Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 152
§ 152.
BUt admit what thou imagineſt; 2 Orif death be not ſudden repentance is no eaſie worke, and late repentance is ſeldome true.namely, that death be not ſuddaine: much the better, for is it not commonly ſeene, that the purpoſe of proroging for a day, or a weeke, doth not onelyonly laſt for a yeare (as the ſuſpenſion of the Councell of Trent, made for two yeares, laſted tenne) but as ill debtors put off their creditors, firſt, one weeke; then, another: till at laſt, they are able to pay nothing: ſo deale delayers with God, they adjourn the time prefixt, from next yeare, to next yeare, whereby they, and that good howre never meet: as you ſhall obſerve one Coach wheele followes another, one minute of a Clock haſtens after another, but never overtake each other. In youth, men reſolve to afford themſelves the time of age to ſerve God; in age, they ſhuffell it off to ſickneſſe; when ſickneſſe comes, care to diſpoſe their goods, lothneſſe to dye, hope to eſcape, &c. martyres that good thought, and their reſolution ſtill keepes before them. Or elſe it fares with them, as with many an unthrifty Trades-man, who is loth to turne over his books, and caſt up his debts, leaſt it ſhould put him into ſad dumps, and fill him with melancholly cares.
When Chriſt went about to caſt out divels, they ſaid, he tormented them before the time, Matthew 8.29. ſo, whenſoever thou goeſt about to diſmiſſe thy ſinnes, and pleaſures, though thou ſtay till thou be an old man; yet they will ſtill ſay, thou diſmiſſeſt them before the time; but then is the time, when the divell ſaith the time is not yet, for the divell is a lyer.
Alaſſe! how many men poſt off their converſion, and at twenty, ſend Religion before them to thirty; then, put it off to forty; and yet not pleaſed to overtake it, they promiſe it entertainment at three ſcore; at laſt, death comes, and will not allow th… one h…re: and perchance when their ſou…e … lips, ready to take her ſlight, … for the Miniſter, … them how to die well. But as, in ſuch extremity the Apothecary gives but … Phyſick: ſo the Miniſter, can give … Divinity, a cordiall that may benum them; no ſolid comfort, to ſecure them: her is no time to ranſack for ſins, to ſearch the depth of the ulcer, a little balme to ſupple, but the core is left within; for though true repentance is never too late, yet late repentance is ſeldome true.
But here is great hope, thou wilt ſay, as it is the Divinity of diverſe, let men live as they liſt, in ignorance, and all abominable filthineſſe, ſo they call at laſt, and but ſay, Lord have mercy upon me, we muſt infallibly conclude, their eſtate as good as the beſt; as though the Lord had not ſaid, you ſhall cry, and not bee heard, Prov. 1
I know the mercy of God may come, inter pontem & fontem, inter gladium & jugulum, betwixt the bridg and the brook, betwixt the knife and the throate; and repentance may bee ſuggeſted to the heart in a moment, in that very inſtant; but this only may bee, there is no promiſe for it, many threatnings againſt it, little likelihood of it; it were madneſſe for thee to break thy necke, to try the skil of a Boneſetter.
But how many, on the other ſide, dye in Spira's caſe? who being willed in his ſickneſſe to ſay the Lords prayer, anſwered, I cannot find in my heart to call him father: whereas, not one of many leave a certaine teſtimony, or ſure evidence behind them, that their repentance is true and ſound. And indeed, how is it likely they ſhould diſpatch that in half an howre which ſhould be the buſines of our whole life? For as hee which never went to Schole, will hardly, when he is put to it, reade his neck-verſe: ſo hee, that never learn'd the doctrine of repentance, in his life; will find it very hard, if not impoſſible, at his death. Let men therefore repent while they live, if they would rejoyce when they dye: let them with Noah, in the dayes of their health, build the Arke of a good conſcience, againſt the floods of ſickneſſe; yea, if they have ſpent a great part of their time in the ſervice of ſinne, as Paul did, let them, for the refidue of their life, make the world amends, by their double, yea treble endeavour, to redeeme that time, by a holy life, and godly converſation; for elſe we may juſtly ſuſpect the truth and ſoundneſſe of their repentance, and converſion. We ſeldome …, that were long barren, either in ſoule, …, but they had the happieſt iſſue afterwards; witneſſe Sarah, Manoah's Wife, Hannah, Elizabeth, Saul, Mary Magdalen, &c.
As for the purpoſes of repentance, which men frame to themſelves at the laſt houre, they are but falſe conceptions, that (for the moſt part) never come to bearing; and indeed, millions are now in hell, which thought they would repent hereafter; not being wiſe enough to conſider, that it is with ſinne in the heart, as with a Tree planted in the ground, the longer it groweth, the harder it is to be pluck'd up, it is too late to tranſplant Trees after two ſeaven yeares: or a Nayle in a Poſt, which is made faſter by every, ſtroke: or a Ship that leaketh, which is more eaſily emptied at the begining, then afterwards. Or a ruinous houſe, which the longer it is let runne, the more charge and labour will it require in the repairing. Yea, ſinne out of long poſſeſſion, will plead preſcription; cuſtome of any evill, makes it like the lawes of the Medes and Perſians, which may not be altered, or removed: an old vice, is within a degree of impoſſible to be amended; which maketh the Lord ſay, by his Prophet; Can the Black-more change his skin, or the Leopard his ſpots? then may ye alſo doe good, that are accuſtomed to de evill, Ier. 13.23.
All other men have but three enemies to encounter with, the Divel, the World, and the Fleſh; but he that hath long continued in the practiſe of any evill, hath a fourth, which is worſe then the worſt of them, even cuſtome, which is a ſecond, or new nature.