!:lerm. cvnr. A1t ArgttmeJJt for R...eprmtaTtce. never have been put to; it is a Pla!ler ~fter we have dangerouily wounded our felves: but certainly it bad been_much wt~er, to have prevented the ~angerof rb_c wound, and the pl in of curing tt. A. wtfe Man wool~ not make htmfe.lr fick tf he could, or if be were already fo, wool? not make h~mfelf ficker, tho ne ~a? the moll: Effetl:ual and Infallible Remedy m the World m brs power: But thJslS not rbe cafe of a Sinner, for Repentance as well as f a_irb is the Gift of God. Above all Jet me caution you, not to put off tlm great and neceffary Work, to the moll: 1 ;nfeafonable time ofall other, the time of ficknefs and death; upon ;i fond prefumption, that you ~an be reconciled to <?od ~hen you J?leafe, and ex– ercife fuch a Repentance as wtll make your peace wtth I~ rm at an:r trme. . I am heartily afraid, that-a very g~eat part of Mankmd do mrfc~rry up_on rh~s confidence and are (wallowed up m the gulf of Eternal Perdrtton, w11h th1s Plank in their Arms. The common Cullom is (and I fear it is roo common) when rhe Phyfirian hath given over his P~tie~t, then, and not till ~~en, to fend for the Miniller · not fa much to enqmre mto the Mans condttton, and to give him fuitable'Advice, as to mini!ter Comfort, and to fpeak PeJce to him at a venture. But let me tell you, that herei~ you put a~ extream difficult task ?pon us, in expeCTing that we fbould pour Wtne and Oyl mto the wound before tt be fearch– ed and fpeak fmooth and comfortable things to a Man, that is but jull brought to~ fenfe of the long courfe of a lewd and wicked Life, impenitently continued in. Alas ! what comfort can we give to Men in fuch a cafe ? We are loth to drive them to de[pair ; and yet we mufl: not deftroy them by prefumption ; pity and good nature do llrongly tempt us to m.1ke the befl: of their cafe, and to give them all the little hopes, which with any kind of Reafon we can, and God knows it is but very little that we can give to fuch Perfons upon good ground ; for it all depends upon the degree and fincerity of their Repentance, which God only knows, and we can but guefs at. We can eafily tell them what they ought to have rlone, and what they fbould do if they were to live longer, and what is the bt fl: tbat they can do in tbofe llraights into which they have brought tbemfelves, viz. to exercife as deep a Sorrow and Repentance for their fins as is poilible, and to cry mightily to God for Mercy, in and through the Merit of our Ble!fed Savi– our. But bow far this will be available in tbefe Circumllances we cannot tell ; becaufe we do not know, whether if the Man had lived longer, this Repentance and thefe Refolutions which he now declares of a better courfe, would have been good. And after all is done that can be done info fbort a time, and in fuch Circum– ll:ances of confufion and diforder, as commonly attend dying Petfons, I doubt the refult of all will be this ; that there is much more ground of fear than hope concerning them; Illy perhaps, while we are preiling the dyingfinner to Repen– tance, and he is bungling about it, he expires in great doubt and perplexity of mind what will become of him; or if his Eyes 'be clofed with more comfortable hopes of his condition, the next time he opens them again, he may find his fear– ful miftake, like the rich Man in the Parable, who when he was in heU, lift "P hit eyu being in torment. This is a very difmal and melancholy confideration, and commands all Men prefently to repent, and not to put off the main work of their lives to the end of them, and the time of ficknefs and old Age. let us not offer up a Carcafs to God inllead of a living and accept3ble Sacrifice: but let us turn to God, in the days of our health and llrengtb, before the evil dnJI come, and theyear~ draw nigh, ofwhich we fhall{ttJ we have no pleafitre in them; before the S11n and tho Mootz and the Star~ be darkened ; as Solomon elegantly expre!feth it, Eccf. 12. 1, 2. before all the Comforts of Life be gone, before our Faculties be all ceafed and fpent, be– ~ore our Underllandings be too weak, and our Wills too ll:rong; our Underlland1Pg betoo weak for confideration, and the deliberate exercife of Repentance, and Obr Wtlls too llrong and•ll:iff to be bent and bowed to it. Let. us not deceive our felves, Heaven is not an Hofpital made to receiveall Sick and Aged Perfons, that can but put up a faint rcqne~ to be admitted ther«; no, no
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=