Senn. CX. An Argumentfor Repentance. 4.3 that the fanner {hall then be filled with everlafling fhame and "cónfufron at theremema brance of his faults and folly. The Eternal Mifery of wicked men is fometinies in Scripture reprefented, as if it confifted only or chiefly in the Infarhy andRe- proach which will then overwhelm them, when all their crimes and faults 'hall be expofed and laid open to the viewof the whole World. Dan. 12. 2. where the general Refurre&ion of the juft and unjuft is thus defcribed ; Many of them that Jleepin the dugof the earth 'hall awake, fame to everlafiing life, and fame to ever- lofting fhame andcontempt : Where everlafiing life and everlafling fhame are oppo- fed, as ifEternal fhame were a kind of perpetual Death. In this World finners make a hard lhift, by concealing or extenuating their faults, as well as they can, to fupprefs or leffen their thame ., they have not now fo dear and full Convi&ion of the evil and folly of their fin ; God is pleafed to bear with them and to fpare them at prefent, and they do not yet feel the difmal effe&s and confequencesof a wicked life : but inthe next World,` when the righ- teousjudgment of God is revealed, and the full Vials of his wrath (hall be poured forth upon fanners, they (hall then be clothed with fhame as with agarment, and be covered with confofion; then they will feelthe follyof their fins, and have a fenfi- ble Demonitration within themfelves of the infinite Evil of them; their own Confciences will then furioufly fly in their faces, and with the greateft bitternefs and rage upbraid and reproach themwith the folly of their own "doings; and fo long as we are fenfible, that we fuffer for our own folly, fo long we mutt una- voidably be afhamed of whar we have done. So that if (inners (hall be ever= laftingly tormented in another World, it neceffarily follows, that they (hall be eternally confounded. Is it not then better to rememberour ways now, and to be afhamed and repent ofthem, than to bring everlafting Shame and Confufion upon our felves, before God, and Angels, and Men ? This is the Argument which St. John ufeth, to take men off from fin, and to engage them to Holinefs and righteoufnefs of Life; z yoh. 2. 28. That when he(ball appear, that is, when he (hall come to judge the World, we may have confidence, and not be afhamed before him at his coming. III. And laflly, Confider that nothing fets men at a farther diftance from Re- pentance, and all hopes of their becoming better, and brings them nearer to Ruin, than Impudence in a finful courfe. There are too many in the World, who are fo far from being afhamed of their Wickednefs, and bluthing at themen- tion oftheir faults, that theyboaft of them, and glory in them. God often com- plains of this in the Peopleof Ifrael, as a fad prefage of their Ruin, and an ill fign of their defperate and irrecoverable Condition ; Jer. 3. 3. Thou hadfi a whore'sforehead, and refufedfl to be afhamed ; and Jerem. 6. 15. Were they afhamed, when they committed abominations? Nay, they were not afhamed, neither could they blufh : therefore they¡hall fall among them that fall, and in the timethat Ivift them they ¡ball be call down. Hear likewife how the Apoftle doth lament the cafe of Inch Perfons, as incurable and pall all remedy : Philip. 3. 18, 19. There are ma- ny ofwhom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are ene- mies to the Croft of Chrifl ; whofe end is defiristlion, whofe God is their belly, whole glory is in their fhame. Such Perlons whoglory in that which ought to be their ¡home, what can their end bebut defirullion. There is certainly no greater argument of a degenerate Perron, and of one that is utterly loft to all fenfe of goodnefs, than to be void of (name : and as on theone hand, they mull be very towardly, and well difpos'd to Virtue, who are drawn by Ingenuity, and meer fenfe of Obligation and Kindnefs; fo on the other hand, they mull be very ltupid and infenfible, who are not wrought upon by Arguments of fear, and fenfe of (home. There ishardly any hopes of that Man, who is not to be reclaimed from anEvil courfe, neither by the apprehen- fion of danger, nor of difgrace, and who can at once fecurely negle& both his Safety and Reputation. Hear how the Prophet reprefents thedeplorableCafe of fuch Perlons, Ifa. 3. 9. The ¡hew of their countenance bears witnefr again(( them; in the Hebrew it is, The hardnefs of their countenance doth teflifze again(i them, and they declare their fin as G 2 Sodom, 1
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