome to him. His Religion is become natural to him, and he is in great measure the same man in health, that he is in sickness: And when in a great trouble he vows obedience to God, he performs his vows, I will pay thee my vows which my ●ips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble, Psal. 6. 13, 14. By what hath been said it will appear, that we have very great reason to suspect our death-bed repentance to be but hypocrisy, and so unavailable to our salvation. And this is another very great peradventure and hazard that he runs that puts off his Repentance.  
4. Another great danger in putting off our Repentance is this, that this is a step to final impenitence and unbelief, which is a si●●● that there is no pardon in the Gospel for, a sin for which Christ never died, it being contrary to the whole design and purpose of th● Gospel. O consider, will it not h●● a dreadful thing to die in thy sins and lye down in everlasting burnings! How great will thy misery be, if thou die in thy sins, whe● thou mightst have been saved from them; 
Quid illis miseriut, quihus ●●se Salvator saluti non erit?  If thou ar● eternally lost whe● thou hadst a Saviour that was red to deliver thee! would it not be a disinal sight to see a friend or brother dragged from his sick-bed to ●he flames of Hell. To hear him go howling down to the fire and brimstone! This will be thy sad portion if thou die in thy sins. And ●ertainly when thou puttest thy Repentance off but till tomorrow, thou takest a step towards this sad Conclusion. For he that is now dead in his fins began with such single instances as now thou dost: when he was exhorted to repent he was wont to put God off, with a Not yet Lord, and, when I have a fit ●eason, when I have passed my youth, ●nd followed the designs of young ●en. And then when God called, and had married a wife, or hired a Farm, or is making a Purchase, ●rafficking and getting gain, and ●aying up in store for the Winter of old age. And thus the man put God off, till death stopped his breath, and spoiled his designs, and sent him away to his eternal misery: And then the poor creature is miserable, beyond all thought and all recovery. Thou sayest thou wilt repent tomorrow, and so perhaps thou wilt always say till all thy Sand be run out, and thy Sun be set, and there be no such thing as a Morrow left: when wilt thou make a stop if thou ●o not do it presently? Certainly, others have deluded themselves with these hopes, that are now among the dead and among the damned. They have said that they would repent ere long, but yet they left the world before they did this work, and are dead and miserable long ago. And how canst thou be secure, when thou treadest in the very same path that hath lead so many down to the Chambers of Death? Canst thou expect the very same tract should bring thee to happiness, that brought thy neighbour to his misery.  
5. Another danger in delaying our Repentance is this, that so long as we remain without Repentance, God looks upon us as his enemies, and whatever we do is not acceptable in his sight: we are in a state of nature and children of wrath, and all our prayers and confessions, &c. are not accepted. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, Prov. 15.8. We know God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a Worshipper of God, and doth his Will, him he heareth, John 9.31. Till we have repented, God looks upon us as his enemies, for war is rather a State then an Action, 
Vide Grot de jure Bell. l. 1. c. 3.  and we are Gods enemies till we have laid aside our affection to our sin, and be reconciled to him. While we delay our Repentance, we stand out in our enmity to God, for a delay is no less then a denial. 
Procrastinatio negandi instrumentum est. carded.  He that puts God off, does as much as declare that he refuses to be reconciled, and so does continue contumaciously an enemy to God. And God is also an enemy to him. And verily, did we know what it meant to be under Gods disfavour and displeasure, we would sooner choose the greatest miseries and torments in the world before it: If God withdraw our breath, we are lost for ever, and then we shall understand what Gods displeasure means, and shall find that there is no sorrow like this sorrow. And whiles we continue in this state, there is a very little distance between us and an eternal destruction. Methinks it should make an impenitent sinner startle, did he but consider how little a remove he is from eternal wrath, and that nothing keeps him from it but a small thread of life, which as it may be easily snapped asunder, so when it is, he falls down to unspeakable sorrows. Every man walks upon the borders, and within the neighbourhood of death; we red of one that said, that the {αβγδ}, i. e. 
Vide Di●g. Laert. Anachars.  The thickness of the Shipboard( which is not many inches) is the distance that the master is in from death. And I am sure David said, there was but a step between him and death, 1 Sam. 20.3. And indeed every man may say it truly. The next step may be into his grave: But then the impenitent sinner is in a worse case; for as every man is upon the borders of death, so is he upon the borders of death, and of Hell too.  
6. By every delay we harden our hearts against God, and the oftener we do this, the more unlikely will be our Return and Repentance. To day, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, Heb. 3.7. By delaying to hear Gods voice we become more incorrigible, and more reprobate, and averse from every good word and work; till at length we get a Whores forehead, and refuse to be ashamed, and faces( and hearts too) harder then the rock that refuses to return, Jer. 3.3.5.3. And then in vain are all the Sermons that we hear, and the judgements that we see and feel. We are not shaken by the terrors of the Law, nor drawn by the Promises of the Gospel, nor alured by the voice of the wisest Charmer. We go on in our sins, and though God hedge in our way with thorns, yet is nothing able to turn us back. Thus it was with the Jewish people, Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: But thou saidst, there is no hope: No, I have loved strangers, and after them I will go, Jer. 2.25. A dreadful example we have of this in Pharaoh; God sent to him to dismiss his people; he works signs and wonders to convince him, but he hardens his heart. The River is turned into blood; he is plagued with frogs, with lice and flies; a Murrain falls upon his cattle, and boils upon himself and servants: Thunder, Hail, Fire and Locust, and a thick darkness will not make him yield, till at last he dies miserable by the Hand of the Almighty; and he that would not obey Gods voice, must endure his hand. He that delays to day to hear Gods voice, does by God as Pharaoh did, and the oftener he repeats these delays, and reiterates his resistances to the Call of God, the less hopes is there of his returning.  
7. By our delays we provoke God to leave us, and to resolve to have no more to do with us, nor any longer to follow us with his mercies. God may perhaps the next repulse swear in his wrath that his spirit shall never strive with thee more, and that thou shalt never enter into his rest; God alone can tell how long he will endure our repulses, before he cast us off for ever. He can only tell how near we are to come to that fatal point from whence there is ●o retreating. 'tis well observed that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, after the eighth resistance; whether God will beat so long with us we cannot tell: We have too much reason to fear, that the next resistance we make, may bring this dreadful stroke upon us. 'tis to be feared we are advancing apace to Pharaoh's hardness of heart, unto which our acts of sin do set us forward by way of natural causality, as well as by calling down the Divine Justice to complete the sad change. Do we not perceive our hearts grow more and more hard and inflexible; And that the tenderness which once we had wears away apace. 
Res delicata s●t Spiritus sanctus.  Be not too bold: The Holy Spirit of God is tender and may easily be grieved, and caused to depart from thee: His gentle fires may be quenched by thy obstinacy. Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul my depart from thee, Jer. 6.8. God deals with us, as with the Cities, Deut. 20. He offers us terms of peace, but if we refuse to yield what can be expected, but {αβγδ}, an irreconcilable war for ever. And then we shall be as without God, so without Hope in the world. And much better would it have been, that we had never heard of the mercies of the Gospel, which so unthankfully we have refused. If we put all these things together, we shall find that the putting our Repentance off to our death-beds is very full of hazards and peradventares.   

CHAP. IV.  
I shall now proceed to show the very great unreasonableness of putting our Repentance off to our death-beds: I shall make it appear to be a very unjust thing, and very unreasonable. And that I shall do in the following Severals.  

1. It is very unreasonable to serve God in the last place. To spend the greatest and best part of our time and strength in the slavery of the Devil and World, and to put God off with our dry bones. When we have a male in our flock, to offer up unto God a corrupt thing. Certainly, our Landlords and Masters will not be served thus. It is a most unjust thing to offer up unto God, nothing but the ruins and spoils of sin, and the leavings of the Devil: 
Non pudet te reliquias vitae tibi reservare.& id foln in tempus benae menti destinare, quod in nulla● rain conferri posset? Sen. ce brev. vit. c. 4.  To present Him that, and that only, which we know not where else to bestow. We are not willing to serve God, till we can follow our sins no longer. We offer up unto God the wax, and keep the honey to other uses. We do as Saul did, who though he destroyed those things which were vile and refuse, sacrificing them to the Divine Will, yet he spared Agag, and the best of the Sheep and Oxen, 2 Sam. 15. And this is the greatest piece of unreasonableness in the World. For if God be our Father and our Lord, our Master and our best Friend, to Him is due the best of what we are or have. Our youth and strength, the spring of our Age, and the principal of our strength and time is only due to him.  
2. It is very unreasonable to put off our greatest business to that instant, when we have least time, and least strength to do it in. Thus does he do that puts off his Repentance to his old Age and death-bed. This is as if two battels between the opposite Armies, should begin to be fought at night, when they would presently be butted in darkness, and distracted with confusion. Our death-bed is not a fit place for so difficult and comprehensive a work. Repentance should be finished, and not begun, at such a time. The Jews were forbid to seek Manna upon their Sabbath-day, they were to gather enough upon the day before, that they might rest on that day of rest. The everlasting rest is approaching on our death-bed, we should not then be to seek when we are entering into our Rest. This would be just as if a man should have all his days work to do when his time of sleep and rest is come: They were foolish Virgins, that when their Bridegroom called had their oil to seek, and in this very miserable time, that while they went to provide themselves with oil, the door was shut, Mat. 25. upon our death-bed our Lord calls us hence to receive the fruit of our ways, and therefore that is not a time to work. Besides, our death is sometimes very sudden, and then we have no time; And sometimes very violent, and then we have no strength. We are many times hurried away to our graves, and there is no space or distance between our health and death. When it is thus we have no time for any thing, and therefore none for our Repentance. But yet suppose we lye a while upon our death-bed, yet then many times we are dead as to all the great purposes of life, and the ands of Religion. Many times our Reason is laid asleep by a Lethargy or apoplexy, or else mastered by the flames of a fever, or insolences of a frenzy: or at least much obscured by the steam of a black choler: And when our Reason is departed, it is too late to repent, and indeed impossible. But if nothing of this should happen, yet shall we find it task enough to conflict with our disease at that time: We shall have enough to do to support patiently under our present trouble. I have red of a soldier under Charles the fifth, 
Vide Strad. Bell. Belg. l. 1. Deca.  who begging from the Emperour his Master, a discharge from the Office he held under him, and the Emperour demanding of him the reason that moved him to lay aside his Employment, gave the Emperour this Answer, That between the day of death, and the Affairs of life, there ought to intercede some space of time. A wise speech it was, and such an one as is thought to have had an influence upon that Emperour, to retire from his weighty Affairs, as History tells us he did. Sure I am it carries with it a great truth, for there is very much to be done before we can die well, and it will be very unreasonable to put all that into so narrow a room as our death-bed is.  
3. It is very unreasonable to put off our main business, and busy ourselves about small and tristing things. And thus he does that puts his Repentance off till his death-bed. We account him a very weak man that goes to a Mart or Fair, to lay in necessary provision for himself and family, and yet spends his time there in hearing sonnets, and his money upon gands and play-things. It is to be feared most men do thus: They live at that rate, as if God had sent them into the world to gaze, and to feed themselves fat, to rak together a little wealth, to wear gay clothes, or be cried up for brave men. For these are the little things that we busy ourselves about, and not to know God, and serve and love him, which yet is the great, and indeed only end for which God hath sent us into this world. It is a sad consideration to think how long we live, and to how little purpose: History tells us of Julius Caesar, that when he red over Alexanders exploits, he wept, and  told his friends, That whereas Alexander at his Age had overcome Darius, 
Vide Plutarch. Apoph●h.  that yet he had done nothing of any remark. Well may we all weep, when we think that we have been so long, and lived so little; that we have spent so many years, and done so little work: That at this Age we have not mastered our passions, not subdued our desires, not weaned ourselves from this vexatious World, nor become either fit to live, or fit to die. That we should spend so much time about our profits and our pleasures, and be as far from God, and from Heaven, and farther too, then ever we were. We are careful, and troubled about many things, when we forget the Unum necessarium, the one needful thing, that good part that shall never be taken away from us, Luke 10.41.42.  
4. It is very unreasonable to trust to our death-bed Repentance, and to say we will repent hereafter, because it will not be in our power to do it then, unless God follow us with his special grace, and enable us to do it. But whether he will do that or not we cannot tell, for besides that we give him just cause to abandon and forsake us; He hath no where promised that, though we neglect him in our health, he will certainly remember us on our Death-beds, and then work a true repentance in our hearts.  
5. It will appear very unreasonable, if we consider how we do in our worldly affairs: If we should transact our worldly affairs with no greater wisdom then we do the concerns and affairs of our souls, we should be taken for Fools and Madmen. In our worldly business we walk by certain saving rules, and prudential principles of good husbandry: We think it wisdom, to secure the main, to provide against Winter, not to let our Market slip, nor to refuse a good proffer and overture, to choose good seed and a good season for the tillage and sowing our Land. We account him a fool that withstands his Market, and neglects his Seed-time, and yet expects a full purse, and a plentiful Harvest. We think him a mad man that sows tares, and yet confidently looks for a Crop of Wheat. We call him an ill husband that runs on score, and adds daily to his debts, but is neither careful to get them examined, nor get them crossed. We laughed at a man that begins not to learn a trade till he be old, that begins not his work till night, 
Turpis& ridicula res est elementarius Sene●. Ser. cp 36.  or that does not go to school till he is blind for old age: We should wonder to hear a very old man tell, that he is going to build himself a fair house, and that then he would travail into for●ein parts, and then go into the Wars, and learn the modes and fa●hions of the World. Should we see a man very dangerously wounded, his life bleeding out apace through his veins, that should tell ●s he would seek for no help till after so many days or months, how would such a thing astonish us. We should admire at the man, that having drank a deadly poison unawares, should speak of getting an Antidote the next Spring in order to his recovery. Who would not deride that man that should tell him that he expected as good wheat from the seed of cockle, as he might expect that sowed the finest wheat; and that it would be all one whether we sowed or not; or whether our seed were good or bad, so we did but trust the mercies of an Almighty God, who could sand us a great Harvest without so much cost and pains; we should think him a vain man that should tell us, that he did not doubt, but in one day to do the work of a whole life: Or that, when he hath a very long journey to take, should affirm, that he had such a trust in the mercy of God, that he did not question but to perform his journey, though he sate still till the last moment; expecting no less from Gods Omnipotence, then what the Jews tell us happened by a miracle to Jacob, 
Vide Targum J●n.& Microsol. in Gen. 28  when he went from Beersheba to Haran; they tell us, that he went it in a day, and that the earth between Beersheba and Haran did leap towards him to meet him, and so saved him the labour of footing it over. Such fools and mad men are we, we expect that Heaven should meet us, and save us the labour of any long pilg●image: We look God should be so fond of us, as to be always working miracles for our sakes; and that when we will not be saved, that he should save us whether we will or not. We neglect our Seeds-time, and regard not what our seed be; we will not learn the way to Heaven, nor fight the good fight, nor run the race till old age come upon us: Our souls are wounded, and we neglect a remedy; we have a great journey to go, and much work to do, and yet we loiter or sit still; as if Heaven were nothing worth, and our souls of no value, or as if it were the most easy thing to get to Heaven, though our Saviour say, the gate is streight and the way narrow that leads to life, and that there be but few that find it, Mat 7.14. And certainly, we shall find it an harder matter to get to Heaven then we are ware of.    

CHAP. V.  
I come now to take off those Objections that either might or have been brought against what I have hitherto said.  
Obj. 1. The first I shall name, is that which we read at the beginning of the Comon-Prayer-Book, before the late alterations made, cited from Ezek. 18. And the words as they lye in that Book of Common-Prayer are these. At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sin from the bottom of his heart, I will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance, saith the Lord. From whence some are ready to infer, that it will be all one whether we repent now or hereafter; nay farther, that we are not obliged to an early Repentance, but may delay it to the last moment, because it is said At what time soever. And this is too commonly objected by men of weak and corrupt minds, in defence of their delays. To which I answer,  
First, that though Ezek. 18.21, 22. be cited for these words in that Book of Common-Prayer, yet if we look the words in the Prophet, we shall find some difference. For the words in Ezekiel run thus: If the wicked shall turn from all his sens that he hath committed, and keep all my Statutes: and do that which is lawful and right( note that well) he shall surely live, and not die. So that in this place there is no promise of Pardon to a wicked man, unless he turn from all his sins, and keep all Gods Statutes, and do that which is lawful and right. And certainly, this imports a great deal more then a crying out for mercy. He must forsake his way, and his thoughts too, Esa. 55.7. He must restore the Pledge, and give again what he hath robbed, and walk in the Statutes of life without committing iniquity, Ezek. 33.15. And therefore from these places can a man have no encouragement for his death-bed Repentance, for they loudly call for a good life and honest actions.  
Secondly, I answer, though God have promised Pardon whensoever we repent, yet he hath no where made a promise that he will follow that ●an with his grace, 
Qui promis●t p●●nitenti ventain, non promisit peccanti p●●nitentiam.  which shall enable him to repent to his death-bed, who refuses and resists this offer of grace in the time of his health.  
Lastly, we must repent at the bottom of our heart before we can have this Pardon; Now we know our hearts are deceitful, and we have great reason to suspect our death-bed Repentance to be feigned and hypocritical. It was a Speech of a very worthy man, that, he that will dissemble with God in his life-time, 
Mr. Greenh●●●.  will dissemble with him in his death.  
Obj. 2. But some will say, God does as well accept, and as amply reward the old mans late Repentance, as the early Repentance and Reformation of the young: He gave as great a reward to those that went into his Vineyard at the eleventh hour, as he did to those that went in more early, and that did endure the heat and burden of the day: As may appear from that Parable which we red, Mat. 20. And therefore there is no such need of an early Reformation, no● yet any such danger in a late on death bed Repentance. To which I shall answer,  
1. It is by no means evident, that this Parable was ever meant in any such sense as is supposed in this Objection: For our Saviour hath no where  told us, that by the eleventh hour is meant old Age. No● have we, that I know of, the least shadow of reason to understand in in such a sense: But the design o● that Parable seems rather to be this, viz. to teach the Jews, who were Gods first people, that though God choose them first at the beginning of the world, yet would he now make his Name known to the Gentiles, according as was foretold of old, and this he would now do in the days of the messiah, 
The time of Christ, and of the Gospel, in which the Gentiles were to be called, may well be call ●here {αβγδ}. whe● it is elsewhere called {αβγδ}, 1 John 2.18. And is very often called, the end of the World, the last days or time, 1 Cor. 10.11. ●eb: 1.2. Acts 2.17 1 Pet. 1.20. Heb. 9.26. Esa. 2.20.  in the end of the World, or the eleventh hour: and that though the Jews would repined at this mercy of God towards the Gentiles, yet notwithstanding their murmuring,( v. 11.) God would call in the Gentiles, and accept of and reward their services as largely as he would the Jews. As God rewarded Abraham, Moses and David, and all holy men among the Jews in their ●everal times, so would he also reward all good men, though Gentiles, in these last times of the gospel. And so an Ancient Writer expounds these words, 
Theophylact. in loc.  who expounds the householders going out early in the morning, to be meant of Gods calling his servants in the beginning of the world to Noah, The Labourers of the third hour, to be those in Abraham's time; of the sixth, about the times of Moses; the ninth, the times of the Prophets; the eleventh hour, the times of Christ. And verily, if we duly weigh this interpretation,( which is neither new, nor yet singular) and very well ponder on the Antecedent and following words, and all the parts of the Parable itself, with other very many passages of the Scriptures( which I must not now stand upon) and lay them well together, we shall find no considerable Objection against it.  
Secondly, suppose that to be the meaning of the place, which is pretended in this Objection, that by the eleventh hour is meant old age, and by the other houres is meant not the Age of the World, but the several Ages of Mans life, yet it is very evident that this place is of no force in this business. For it is evident, that those men in the Parable, that went into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour, were not the same that were called or hired early in the morning, at the third, sixth, or ninth hour: For 

( 1) Those that went in at the eleventh hour were not called before, as they themselves tell the House-holder, when he asked them why they stood idle; They say unto him, because no man hath hired us, v. 7. That is, this was the first offer that was made to them, nor do we red that ever they refused to enter in when they were invited: But now the case with us is quiter different, we are called upon from day to day, in our youth, in the early and first houres of our day, and we neglect and refuse, and delay our Repentance to our old age, and therefore cannot say with those in the Parable, No man hath hired us. But again  
( 2) It is evident they were not the same men that went into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour, with those that were invited more early, because the Text tells us all along, and more particularly, v. 6. That the householder at the eleventh hour, {αβγδ}, found others standing idle; from whence it is evident they were not the same that were hired before: And therefore for us, who are called at the third, sixth and ninth hour of the day, to put off our work to the eleventh, is very unwarrantable. For it hath no warranty from this place, nor is there one example in the Book of God to this purpose that may encourage us.    
Obj. 3. But some will object the example of the Thief upon the across, who though he were all his life-time a very great sinner, yet did he find mercy from Christ at the last, even a little before his death: And therefore why may he not also have mercy upon others, who never committed those fins that that Thief might be thought guilty of.  
But I shall make it appear, that we can have no encouragement from this example of the Thief to delay our Repentance, and yet to look for a Pardon at last, when we lye a dying. Our case is far different from his. For  
First, it does not appear, that this Thief ever heard of Christ before, we never red that ever he delayed his repentance to this time, nor have we the least appearance of reason to ground any such opinion upon. And therefore his case is not the same with ours, and so it makes nothing for our purpose or excuse. For we have not only heard of Christ, but professed ourselves his followers before we lye a dying, and yet we delayed a timely repentance: Now what ground of hope can any man have from this example of the Thief, when he delays his repentance to the last, when it does not appear that ever the Thief, after he heard of Christ, did delay his at all.  
Secondly, we have no reason to believe that our death-bed Repentance will be so sincere as this Thiefs was: Nay, we have too great reason to think it will not be so, for besides, that this Thief acknowledged Christ in his lowest condition, even then when our Saviour hung upon the across( which cannot be our case) and then expressed an effectual faith in him: Besides all this he manifested as true a Repentance and Faith, as that short space of time would give him leave. He acknowledged Christs innocence, his own guilt, and his trust in Christ for a future blessedness; further indeed he went not, nor could he after his first hearing of Christ, unless his life had been prolonged. But our case is far different, for we after our knowledge of Christ despise and reject him. And therefore our Repentance is not like that Repentance of the Thief, unless it be in this, that it is late as well as his.  
Thirdly, this is but one, and a very rare instance, the whole Book of God will not yield us such another example. This was a singular instance of mercy which Christ never intended should be drawn into an example, 
Privilegium personale ad alios extenditur. Jus●n Inst. l. 1. Tit. 2.8.6.  or made into a Law; It was a personal privilege and grace, which is therefore to be extended no farther then the person. To conclude an universal and general law from one fingular instance is very unreasonable: For any man to say, because this Thief was saved at the last breath, therefore he shall also, is extremely weak and inconsequent. 
Quod contra rationem juris re●epium est, non est producer dum ad consequentia. Vide Tir. digest. de Reg. Juris.  For besides our case is so far different from that of this Thief, we may as well, nay, more reasonably conclude our certain misery from the example of the bad, as our happiness from the example of the good Thief. No man professing Christianity will have any ground to expect to fear as this Thief did. 

( 1) Till Christ come into the world again, and  
( 2) Suffer again also, and that  
( 3.) Between two Thieves, and  
( 4) He be alive at that time, and  
( 5) Place where he suffers, and  
( 6) Be one of the Thieves; and  
( 7) The good one too: which thing I am sure will never come to pass.    
Obj. 4. Some will say, God is Almighty, and can do what he pleases: His Hands are not tied, he can save an old sinner as well as an old Saint: Nothing is impossible to him. To which I answer  
First, the question is not what God can do, but what he will, and what we have reason to expect he should. God can turn our stones into bread for us, and save us alive, though we cast ourselves down from the highest rock or pinnacle. But yet we have no reason to expect these things when we are out of Gods way. As little reason have we to go on in our sins, and say, that God can save us notwithstanding, for the question being not what God can, but what he will do; the Scriptures must resolve us in that; and sure I am, from the Scripture we have no reason to think he will. But  
Secondly, we have great reason to think he will not: what reason have we to think that God is so fond of us, that he will work miracles for us, when we despise the means! will he cause the Sun to stand still for us, because we have idled away our day! Or do we think God is so in love with us, as to save us, whether we will be saved or not! Hath not God  told us, that if we live after the flesh we shall die, Rom. 8.13. And do not the same Scriptures that tell us that God is Almighty, tell us also that he cannot lye, or deny himself.  
Obj. 5. But some may say, is not God merciful as well as strong: Are not his compassions as great as his power! what pleasure then can he take in our death! Or why should we limit or restrain his Mercies. To which I Answer  
First, that God is certainly very merciful, and delights not in our blood. We have sufficient experience of his mercy every day. It is his mercy that hath still kept us within the hopes of Heaven, and under the means of grace, and on this side an eternal death: It is his mercy that he will accept of our repentance, and reward our sincere obedience; Had he desired our death he might have cut us off in the midst of our sins, and of our days, and given us a sad portion of all things among those that are eternally miserable. This mercy the very damned in Hell have had, in the time of their life, a great experience of, and yet now are eternally lost, because this abundance of Gods goodness did not led them to Repentance, which is a most evident Argument, that the destruction of those that did abuse and contemn the mercies of God, is no objection against Gods mercy. The sinner uses Gods mercy to evil purposes, and does by it as a shipwrecked man does sometimes with a plank, upon which he ventures so great a weight, as doth sink himself and it at once. 
{αβγδ} H●eroel. in Caim. Pythag.  There are them that would have no God at all, that they might escape unpunished; Others would have a God, but it is to right their cause. The Sinner would have a God that should be all mercy, that might wink at his follies; the Sufferer would have a God of Justice, who might avenge his injuries: And every one would have what he thinks for his own turn: I know no other reason why men should make such an Objection as this from the goodness of God, which they would lay hold of to excuse them from an early Repentance, whereas indeed the goodness of God leads them to it. But  
Secondly, God is just and holy as well as merciful! As the mercy of God forbears a while, so his Justice will punish us at last. It will be very just, that those should be condemned who will not be saved. That those should be destroyed who will not accept of Pardon. Do not tender fathers disinherit rebellious and wicked children, 
D●i immortales plurimum possunt, sed●n is plus velle nobis debent quam patents; At parentes, si pergimus ●rra●e, suis bonis nos exheredant. Metel. apud A Gell. l. 1. c. 6.  and bestow their substance on those that use it well! Certainly God will do no, less by us if we go on to rebel against him. The very same Scriptures which tell us of his mercies. tell us also of his Justice, and that he will by no means clear the guilty.  
I know not what farther Objection can be brought against what I have said, but still I am ready to believe, that what hath been said will not be effectual to persuade the Reader to an early Piety, and a seasonable repentance. Few men will be persuaded that their dying hour, and their day of Accounts are near at hand. It were well, if men could remember that death and judgement are then many times the nearest to us when we think them farther off. That servant that saith, his Lord delays his coming, shall find that his Lord shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not ware of, Mat. 24.50. Luk. 13.35.17.26. We are secure very often when we are not fafe. The old world little thought of a flood, when they gave themselves to eating, and drinking, and giving in marriage; but the waters soon came down upon this ungodly world. The Sodomites little thought of a fire, and it rained fire and brimstone from heaven upon them: so shall it be when the Son of man comes: We shall deceive ourselves till death undeceive us, and delude ourselves with false hopes of a long life, till our Sand is all out, and time at an end. Certainly, many now in Hell little thought of dying so soon, much less of being there tormented after so short a life. The rich man in the Gospel little thought his soul should be taken from him that night, when he said to his soul, thou hast goods laid up for many years, Luk. 12.19. Belshazzar little thought surely of the expiration of his Life and Kingdom, so suddenly, when he drank wine so securely in the vessels of the Temple, Dan. 3. That which we least think of does often surprise and overtake us of a sudden: It is grown indeed for a Proverb, when we would express how little we think a thing, We say, We as little thought of such a thing, as we thought of our dying day. It seems we think but little of it, but yet it comes quickly upon us whether we think of it or no.   

CHAP. VI.  
Let me then exhort you in the words of the Prophet, sack the Lord while he may be found, 
Vide Paraph. Kimchi& R. Salom. in loc.— said sap●endum est& qu dem maturè non enim nobis altera vita conceditur; ut come in hac sapientiam quaeramus, in illa sapere possimus, in hac u●● umque ficri necesse est, cito inveniri deber ut cito suscipi posset, nequid pereat ●x vita cujus finis incertus est. Lactan. Inst l. 3. c. 16.  call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way,& the unrighteons man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon, Isa. 55.6, 7. That is, we must seek him presently, before the decree be past, or our life wasted or consumed, as the Jews will expound that place. We must be wise betimes, and not project to be wise only at the last cast, though we live in folly in the mean time: We must both seek this spiritual wisdom, and use it also in this life. But with what words shall I persuade this? One would think, that what hath been said before, should be sufficient, if it were duly considered, and without that nothing will be sufficient. Yet I shall add some considerations, which if we duly attend unto, may not be unfit for the purpose in hand.  
Consider then in the first place, and do it seriously, that your stay in his life cannot be long, but may be very short; and that after this uncertain life is ended, the day of grace will be past with you, and you will have none of those terms of mer●y offered which now you refuse. The day is far spent with many of us, and the night is at hand in which no man shall work. Our time slides away apace, and with the very same place do death and the grave, and the dreadful day of reckonings make their approaches to us. 'twill be but a little time before our eyes shall be closed, and it shall be noised in the neighbourhood that we are dead; When we have breathed a little longer, we shall breath our last. After a little longer stay, and traffic and journeys, after a few nights and days, or, at most, a few Winters and Summers, we shall be called off this stage by death, and brought to judgement, and then our streets and houses in a short time shall deny that they know us; Then shall all our thoughts perish; and then if we have not repented in time, we shall to no purpose repent eternally. We shall be out of the reach of that mercy that now would gladly embrace us. We may then in vain call to the mountains and hills to cover us: we should therefore think upon how slender and weak 〈◇〉 thread our eternal state does de●end. We red of Absalom, that and hung by the head upon an Oak ●etween heaven and earth, and whereas one would have thought he might have cut off his hair, and ●●o made his escape; one of the Jews ●ills us a tradition of the rabbis, that he drew his sword ●●o cut off his hair, 
R. Salomon in 〈◇〉 ●●m. 18.9.  but that he saw under●●ath him Hell open, which was ●eady to receive him. How true ●his Tradition is I examine not, ●ut sure I am it well represents the ●anger of the impenitent man, who is at all times, within an hairs breadth of everlasting burnings.  
Consider secondly, how gladly the damned in Hell would be of those offers of grace which we neglect and despise; Might they be taken out of their beds of fire, and placed again in the cooler regions of this world, and have such good terms of mercy p●omised them as we enjoy, how gladly would they embrace them? would they choose rather to lye in their flames, then to forsake their sins? Did we well understand what it is to lye down in everlasting burnings, certainly we should not so securely go on in our sins.  
Consider thirdly, what Answer can you make to God at the day of judgement; if you continue in your impenitence, and neglect your own salvation; What will you say when God shall demand of you why you idled away your day; will you say, as those in the Parable, because no man hath hired us, Mat. 20.7. That we cannot, for God hath sent his Messengers that have  told us both our work and mages, and beseeched us also to labour in Gods Vineyard. Will you say you had other things to mind first, your merchandise, your Farms and Yokes of Oxen? That you cannot, for God had promised to provide us with all these things if we would first seek the Kingdom of Heaven. Will you say you were not able? That you cannot pled, for God offers his Spirit to enable you for your asking, Luke 11.13. Will you say you did not think your time had been so short? But you had no assurance it should have been so long: What shall we say then? God hath called us, but we would not hear him: He hath s●itten us, but we were not humbled; He shewed us mercy, but that would not soften us: He threatened, but we were not afraid: He entreated us, but we were not persuaded: He sent his ambassadors, but they could not win us: He  told us the danger, but we would venture; He propounded a great reward, but we neglected it; He moved us by his Spirit, but we grieved his Spirit, despised his threatenings, believed not his Word: whom shall we blame now? Not our Maker certainly; For he gave his Son to die. Not our Saviour; for he did not cast us off. Not our Teachers; for they called upon us daily. Not our own weakness; for God was very ready to help us: Nor yet our want of time, for God was ready to provide for us, and we had time enough to spare in sports and pastimes, in pleasure and in sin, in doing nothing, and that which was nothing to the purpose. It will appear, our destruction was from ourselves, and that our mouths will be stopped when God calls us forth at that great day of reckonings.  
Consider fourthly, how many and loud Calls you have to repent and return quickly: This is the voice of your heavenly Father, Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, Ezek 33.11. And this was the doctrine of Jesus Christ the Son of God, Mark 1.15. And of the first Preachers of the Gospel, who call upon men every where to repent. This is the constant language of the Spirit in the Scriptures, and many times and very frequently in our awakened consciences, that we ●hould repent quickly, every mercy of God calls upon us to Repent●nce, for the Apostle tells us, that the goodness of God leads to Repent●nce, Rom. 2.4. 〈◇〉 Pet. 3.9. Our health and strength, our plenty and our wealth call upon us to return, and ropent. And so do all the troubles and afflictions which we meet withal, they call upon us to repent also; the blasting of our corn, the casting of our Calves, our unseasonable Seeds-time, and our bad Harvest, the decay of our trade, and the loss of our Goods or good name, every sorrow and every sickness call upon us to repent quickly, and, to seek the Lord while he may be found: So the holy Scripture tells us, As many as I love I rebuk and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent, Rev. 3.19. Nay, the judgements that befall other men also, they call upon us to repent. The Galileans blood that Pilate  shed, and the death of those by the Tower of Siloam, these things preach to us that we must repent or perish, Luke 13.3, 5. The waters of the flood, the fire of Sodom, the destruction of Pharaoh, the flames of the City and Temple, and all the other calamities of the poor Israelites call upon us to repent. The overthrow and ruin of Families, of Cities and Provinces, whether by Plague or Fire, Sword or Famine, call upon us to repent. In a word, every sad calamity of our neighbour, every astonishing Providence that befalls him, preaches Repentance to us aloud, and calls upon us to repent before the same, or greater plagues then these do overtake us.  
And that may be the meaning of what we red in the Psalmist, Thou turnest men to destruction; That is, thou inflictest great calamities upon men, and sayest, 
{αβγδ} may, it is thought, be as well translated Repent a● Rotura, which lat●r makes the sense mor● amb●guous in this place.  Return ye children of men, that is, thou givest men warning by these judgements to Repent and Return from the evil of their ways. The many judgements of God in the world are so many loud warnings to the sinner to return and repent.  
Consider in the next place, that God is ready to receive thee, and to embrace thee upon thy Repentance, how many or great soever thy sins have been: He that repents shall be welcome unto God: That God, whom we serve, does not delight in our death, but is greatly pleased that we should return and live. 
Heus tu peccator bon o animosis, vidos ubi de tuo gaudeatur. tart, de penitent.  There shall be joy in Heaven over one sinner that repents, Luk. 15. So our blessed Saviour hath  told us more then once in that most comfortable Chapter, where we shall find this truth variously exemplified to us. When the Prodigal son was coming home, When he was a great way off his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him: And he makes merry for his son when he comes home, as we may red in that Chapter: Come then, poor sinner, come whiles God calls thee, and he will bid thee welcome: Come thou great sinner, that hast heaped one sin upon another, thou old sinner that hast lived many years in sin: Come thou burdened and weary finner, Christ will give thee rest: He will in no wise cast thee out: Mat. 11.28. John 6.37. Thou wilt make joy in Heaven, a great joy among the Angels of God, nay, God himself waits for it, and will be greatly pleased at thy Return. Thy sins, how great or many soever, shall be blotted out, thy Name shall be enrolled in the Book of life, among the Friends of God and Citizens of Heaven, and thou shalt at length sit down with Abraham and Isaac, and all the holy men and Angels of God to eternal Ages. Come away then, O sinner, stay no longer among the Swine, feed no longer on the husks, the garlic and onions, leave off thy sius, and foolish pleasures, and turn unto thy God; He is ready to meet thee, and thy Saviour to embrace thee: God hath sent his Ministers to tell you, that the Supper is ready, and he hath sent us out to call in the poor and maimed, the halt and blind, that is, he hath given us commission to call in the vilest and unworthiest sinners, and to assure them that they shall be welcome, Luke 14.16. And therefore in the Name of God I call you, and I do it again and again. Turn unto the Lord, O sinner, and thou shalt live and not die; God never sent away a repenting sinner without mercy: Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you, Jam. 4.8. The devil will be apt to persuade thee that God will not accept thee, that he will not pardon, and that he hath no mercy for such an one as thou art; when he cannot ruin thee by Security, he will endeavour to do it by despair: But believe him not, for God will receive thee unto mercy, if thou do unfeignedly turn to him. Hear rather what God says himself: As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways, for why will ●o die, O House of Israel, Ezek. 33.11. Where God doth not only say it, 
O nos usiser ●imos si nec jur ●●ii Domino credimus. tart. de Po●●irent.  but confirms it with an Oath also, that we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, Heb. 6.18. How wretched are we if we do not believe God when he swears by himself, and the thing itself is so very evident and plain! If God had desired our death, he might have destroyed us long ago, what could have hindered the Almighty: He might have sent the Sinner to Hell from the last drunken meeting: The last time he let Oaths fly out of his mouth, he might have presently stopped his mouth with fire and brimstone, and thrown him into everlasting burnings: The mercy of God hath kept him from being consumed: And all the patience and forbearance of God hath abundantly testified that he stayed for his Conversion, but delighted not in his death.  
Consider in the next place this also, that if you neglect to repen● now, and to secure your souls, that this exhortation will bear witness against you at that great day. And how sad will it be, that that which was intended for your Conversion, and eternal welfare, should turn to your Confusion. This will be worth our serious reflection. When we lye a dying, or when we appear before our Judge, and our Consciences are thoroughly awakened, this reflection on will appall our hearts, and woefully perplex us. When we remember, that in our health we were  told of these things, and entreated earnestly to seek the Lord while he might be found, and when we consider how securely we neglected this exhortation, and put God off from time to time, till at last time was no more, how will such thoughts as these amaze and confounded us. Go now to a man that lies a dying, who hath thus dealt with God, and if he be awakened before he dies, he will tell you a sad story: alas( will he say) wretched man that I am, who shall now help me? I have been often  told of death and judgement, and of the wrath of God against all unrighteousness, and frequently called upon to repent, and seek the face of God betimes: But I have put these thoughts far from me; I have followed my lusts, my sports and worldly business, and made my heart so hard, that the mercies of God, nor the terrors of the Almighty could overcome it, and now I see nothing before me, but the bottonles pit, and an unspeakable sorrow; O that I could now redeem the houres which I have spent in doing nothing, or in doing wickedly: O that I had that time which I spent in Taverns and Plays, in dressing and courting, in foolish divertisements and impertinent visits, after the honours, and pleasures, and profits of the world; how could I now spend them in the house of Prayer, and the exercises of Religion? Thus do many wretched creatures bewail themselves upon their uneasy beds; Some indeed, that never make such complaints there are, although they have lived very wickedly, yet these mens eyes are opened when they approach their Judge; and are awakened with the flames of Hell about them. Now certainly, as we would not be thus extremely miserable, it will concern us to think of these things before they come to pass; And would it would please the Almighty so effectually to put these thoughts in our hearts now; that hereafter we might not be confounded and overwhelmed with them.  
Consider lastly, what I said and proved before, that you must repent or perish, That unless you be born again you can never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. You will never see God hereafter without an inherent and universal holiness here; Should I teach you any other doctrine I should be a most notorious deceiver, and a false Prophet. Nay, should an Angel from Heaven preach any other doctrine, we ought not to believe him. This it the peculiar eminence of Christian Religion, as well as the undeniable Argument of the truth of it, that it does indispensably require an holy life in order to a future happiness; And whatever doctrine or Religion doth dispense with this, we may safely conclude it never came from God; It is true indeed, that the lives of most men, and the doctrines of very many, would seem to insinuate that this is not true; But sure I am, the life, and doctrine of our blessed Saviour teach us no less. And if we make that our rule, we shall be eternally deceived and undone, if we do not become new creatures. Nothing less then this will serve your turn at the long run; And therefore choose whether you will repent or perish; part with thy sins, or with thy God, thy soul, thy hopes of Heaven, and whatever ought to be most dear unto thee: The Religion of Jesus Christ, is a streight enclosure, which hath no Posterns to let in false people at. Here is no indulgence or dispensation to be had which might give a certain Supersedeas from the labours and necessities of an holy life. All that pass into Heaven must go through that narrow gate which leads into it.   

CHAP. VII.  
And now I might have done, one would think, and conceive good hopes that you would no longer halt between two opinions, but that every man should strike his own breast, and sadly think what he hath done, and set upon an effectual and speedy Reformation. To the doing of which we have very great Arguments to move and persuade us, as appears by what hath been said above. But yet because we are easily obstructed and kept from so holy and good a work, I shall, before I make an end, show what are those usual hindrances that keep, and so greatly entangle them that they do not proceed o a sp●edy and effectual reformation and amendment of life.  
The first Hindrance I shall name, is this; Men say they are not able to repent and amend of themselves, and therefore in vain do we exhort them to it. They can do nothing, they say, which is good: There is a spiritual Cramp upon them, by which they are disenabled to move towards any thing of amendment of life. This doctrine they have been taught, and they are willing to believe it most true. I shall therefore examine the truth of this pretence. And  
1. I observe the forwardness and folly of these men who pled this excuse, when they are exhorted to repent, they say they cannot, but yet at other times they put off their repentance to the hour of death, and in so doing they suppose they can repent when they will: when they sin, they say it is but repenting, and all will be well; but when they are called upon to do that specdily and effectually, then they pretend it is impossible. Sometime they suppose it a very easy thing, and another while altogether above their power.  
2. It is very plain, that the great fault lies in our will, and not in the want of power, however we may deceive ourselves. This will be made appear at the day of Judgement to every one of our faces; Nay, this may easily be made evident now also. For 

( 1) That God commands things absolutely impossible, is a doctrine very false, of whomsoever we have learned it, 
Execramur corum blasphemiam qui dicunt impossibile aliquid homini à Deo praecepium esse, &c. Hier, epist. ad Damasom.  and hath of old been thought a pernicious doctrine. For who sees not, if this were true, that the Gospel would then be of no use at all, if it did only oblige us, and not help us; if it commanded things impossible to be done, and should there leave us to an inevitable destruction; But the fault lies in our will: for  
( 2) If we were willing and resolved, we should not sit still and say we could not amend, but we would try our utmost whether we could or not: At least we  
( 3) Should carefully use those means which God hath appointed for our salvation. Though we cannot work grace in our hearts, yet we can hear Gods Word, and red it, and be frequent in the house of prayer: The sick man cannot labour in his Fields, but yet he can take physic, use a good diet, and follow the rules of his Physician, and by that means may become strong to labour again.  
( 4) However we should not be so well contented in this condition, if there were not a fault in will.    
3. Though we cannot alone, yet with Gods help we may amend our hearts and ways: We say, a man can do that which he can do by the help of his friends: God is as willing to help us as a tender father to help a child, carry that burden which he sees too heavy for him. It is a most true saying, that He that sets himself upon amendment of life, 
Qui se ad mandationem accingit adjuvatur ●●elitu●.  will find help from Heaven. This is a very certain truth, that a Christians power and assistance is at least equal to his work: God is not so hard a Master as to command us things absolutely impossible: I shall therefore prove, that if men will make use of that power which God hath provided, they will have no reason to complain. For it will appear, that God hath commanded nothing, but what he is very ready to help us to perform; so that if hereafter we miss of Heaven, we shall have reason only to blame ourselves. For if Gods commands are hard and difficult, yet his assistances and helps, if made use of, are very great and considerable. The Gospel does not only command, but it enables us to obey, It does not only require obedience, but it also gives grace. It doth indeed expect much from us, but then it doth bestow as much. I shall therefore name those helps and powers which God hath provided us withal.  
( 1.) He hath promised the assistance of his Holy Spirit, and this must needs be a very great and effectual assistance. And God hath assured us that he will bestow his Spirit on them that ask him, as readily as a father will give bread to his child that begs it of him: Nay, more readily, for if earthly Parents will give good gifts unto their Children, How much more shall our heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luke 11.13. No promise can be more plain, none can be more comfortable then this is. And if therefore we do but humbly and hearty beg this holy Spirit, as an hungry child cries for bread, if we do not quench his motions, nor grieve his Presence, we shall not only obtain him, but we shall find his assistance very effectual. We shall have no cause to complain that we are weak and feeble, no reason to fear that our sins should be too hard for us; But we shall find, that he that is in us, is greater then he that is in the world, 1 John 4.4. That is, we shall find the holy Spirit which is in us, not only enabling us to support, but to vanquish and overcome the Devil and all his Powers; Fear not them, but remember who is on thy side, and that God provides for thy security. Be not dismayed at the devil and all his host, the Spirit of the Almighty, that Holy Spirit of power is engaged on thy side, I will speak to you in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, Fear not, O Jacob, my Servant, and thou Jeshurun whom I have chosen: For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy off-spring, Isa. 44.2, 3. A Christian hath greater strength then he is ware of, a greater power engaged for him then against him. Indeed he is apt to be afraid and to despond, but that is because he does not know his own strength. The Prophets servant was more afraid then he needed, when his Master was besieged, but the good Prophet bids him not fear, For they that be with us, says he, are more then they that be with them, 2 King. 6.16. And his servant saw it too when his eyes were opened. It is just so with the weak Christian; the devil persuades him he hath great Armies and Hosts ●gainst him, but if his eyes were open, he would see his strength greater then his enemies. If God be with us, who can be against us? Now the holy Spirit of God will help us mightily, if we humbly beg his aid, and cherish his motions, and sincerely follow his guidance and his conduct.  
2. Another help, and very great ●ncouragement which the Christian hath, is the consideration of the ●ife and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. That great example which he hath left us will be of very great moment to our amendment, if we do but duly reflect upon it. The sight of this brazen Serpent one would think, should cure our distempers, and heal the corruption of our natures. The great example of our Lord, were it always before our eyes, how would it animate and encourage us in our Christian course! Methinks we should adventure on that path which our Lord hath walked in before us: we should not be afraid of those difficulties which our Lord hath overcome: nor dismayed at those troubles and enemies, which the Captain of our salvation, did most undauntedly despise and conquer. It is a great encouragement to the common soldier to see his General engage himself in the greatest dangers, and to triumph over them; such an example shows him at once what he may do, and what he ought. And verily, the example of our blessed Saviour should have the same influenee upon us: How can we be proud, when he was meek and lowly in heart! Why should we complain, when he was patient even unto death! we may well forgive an enemy, when our Saviour preys, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do; and well may we be contented with our condition when we remember the words of our Saviour, when he was about to drink the most bitter cup, Not my Will, but thy Will be done.  
7. Another help the Christian hath is, the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven for him: Did he rightly consider Jesus Christ at the right hand of his Father, he would not certainly be thus feeble hearted. This consideration would add a mighty vigour, new strength and courage to every drooping Christian, and to every young Convert. Though our Saviour died upon the across, yet he revived again, and is yet alive, and appears before God in our behalf: He is able to save them unto the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Hear this for thy great comfort thou hast an High Priest in Heaven one that can pity and compassionate thee, and one that will help and succour thee: One that knows thy wants, and pities thine infirmities: We have not an High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all Points tempted like as we are. And in that he himself suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted, Heb. 14.15.2.18. These words bring with them a very great consolation to the drooping sinner: He is not lef● alone, and forsaken, God is with him: His blessed Saviour hath been tempted himself, and even now is very mindful of those that are tempted.  
The next Hindrance I shall name is this, which some men may be ready to stumble at. They judge thus, if God have elected and chosen them, his Decree shall stand, and they shall certainly be saved at last; But, say they, if God hath passed us by, then all our endeavours will be to no purpose. And therefore we shall not need be solicitous about such matters as are already fixed and determined by the unalt rabble Counsel of God, and who hath resisted his will?  
And thus does the devil miserable cheat and delude the poor sinner, by his strange reaches and artifices. Now I shall say something to this pretence in these following Severals.  

1. It is certain that Gods decree is not the rule of our life, but his written Word and declared Will. If we open our Bible we shall find that, He that believes shall be saved. This is the language of the Holy Scriptures: 'tis a great place of pride and folly in us, to be gazing on high for our direction, when our way lies so plainly before us. We need not climb into Heaven to make a search or no, whether or no we are enrolled in the Book of life The World is nigh thee: if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, Rom. 10.7, 8, 9. If we repent and believe the Gospel, it will go well with us at the last and great day; but if we live and die in our sins, we shall be unavoidably miserable; if we obey the Gospel, no decree of God will shut us out of Heaven. And if we continue in our sin and unbelief, no decree of his will bring us thither.  
2. It is agreed on all hands, that there is no decree of God shuts up a man under a necessity of sinning and being damned. 
Bishop Davenant against hoard, c. 2.  Sin does not follow from Gods passing a man, as an effect slows from its proper and true cause, and therefore a mans damnation cannot flow from it.  
3. And therefore at the day of judgement, the sentence of Condemnation will not lay hold upon men, because they were not elected, but because they were wicked, and did not obey the Gospel. It shall be said to the wicked at that day, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, &c. And wherefore is it? Not because they were inevitably decreed to it, but for their own wick●dness, as it follows, For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink, &c.  
4. If Gods decree were to be our rule, no man could have any ground at all for his faith, and the Gospel would be a most useless and ineffectual thing, which would be most absurd to believe. For we know that there is in the Gospel the greatest ground for every mans faith and hope that is imaginable: We have great encouragement to receive the mercy which God offers us by his son: If we do not shut ourselves out, our Saviour doth not exclude us. The Gospel opens a large door of hope, if we do not shut it upon ourselves. Him that cometh to me, says our Saviour, I will in no wise cast out, John 6.37. Did our Saviour put any back, because they were not elected, and therefore he could not receive them? Did he require any more then this, that they should repent and obey th● Gospel? If he be so merciful as not to shut us out, why should we be so cruel as to exclude our s●lves? Did the Apostles and first Preachers of the Gospel, require any mo●● of their Converts but fa●th and repentance? Was not this all that Philip required of the Ethiopian Eunuch, and St. Paul of the gaoler, that they should believe in the Lord Jesus? Acts 8.36, 37.16.30, 31. No man that beli●ves shall miscarry, and there is in the Gospel all possible encouragement for our faith.   
And therefore ought we not to make the way to Heaven more narrow then it is, and to ruin ourselves by our groundless fears, when our duty is so plain, and our encouragement so great. It will well become us to work whiles it is day, before we are butted in an eternal darkness. If we sit still whiles our time spends, and our day makes hast from us; if we dispute over our work, and neglect to do it, we shall soon sit down in everlasting sorrows. 'tis a sign we neither love our work ●or yet our Master, when we are so easily discouraged from it. Sure I am, that he which valves his life, will take care how to preserve it, though he should believe the term of it fixed and not movable: For certain it is, that he will die if he fit still and do nothink, and so shall we also if we be not wise betimes.  
Another Hindrance is this. Men are not willing to repent as yet, because they look upon Religion as a very hard saying, a melancholic and very grievous discipline: And however it may become sage, and aged persons, it is not thought fit for the active and the young, who must not look to see a good day ever after. This generally is the pretence of young persons against a religious life: I shall desire these men to consider impartially these following things.  
1. Whether it be not a very unjust thing that those men should pass this censure upon Religion, that never made any trial of it. 'tis very unequal that the same man should be both Accaser and Judge; And that a man should condemn before he hath convicted; Now this is the pretence of the profane and irreligious, who have no reason to pronounce against Religion, which they have had no experience of. A blind man is an incompetent Judge of colours, but yet not more incompetent then these men in the matters of Religion; Christ himself will not escape a severe sentence, if Pontius Pilate may be allowed to be the Judge, and his enemies his Accusers.  
2. Let us consider which is the harder saying of these two, Repent, or Perish: Repent, or lye down in everlasting burnings. Which is the harder saying of these two, Repent and believe the Gospel, Mark 1.15. Or, depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, Mat. 25.1. Certainly, the sinner that shall fall into the hands of Gods Justice, will find no sorrow like that sorrow: And though he may now think Repent an hard saying, yet he will find Depart ye cursed very much harder. The people thought Solomon's an heavy yoke, but that was light to that which they must expect from his Son, whose little ●inger would be bigger then his fathers loins. We must bear the yoke of Christ, or, the chains of darkness: we must return unto God by a new life, or else be turned into Hell with all the Nations that forget God.  
3. The injunctions of Sin and Satan are hard sayings also, nay, h●rder then the exercise of Religion, and therefore the sinner hath no reason to use this pretence. Men serve an hard Master when they serve the devil or their own lust; and yet this they do without complaining, though they command them unreasonable and contradictious things, and in stead of rewarding them for their pains, deprive them of their innocence, their peace and comfort, the favour of God, and the hopes of Heaven. And yet we complain that God is an hard Master, though he both reward us, and help us to do our work. Did we serve God as industriously as we serve the devil and the world, we might be happy with the same pains that now we are miserable. It is no small pains the sinner many tim●s is at to be undone. He digs his grave, ay, and makes his way to hell with no small difficulty, We can take any pains to be miserable, but will take none to be happy. If the thing were rightly considered, there is more of pain in a dissolute life, then in a Religious; in the works of the flesh, then in the fruits of righteousness, 
{αβγδ} Theophyl●ct. in Gal. 5.12.  and of the Spirit. Apostle reckons up good and evil works, the good he calls the fruits of the Spirit, which is very kindly expressed; but the evil he calls the works of the flesh; as it is thought, to let us know the difficulties and labours of a sinful course, Gal. 5.19.— 22.— And certainly, if we would be at the pains to consider it, we should find that those fruits of the Spirit are much more easy and joyous then the works of the flesh. Let us but compare them a little, and we shall find it true. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. What is there here that will put us to any pain or sorrow: Nay, then afford us much quiet, and are attended with an ease that the works of the flesh will not admit of: Now among the works of the flesh he reckons Adultery, Hatred, Variance, Strife, Seditions, Envyings, Murders, Drunkenness, and Revellings. Now what sorrows do not these things bring upon us? who can express the sorrows and pain of Adultery and Drunkenness! the torments of Envy! the turmoils and confusions that come from Strife and Seditions! the uneasiness of Hatred and Variance! and the very Hell which he lets into his soul, who is guilty of Revellings and Murders! will any man believe that Drunkenness is easier then Temperance; Or that love hath as much of pain as Hatred and Envy; or that the chased meet with as many sorrows as the Adulterer doth; may not any one perceive, that joy and peace, and gentleness and meekness, are much more pleasant then Variance and Revellings, Seditions and Murders.  
So that the sinner hath no reason to use this pretence against Religion; for 'tis but a cheat and delusion: 'tis a false report brought up by a wicked spy. The devil does by Christian Religion as the old Heathens did by Christians. They put them into the skins of wild beasts, and then they worried them. He misrepresents a most excellent Religion, and then his instruments assault it. But certainly, the sinner in the maan time will be left without excuse, he is afraid of that which would not hurt him: And those that have been industrious in the service of God can tell him, that they can find no fault with their Master or their work.  
4. Let him that thinks Religion so great a slavery, look at the end of it. 'tis great wisdom to consider the end of a matter, how it closes and shuts up. We use to say, We must not praise a fair day till night. And it was wisely answered of him, that was asked his opinion of two persons, whom he thought the happier, when he replied, that it could not be known which was the happier man till they were dead. That is well that ends so. Who would not die the death of the righteous, and who would not desire that his latter end might be like his: We see but the saddest part of Religion in this world, the more lightsome part remains for us, when we shall be added to the spirits of just men made perfect. Now we have the bit rest draft, our Saviour keeps the b●st wine to the last. The Devil does not do thus. He deals with us as Jael did by Sisera, who gave him fair words, covered him with a Mantle, and gives him milk to drink in his thirst: But she conceals the Nail and the Hammer wherewith she opened a way for his soul to fly out. Thus the Devil does with us, he tells us fair stories of what he will give us, if we will be his servants, but he hides the hook under his bait, he says nothing of the hammer and nail, of the Instruments of death which wait for us.  
Another Hindrance is a misunderstanding of the design of Christs Death, and an ill use which we make of it. The most wicked and dissolute will say, he hopes to be saved by the blood of Christ, who died for sinners, and therefore they think they have no more to do, but strongly to rest themselves upon the blood of Jesus, and by that means excuse themselves from an obedience to the laws of Christ. But  
1. They make an ill use of the death of Christ and encourage themselves in their sins, for Christ died not only to deliver us from the guilt and punishment, but also from the Power and Dominion of our sins. He gave himself for us that be might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works: Tit. 2.14. It is true indeed, There is now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. But who are them? Who walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit, Rom. 8.1.  
2. It is certain, that whatever Christ hath suffered, will do us no good unless we own him to be our Lord and Saviour, unless we repent and believe the Gospel, that is, unless that we perform the condition of the New Covenant. For though Christ have done his part in order to our recovery, yet he hath let done ours also; He hath left us something to do; viz. to perform the co●●ition of the Gospel. We must have a faith and repentance, or else we shall 〈◇〉 excluded from the mercy of the Gospel. Now we cannot be said to believe in Christ unless we do obey him, unless we receive him as our Lord, otherwise we have but fancy for faith. 
●●id est 〈…〉 Opi●●● si●●●ter homi●●● Christ● crede●e, i.e. sidele●a ●eo esse, h.e. side-liter Dei mand●●a servere. Salv. de Gub. Dei l. 2.  What says the Scripture in this matter? It tells us, that Christ being made perfect( or being consecrated by his death on the across, as the Jewish Priests were consecrated by the Ceremonies of the Law of Moses) he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, Heb. 5.9. Our Saviour tells us plainly, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; And he that believeth not( or as it may be very well rendered,) he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life; 
{αβγδ} Qui 〈◇〉 pr●●●. C●ssal.  but the truth of God abideth on him, John ● 36.  
Another great Hindrance is our worldly affairs and business. Our Farms and Yokes of Oxen; the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, are the great enemies to Religion and Amendment of life. This covetousness made Judas betray our Saviour, and the Pharisees deride him, and Dewas forsake him, and the young man go from him sorrowful, the Gada●ens weary of him, and the wicked world persecute him in his followers.  
But let such men consider, how sad a bargain it will be to gain the World, and lose their soul. Nothing can make amends for such a loss: We read of one Lysimachus a King, 
Plutarch de bis qui sero a numin pun.  who was forced to resign his Kingdom to his enemies for something to alloy his heat, and satisfy his thirst, who when he drank, complained of his own calamity, Who for so short a pleasure should be deprived of so great a Kingdom. Well may the sinner cry out then, who for a little wealth or honour in this world, hath not only deprived himself of an eternal Kingdom, but lye down also in endless sorrows. How infinitely will this perplex him hereafter, when he shall be in the regions of darkness and of sorrow, to think that he should, in pursuit of the world, lose his soul, and then at once lose his soul and the world too.  
Another Hindrance is an opinion that our sins are greater then can be forgiven: They have continued so long in their great and heinous fins, that they fear they are not now within the reach of mercy. But such a man must know,  

1. That Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts. He tells us, If the wicked forsake his way, he will have mercy upon him, and he will abundantly pardon. For, says he, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. Isa. 55.7, 8. And certainly, there is not less mercy in the Gospel, then there was under the Law, but more. Those sins which under the Law could not be expiated, will under the Gospel upon our faith and repentance be forgiven. This is very evident, and St. Paul tells us no less in these words, By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses, Act. 13.39.  
2. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came to heal those that were sick. The more sensible we are of our sins and spiritual maladies, the more need have we of a Saviour, and the greater assurance that he will receive us. Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Mat. 11.28. And him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out, John 6.37. Thy sins must not discourage thee from coming to Christ, who came into the world for such, and hath received as great sinners as thou art, as you may see 1 Cor. 6.11. Such were some of you, but you are washed, &c. If thy sins be as scarlet, yet if thou art ready to part with them, they shall become as white as snow, Isa. 1.16, 17, 18,   
The last Hindrance, and I fear, the most common is the neglect of the ordinary means of grace, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, Rom. 10.17. But some are so profane, and some so proud that they will not hear at all: And for those that do, yet they take no care how they hear: They neither prepare before-hand, no● attend in the service, nor yet consider of it afterwards. The Preacher it looked on as Lot was by his sons. As one that mocks. And though God have written, and we preach the great things of the Law, they are counted as a strange thing, Hos. 8.12. We hear indeed, but we go away and forget what manner of persons we were; we go away, nor the wiser, nor the better for it; And that because we came thither with no hearty desires to get more knowledge or more grace: Should God make a search in one of our Assemblies, and proceed from highest to the lowest, he would, I fear, find but few among us that had been upon our knees before we came together to ask his blessing upon his Word; few that come with any longing desires after the sincere milk of Gods Word, that they might grow thereby. Perhaps some might be found that could not tell for what end they were come together. And so long as we are thus careless and remiss in those things which God hath appointed for our salvation; 'tis no wonder we proceed to no Reformation.  
FINIS.    

Courteous Reader, be pleased to take notice that these BOOKS following are sold by George Calvert and Sam. Sprint at the Golden Ball in Duck-lane.  
GODS TERRIBLE VOICE IN THE CITY; wherein you have the Sound of the Voice in the History of the two late dreadful Judgments of Plague and of Fire in ●ond●n. 2. The Interpretation of the Voice in the discovery of the Cause and Design of these Judgments. 14 Edition.  
CHRISTS CERTAIN AND SUDDEN APPEARANCE TO JUDGMENT. 4. Edition.  
FIRE AND BRIMSTONE, 

1. From Heaven in the barning Sodom and Gomorah freely.  
2. From Earth, in burning Mount Aet●a. lately.  
3. In head, to burn the wicked eternally.   With the Additions of two Discourses. 

1. Concerning the only Delive●er from wrath to come.  
2. Concerning Godliness in Principle and Conversation. 2. Edition.    
A Treatise concerning the Lords Supper with three Dialogues, for the more full information of the weak, in the nature and use of the Sacrament. By Thomas Do●little. 6 Edition.  
TIME and the End of Time, or two D●●o●mses, the fir●● about Re●●●tion of time, the second about Consideration of our Latter ●nd, by John ●o● late Minister of the Gospel.  
The S●ints Ass●r●●ce, or the 〈◇〉 of Saving Knowledge. By W●● Bare●●● late of Ea●● n●er in D●●s●●●●.  
〈◇〉 Necessi●● disco●ering Opinion●●● V●ni●●, or a Blou●● the ●●oi of Opinion ●●om the Hand of Faith. E●●ot here the Necessity of Faith to be di●cov●ed: As also what does not make a Believer, and what does, and the Nerdies●●●● of all Contentions about opinions, the whole ●●●ted to 〈◇〉 ●●●●est Capa●ty: for the Edification of the Ig●ora●●, and Establishment of the Wave●ers. By Edward W●●lt.  
Mr. ●●●ill's Exposition on the whole Book o● ●O● 〈◇〉 ●2 Volumes in 4●o.  
〈◇〉 ●●ORY of the Managements of Cardinal Julio Mazarine, Chief Minister of state of the Crown of France, written in La●n by Count ●al●azza Gu●ldi Prio●at●, and Translated according 〈◇〉 the Original. In which are related the principal successses hapnea from the beginning of his Management of Affairs till his Death, Tom. ●. Part I.  
FINIS,