Practical Discourses Volume 1, Discourse 5
REVELATIONS II. 21.
I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not.
THE Person here spoken of is Iesabel, as you may see in the foregoing verse; but who this Iesabel was is very much disputed by Expositors. Epiphanius and some that follow him refer this title to those Women Hereticks, Priscilla, Maximilla, and Quintilla who followed Montanus, and about Commodus his Reign took upon them to be Prophetesses, and under that pretence propagated many monstrous Heresies. But since it must be after St. Iohn's time that those Women were in the Church of Thiatira, and since St. Iohn here speaks not prophetically of what should be, but historically of what already was, it is not supposeable that these Montanist Women should be the Iesabel here spoken of: besides that the Character here given her doth not agree with that Sect, for these Montanists were a very severe and strict Sect, and that was the main motive which seduced Tertullian to it; whereas this Iesabel, or Sect described by her Name, is here accused of Fornication, and sacrificing to Idols. So that it seems more probable that by her is meant either the whole Sect of the Gnosticks, which as all agree was infamous for Leudness, Uncleanness and Idolatry; or else some particular Woman who was an eminent Patroness and Ring-leader of that Party. And if he mean this latter, as it seems most probable by the Distinction he makes between her and those that committed Adultery with her, that is, her Followers; then it is probable that he means Helena the Whore of Simon Magus, who was Father of the Gnosticks; whom he stiled his foreign, or first Conception. And well might she be called Iesabel, since she so much resembled the Wise of Ahab called by that name in her notorious Whoredoms and Idolatries; but yet in her he reprehends the whole Sect which was all involved with her in the same Impenitence. So that it was equally true both of her and of her Followers, that God gave them space to repent of their Fornications, and they repented not, that is, Gods patience waited on them, and gave them time to reform their lend and infamous Practices; but still they deferred and put it off, and under all his Forbearance continued obstinate and impenitent. So that the design of the Words is to represent the Evil of Mens putting off their Repentance when God in mercy forbears them, and gives them space enough to perform it. And how great an Evil this is I shall indeavour to represent to you,
1. By shewing you the Wickedness,
2. The Absurdity, and
3. The Danger of it.
1. I shall shew you the Wickedness of it, and that in these following particulars:
1. 'Tis a prophane mockery of God's Patience.
2. 'Tis an ungrateful Undervaluing of his Service.
3. 'Tis an open Contempt to his Authority.
4. 'Tis an impious Presumption on his Goodness.
5. 'Tis an arrogant defiance of his Displeasure.
1. To defer and put off our Repentance when God gives us space to repent is a prophane Mockery of his Patience. That he did not strike us dead upon our first sin, and consign us immediatly to the chains of Darkness, was purely the Effect of his Goodness; 'twas this that obliged him to try us a little longer in hope that at last we might be prevailed with to consider our danger, and correct our folly before it had determined us to an irreversible Ruin. Whilst therefore we linger out the space of our Repentance in Delays, we sport and dally with the Patience of God; we promise fair, and give it hope that it shall at last obtain its Ends upon us; but when we come to performance, we baffle and disappoint it, and render all its past attendance ineffectual. For when the Date of our former Promise is expired, and God expects our Performance, instead of that, we only give him new Promises, and pay him with Words instead of Things; as if by our Promises we only intended to raise in him an expectation of our Repentance, that so we might have an opportunity to vex him with a Disappointment. We promise we will repent hereafter only to get leave to sin for the present, and so when that hereafter comes we promise again, and only repeat the old Delusion; as if we meant to tantalize his Patience by profering the golden Fruit of our Repentance, and snatching it away again before he can lay hold of it. Now what a fearful wickedness is this for Men to put such Tricks upon the Almighty, still to defer the payment of a Debt that hath been so long due, and so often demanded, and still to pay his Demands with Promises, and only feed his Expectations with Air! as tho' we thought him bound to attend our Leisure, and to give us Credit to run deeper on score upon the security of our Promise of future Payment which we have already forfeited over and over.
2. Thus to put off and delay our Repentance, is a most base and ungrateful Undervaluing of his Service: For the Reason why we delay our Repentance, is, because we think it will be time enough to return to our Duty hereafter, when the Opportunities of Sin are gone, and the Pleasure of it is out of season. For into what other sense can God construe our Delays but only this, that it is our Design to shift off him and his Service, till we have served our Lusts as long as we are able, and never to begin our Repentance till we are able to be wicked no longer. Now I beseech you, could you without Horror and Trembling make such an Address to God as this, O God, I know it is my Duty, and the very End of my Life to serve thee; but I beseech thee, be not angry, if while I live I serve my Lusts, and imploy the Powers thou hast given me in Rebellion against thee: And if thou wilt but indulge me this, I will be thy humble Servant when I am good for nothing, neither to serve, nor disobey thee: Do but have Patience till I am Bed-rid, and can enjoy the World and my Lusts no longer, and then I will return to thee, and be sorry for my Sins, and wish that I had never offended thee. I would now devote the Service of my Youth and Strength to thee, but that I am sensible it is too good for thee; and therefore come what will, I will feed my Lusts with the Marrow of my Days, and if the dull insipid Bone will content thee, it is at thy Service. This, though it be horrible Language, is yet the natural Sense of our Delays. We would repent immediately, but that we think it is a Thousand Pities such fair Opportunities of sinning should be lost, and so many precious Minutes should be so ill bestowed: So that the reason of our Delay is this, that at present we apprehend we can spend our time more pleasantly in sinning on, than in the Exercise of a severe Repentance, and consequently, while we can still sin on with Pleasure, we shall still have the same reason to delay, and never think it reasonable to begin our Repentance till we are old, decrepid, or dying, and can sin with Pleasure no longer. Now what a profane Reflection is it upon God and his Service, to think our selves too good to serve him till we are good for nothing; that the Dregs and Lees of our Life are good enough for him, and that he ought to be satisfied with the leavings of our Lusts, and to take it as a Favour that we will repent of our sins when we are no longer capable of sinning with Pleasure? With what Patience can he endure to be thus slighted and contemned by us, to be thus rudely put off with the Refuse of our Lusts, thus unmannerly treated with the Scraps of the Devil's Table?
3. To defer our Repentance when God gives us space to repent, is an open contempt of his Authority; for by the Laws of Religion we are bound either always to continue innocent, or when we have contracted any Guilt, to expiate it by immediate Repentance; for so long as we continue under any guilty Impenitence, we are in a state of actual Rebellion against God, and are not only accountable for the Guilt of the first Sin, but also for that of not having repented of it. And though we do not repeat the first Sin any more, yet our very continuing impenitent under the Guilt of it, brings a distinct Guilt upon us, and renders us doubly criminal in the sight of God; for unless our sinning against God doth cancel the Obligation of his Laws, they must necessarily oblige us to repent, that is, to revoke our wicked purpose, and return to our Obedience as soon as ever we have broken and transgressed it. 'Tis true indeed as for particular affirmative Precepts, they being always relative to Time, and Place, and Persons, are to be practised only in special Times, and pertinent Occasions, because they being but Parts of a good Life, must give way by turns for other Parts and Instances of it, which are of the like particular and limited Nature with themselves; but yet we are always obliged to the Purpose and Disposition of Practising these, whensoever Occasion doth require it. A man is not always bound to be doing Iustice, by giving Alms, or saying his Prayers; but to the Devotion of Prayer, the Disposition of Justice, and the Charity of Alms he is continually obliged: These being Works of the inward Man cannot be limited to Times and Opportunities, nor receive any accidental Determinations from without, but are always possible, and always good, and always necessary; for the performance of them depends only on the Grace of God, and the Will of Man, and that never fails, if this doth not; and therefore is always possible, unless we will not, but it is always necessary whether we will or no: So that when we have broken our purpose of obeying God by any actual Sin, it is another distinct Sin, not to renew it by immediate Repentance, and when by this actual Sin, we have lost our disposition to obey God, and contracted the contrary, there is in this a proper Guilt, and Venom distinct from that actual Sin that introduced it. But then there are general Precepts, of Religion, such as to love God, and to Repent from dead Works; the first of which includes the whole Religion of a Man, the second, the whole Religion of a Sinner; and consequently we being both, must needs be universally obliged to both these Duties in all Accidents, Times, and Cases. For when once we have apostatized from our Duty, all our after-obedience is an Act of Repentance; and therefore though the Command of it be affirmative, yet because it is universal, including all those Duties, which by binding at several Times, do fill up all our Time; there can be no Time in which we are not bound to repent. This I have the longer insisted on, because it is a great Question among the Roman Casuists, whether a Man be always bound to this Duty, and some of them have been so wicked, as to determin that a Man is not bound to repent till he comes to die; others, that it is sufficient if he repent once a Year; others thrice upon the Three great Holidays of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsunday; as if there were any time wherein it was not our Duty to return to our Duty; or the Laws of our Religion did only oblige us at certain seasons, and in the Intervals gave us a free Dispensation to live as wickedly as we pleased. Since therefore as soon as we have sinned, we are bound immediately to repent, it necessarily follows, that he who sins, and then delays his Repentance, sins Twice; his very Delay being a farther Provocation. For how can we imagine that he who persists in Rebellion against God Twenty Years together, doth not much more offend him, than he who submits within Twenty Months, or Twenty Days, or Twenty Hours; and if the longer we persist, the more we do offend him, then every delay of our Repentance must needs be a further Provocation. The Sum of all therefore is this, that every Day God calls us to Repentance, and that every Call of his ought to be regarded, and consequently, that every regardless Delay of it, adds to the heap of our Guilt, and helps to fill up the Measure of our Iniquities. And what a rude Contempt is it of Gods Authority, when he commands us to repent to Day, to cry well we will repent tomorrow? Lord, we beseech thee be not so hasty with us, suffer us to offend thee yet a little longer; for whether thou wilt or no, we are resolved to do it. We will repent, but will not be prescribed when, as for that, leave it to us, for say what thou wilt, we are fully resolved to take leave to do it when we please. This in effect is the impious meaning of every Delay of our Repentance, and when God commands us to repent, we might as modestly tell him that we will not repent at all, as when he commands us to repent now, tell him, that we will repent hereafter.
4. To defer our Repentance when God giveth us space to repent, is an impious Presumption on his Goodness. The reason why God forbears us when we sin, is to give us second Thoughts, and to see our Danger, and to run away from it; that so he may not surprize us into ruine: for the end of his long-suffering, is to lead us to Repentance; but when upon this Consideration we take encouragement to delay, we do not only defeat his Goodness, but so far as in us lies, render it injurious to him. For we war against him under the Protection of his kindness to us, and fortifie our selves in our Rebellion, in that very Goodness, and Long-suffering, with which he seeks to conquer and subdue us. O barbarous Ingratitude! that we should fetch Arguments from his mercy to offend him, and maintain Enmity against him out of the Revenue of his own Indulgence! would you not look on that Malefactor as a Monster, that should rob his Iudge meerly because he reprieved him, and use him with all the Despite and Ignominy, because he knew him to be a merciful Man, and will be loath to hang him the next Sessions? and is it not altogether as monstrous for us to abuse God, because he is kind to us, and to take Encouragement to rob him of our Duty, because we know he is unwilling to ruine us? but tho' every Man hath not Impudence enough to assign this Reason, yet it is plain, this lies at the bottom of all their Delays. Because Sentence against an evil Work is not executed speedily, faith the Wise Man, therefore the Heart of the Sons of Men is fully set in 'em to do Evil, Eccles. 8. 11. But what horrid Baseness is this, to urge his Goodness against himself, and fetch Motives from his Mercy to affront his Authority? it seems, if he were worse to us, we would be better to him; if he were less kind, we would be more dutiful. O Wretches that we are! I had almost said, 'tis even pity that we have a God to deal with, that we are not under the Government of some Fury that would watch for our halting, and catch at all Opportunities to plague and punish us; and we were best have a care we do not presume too much upon God, for tho' he bears long, he will not bear always; and there is nothing can sooner provoke him, than to see us conduct our Rebellions against him under the Banners of his own Goodness. This is such an intolerable Provocation as is sufficient to inrage a Soul of Patience, and turn the most boundless Mercy into Fury: and if once his Wrath be kindled against us, he will make us rue for ever in our Abuses of his Goodness.
5. And lastly, To defer our Repentance when God gives us space for it, is an arrogant Defiance of his Displeasure, for God hath sufficiently declared to us the Displeasure he takes in the Delays of our Repentance. Thus in his holy Word he hath given us fair warning of it; thus Rom. 2. 4. despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness, and Forbearance, and Long-suffering, not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance? From whence I argue 1. that the Goodness of God is a Motive to Repentance. 2. That not to be persuaded by it, is to despise his Goodness. 3. That this despising his Goodness by delaying our Repentance, is treasuring up Wrath against the Day of Wrath. So also Rev. 2. 5. remember from whence thou art faln, and repent, and do thy first Works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy Candlestick out of its place except thou repent. Where he plainly declares, that if our Repentance be not very quickly, his Judgments will be too quick for us; by which he plainly signifies how much he is displeased with our Delays, how importunately they urge and provoke him to overwhelm us with a speedy Destruction And accordingly we see by Experience, how he takes some away in their early sins, and gives them no respite; and he who hath made it Damnation to some for not repenting instantly, hath made it damnable to all. The Earth doth not open, and swallow up all Rebels in the Day of their Mutiny; but it did so once, and thereby God hath sufficiently signified to all Ages his Displeasure against Rebellion; And so it is in deferring Repentance; for that some have smarted for it eternally is a sufficient Manifestation that God is displeased with every one that defers it. Whilst therefore we delay our Repentance from time to time, we sit down quietly under the divine Displeasure, as if it were altogether indifferent whether the Almighty be pleased or displeased with us; we do as good as say, Lord, we know well enough thou wouldst have us repent immediately, and that if we do not, thou wilt be angry with us; but be thou never so angry, we will not repent us yet, we must enjoy our Lusts a little longer, and if thou wilt be displeased, we will run the venture. We had rather endure thy Frowns a while, than part with our sins for ever, and think it much more tolerable to be hated by the Fountain of all Love and Goodness, than abandoned of all our sinful Pleasures. This is such Language perhaps as the boldest Sinner would hardly be able to pronounce without trembling, but yet such as it is, it is the natural Sense of every Mans Actions, who delays and puts off his Repentance: he knows that God is displeased with him, but regards it not, and as if he were ambitious of being a Heroe in Wickedness, he defies Heaven, and dallies with its Thunder-bolts, and runs into the Mouth of its Canon whilst they are spitting Fire, and roaring out Destruction upon him.
And thus you see the monstrous Wickedness of Mens delaying their Repentance, which is such, as had we not seared our Consciences, and stifled our natural Sense of God, we could never be able to reflect on without Horror and Agonies. And so I pass to the Second Head of Discourse, the great Absurdity of delaying our Repentance; which I shall endeavour to demonstrate in these following particulars.
1. It is putting off a Work that must be done to the most unfitting Season of doing it.
2. It is putting it off upon no other Reason, but what will hereafter be more prevalent than now.
3. It deprives us of the Satisfaction of having done what we must do at last, and prolongs the Pain and Trouble of doing it.
4. It defers the doing it upon no other Presumption, but that it shall one Day dearly repent of its own Neglect.
1. To delay our Repentance, is to put off a Work that must be done to the most unfitting Season of doing it. That Repentance is indispensibly necessary to the Recovery and Happiness of a Sinner, is a Principle wherein all the reasonable World are agreed; and since it must be done, it is highly reasonable we should take the best Opportunity of doing it, and for a Man to say, I must do such a thing, and am resolved to do it, but however, I will take the most improper Season to do it in, is the most absurd and ridiculous Thing in the World. But for a Man to repent in, there is no Season can be so convenient as the present; for it will never be so easy for us to repent as now; the difficulty of it will daily grow upon our hands, and if we do not engage in it immediately, it will be harder to morrow than it is to day. When Men begin to sin, their Nature starts and boggles at it, from an innate Sense of God, and of their Duty, and this natural shiness must be tamed and broken e'er they can be through-pac'd in Wickedness; but when they have inured themselves to it by frequent Acts, they grow by degrees familiar with it, and then every Act breeds Delight in it, and every Delight begets a Desire of repeating it, and that Desire brings forth a new Act. And when a Man hath walked the Rounds a while in this Circle, at last he centers in Custom and Habit of sinning, and then every new Act will confirm the Habit, and root it deeper in our Natures, and so as we sin on, it will grow stronger and stronger, 'till at last it becomes almost fatal and necessary, and then the Lord have mercy upon us; for without a Miracle of Grace we shall never be able to retrieve our selves. Thus every step we take in our sinful Progress, leads us further out of our way, and renders our return more hard and difficult, so that by going on in a sinful Course, we do what in us lies to block up the way of our Return, and do as it were build a Wall behind us, to disable our selves from making any Retreat. What a ridiculous Thing therefore is it for Men to pretend that they will repent, but not yet; when it is so apparent, that if they repent not now, it will never be so easie again as long as they live? To Morrow it will be more difficult than now, and every Day it is delayed will drive it nearer to an Impossibility: So that by our foolish Delays, we do but make Work for our selves, and heap up Difficulties on our own Heads; we resolve that we will repent, but withal, that we will not go about it, till we have render'd it more difficult, and our selves less able to do it. Our Soul is wounded, and must die without the sovereign Balsom of Repentance, which we therefore resolve to apply and make use of; but first her Wound shall fester into a Gangrene, not to be cured, but by the most painful Lancings, and Corrosives. And can there be any Thing more ridiculous for a Man to resolve to do a Thing, and at the same time resolve to make it more difficult before he doth it? For certainly, if our Repentance after so many Delays, should at last commence, which is very questionable, it will in all probability be accompanied with so many sad Circumstances, so many Tumults of Passion, and Uproars of Conscience, so many piercing Sorrows, and bitter Agonies, that we shall dearly repent we did not repent sooner.
2. To delay our Repentance, is to resolve to defer this Work to hereafter, upon a Reason which will then be much more prevalent than now; and for a Man to defer a Thing to hereafter which he resolves to do upon such a Reason as will be much more prevalent hereafter than now, is doubtless the absurdest Thing in the World. Now the main Reason why Men are now unwilling to repent is, because they love their sins, and are unwilling to part with them, and in all likelihood, hereafter they will be much more unwilling; so that this Reason will every Day improve upon their hands, and have so much the more strength, by how much the longer they defer their Repentance: So that we can have no Reason in the World against fixing on the present Time, but only because it is present; but when hereafter comes to be present, the Reason will be just the same. But as for our Unwillingness to leave our sins, if that be the Reason of our Delay, that will every Day increase and grow more prevalent upon us; for Sin gains, upon the Will by Practice, the Delight of it recommends it to the Desire, and renders us more fond of its Embraces; so that if we defer our Repentance till hereafter, because we are unwilling to leave our Sins, when that hereafter is present, we shall have much more reason to defer than now; and so the plain Sense of our deferring our Repentance upon this reason, is this, I cannot yet forsake my Sins, because I love them, and am highly pleased with them, but hereafter I am resolved I will; but first I will act them a little longer, and grow more in love with them, and then when I love them more, and am more inslaved to them, I will be sure to hate and forsake them for ever. Whilst therefore we delay our Repentance, because our Sins do please us, we shall have the same reason to delay it for ever. For the longer we live in Sin, in all probability, the more it will please us; and so Twenty Years hence, the reason of our Delay will be far more prevalent than now; and if we forsake not our sin till it ceases to please us, we shall never forsake it as long as we live: So that to resolve not to repent now, because our sins do please us, is the same thing in effect as to resolve not to repent at all; and indeed this generally lies at the bottom of all such Resolutions, when mens Consciences like importunate Creditors begin to dun and clamour upon them, they are forc'd many times to give good Words, and appoint some future Day of Payment, else they will put them to a great deal of Trouble, and ever and anon arrest them with Horrors and Affrightments; but still they purpose to run further in Debt, and to put off the Day of payment from time to time, till they are utterly insolvent. So that by these promises of repenting hereafter, Men only delude themselves, and under a specious Pretence of future Repentance put tricks upon their Consciences to blind and bribe them that may not disturb them whilst they are sinning themselves into Ruin.
3. By delaying our Repentance we deprive our selves of the satisfaction of having done what we must do at last, and prolong the pain and trouble of doing it. To have accomplish'd a necessary Work, especially if it be difficult and important, is a great satisfaction to the Mind; and whereas, whilst it is yet to do, the prospect of the Pain and Labour we must undergo in doing it creates in us a great deal of Trouble and Anxiety; when once it is done, the very Reflection on the Pains and Labours we have past, sweetens our present repose, and crowns it with greater Joy and Triumph. And so it is with Repentance, which we all acknowledge to be a most necessary Work, and of the vastest Moment and Importance to us; and tho' it be never so painful and difficult, yet we must undergo it, or that which is much more intolerable; so that if once it were done, it could not but give a great satisfaction to our Minds, and fill us with unspeakable Joy. When a Man shall thus reflect with himself, Blessed be God, I have done that work, which had it been yet to do I must have done, or been undone for ever. I charged thro' all those pains and difficulties that were wont to startle and affright me, and by the grace of Heaven am come off victoriously. O happy Atchievement! how well am I rewarded for all my labour! now I am past it, and settled in the quiet possession of my conquest! When, I say, a Man can thus reflect with himself, it must needs be unspeakable Pleasure to him: whereas he who defers his Repentance and hath it yet to do, is in perpetual pain and anxiety; whilst he thus considers with himself, alas, to repent is a very sad and painful work! but yet at last I must undergo it, or suffer that which is a thousand times more painful. I must lament and weep for my folly, watch and pray against it, struggle with and overcome it, or rue for it to all Eternity. O that it were done! but O how loth am I to go about it! O that my pain were over! but O how afraid am I to indure it! Thus the poor Wretch for fear of Pain exposes himself to a lingering Torment, and whilst by one brave Attempt he might ease himself, and set his soul at rest for ever, he languishes away his Life in misery, and is sick with the fear of his Remedy: just like some Men under the torments of the Stone, they know they must be cut or die, but the frightful apprehensions they have of their Remedy makes them delay it from time to time. They will indure it, they say, rather than lose their Lives, but when they come to the tryal their heart fails and they must needs have a little longer respite; and all the while they are full of pain and uneasiness, and full of sad Apprehensions of those severer pains they must indure in order to their recovery, and yet these at last they must indure too or that which is much more terrible to them; whereas had they but indured them at first, they might have saved themselves all those Torments, and all those Fears of farther Torments which they indured in the time of their delay. And is not this extreamly absurd and ridiculous? And yet just thus it is with those who put off their Repentance. Had they repented on their first Lapse, their hearts might have been at ease a great while ago, and they might have saved themselves all those gripes and twinges of Conscience which they have been forced to indure. But Repentance they thought was a sad remedy, and the fear of that too augmented the torment of their disease. But be it never so sad, they know well enough they must at last apply it, or perish for ever. Well; but they will apply it, that they resolve on; but fain they would have a little longer respite. Ah foolish Souls! will it hereafter be more easy than now to you? Will your Delay do you think mollify the pain and anguish of it? Alas no, it will rather render it more dolorous. So that all the while you delay, and think of it only but do not do it, you do but anticipate the Torment, and prolong the misery of it; and whereas if once it were done you would be at rest, and all the pain of your past Guilt, and the fear of your future Repentance would be over; whilst you only think of it but do it not, is is a continued Disease to you, and the very Apprehensions you have of it are many times more dolorous than the performance.
4. And lastly, to delay our Repentance is to do a thing upon no other presumption, but that we shall one Day repent of our own Action. And can there be any thing more ridiculous than for a Man to do an Action in hope that he shall live to repent of it? for either the Action is reasonable, or not, if it be, why should he hope to repent of it? if it be not, why should he be so extravagant to do it? so that for a Man to do a Thing upon Presumption that he shall repent of it, is to proclaim himself a Fool; and yet this is the Case of him that delays his Repentance. For that this very Delay is a Sin superadded to those criminal Actions of which he ought to repent, I have already demonstrated; from whence it necessarily follows, that this must be repented of as well as those. So that for Men to encourage themselves not to repent at present, in hope that they shall repent hereafter, is to act professedly contrary to the reasons of Things. For if the Nature of our Delay is such as that we have reason to hope we shall one day repent of it, this is so far from being a proper Encouragement to it, that it is one of the strongest Reasons that can be urged against it; and for a Man to rob in hope to be hang'd for it, or to drink deadly Poison in hope to be convulsed and tormented with it, is every whit as wise and rational, as to delay our Repentance in hope to repent of it. For who but a Mad-man, or one that is resolved to act counter to all Rules of Reason, would ever practise on this extravagant Conclusion; I will do this or that Action at present, in hope that hereafter I shall be sorry for, and extreamly ashamed of it, and wish a Thousand times that I had never done it. I know it is a great Evil, and do plainly perceive, that one time or other I shall find it so; but come what will, I will venture upon it, in hope that hereafter I shall be ashamed with the horror of it, and tormented for it upon the Rack of a self-condemning Conscience. And now, I beseech you, is this a reasonable Hope, or proper Encouragement for a wise Man to act upon? or rather, is it not one of the most absurd and foolish that ever any Fool or Mad-man proceeded on? and yet this is plainly the Meaning of our Pretension, when we delay our Repentance in hope to repent of it hereafter.
And thus you see how extravagantly absurd it is for Men to defer and put off their Repentance; so that methinks had we any Reverence for our selves, any Respect for those reasonable Natures by which we are constituted Men, we should be ashamed to act so inconsistently with all the Rules of Reason and Sobriety: and so I pass on to
3. The Third and last Head, under which I proposed to demonstrate the mighty Evil of delaying our Repentance, and that is the Danger of it; which I shall endeavour to make appear in these following particulars.
1. Every Delay of our Repentance, is a nearer Approach towards final Impenitence.
2. 'Tis a desperate Venture of our Opportunity of Repentance.
3. It indangers the forfeiting that Grace without the Assistance whereof we cannot repent.
4. It drives us nearer to the last Extremity.
1. Every Delay of our Repentance is a nearer Approach towards final Impenitence. For a sinful State is like a shelving Pool, in which the farther a man wades, the deeper it is; and so deeper and deeper till he come to the bottom of it; and when we are there, we are sunk beyond all hope of Recovery; so that at every step forward, we are in Danger of going beyond our Depth, and plunging into an irreversible Ruine. For final Impenitence, which is the Consummation and Perfection of all Sin, is nothing but a persevering Neglect, or Refusal to repent. And as a Man is always dying, and that which we call Death is only the last and finishing Act of it; so final Impenitence is not the Sin of one Day or Moment, unless it be by accident, but it is a state of Sin, begun as soon as ever the Sin is acted, and carried on through each repeated Action, and in fine is nothing but the same Sin so many times told over. But if it should happen, that he who sinned Yesterday should die to Day, it would be final Impenitance in him to defer his Repentance that one Day. So that our first Delay of Repentance, is the beginning of our final Impenitence, which in all its Periods differs from the Delay only by Chance and Accident; it is materially the same Sin, and if Death chance to strike the next Moment, it will also have the same Formality. For as he that dies young, dies as really as he that dies after Fourscore Years, so he that dies in the midst of a short Delay of his Repentance is as well finally Impenitent, as he that is snatch'd away to die for ever after Fourscore Years Impenitence; for though the Evil be hot so great, nor the Judgment consequent to it so heavy, yet is it as fatal, and as irreversible as the Decree of Damnation on the fallen Angels. So that all the Time we delay, and put off our Repentance, we are bordering on the worst of Evils, we are just upon the Confines of an irreversible Mischief, and the next step for all we know may carry us beyond Recovery. For if Death should intervene between us and to morrow, this Days delay will be fatal, and irreparable. And can we stand upon the brinks of this Precipice, and feel how the ground sinks underneath us, and yet sleep on securely, without ever thinking whether we are falling, or being in the least concerned at this amazing Prospect of our Danger? Methinks if we had any concern for our own safety, we should think it high time now to start up, and run away from our neighbouring Ruin, and not presume any longer to swim within the Circumference of this fatal Whirl-Pool that is every Moment sucking us in, and for all we know the next Moment may swallow us up irrecoverably.
2. Every Delay of our Repentance is a desperate Venture of the Opportunity we have to repent in, and that is this present Life, which is the Day in which we are to do our Work, the Time of Tryal in which we are to pass our Probation, and perform our Exercise for Eternity; and therefore considering how uncertain this Life is, and to how many Events and Casualties it is exposed, it must needs be a most desperate Venture for a Man to delay his Repentance. For who can tell but while we talk of repenting hereafter, there may be some latent Disease undermining the Fort of Life, and ready to seize the Garrison of our Souls; So that perhaps before this Day is at an end, we may be surprised in the midst of our Delay, and lose all our hopes of to morrow? For what is vain Man that he should talk of repenting hereafter, when perhaps, whilst the Word is in his Mouth, there may be an Imposthume in his Head or Breast, or a ripe harden'd Stone in his Kidney ready to drop down into his Bladder the next Moment; when he may be inflamed with a Fever by what he drinks to Night, or drowned in a Surfeit with what he eats to Morrow; when he may expire his Soul with the next Breath, or suck in Poison with the next Air, and so many unlook'd for Accidents may put an end to his talk of repenting hereafter, and render it impossible for ever. And suppose we should be thus surprized, as many others have been before us, that while we are merry and jolly in our Sins, that all on a suddain we should be hurried away out of the Company of our jovial Associates, into that of howling and tormented Spirits, and from our Songs and Laughter into weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of Teeth; how should we be blanked and amazed, and with what Horror and Astonishment should we reflect upon the woful Change, and upon our own desperate Folly that was the Cause of it? How dare we then talk of repenting hereafter, who cannot command one Moment of future Time, nor promise our selves one Day longer? when for all we know the hope of Eternity that is now in our hands may be lost for ever, and drop through our fingers before to Morrow Morning; and we that lie down this Night, and sleep securely in our Sins, may before the next Twilight awake with Horror and Amazement in Hell? Blessed God! that ever any reasonable Creatures should be so stupified, to venture a Soul and an everlasting Interest on so great an Uncertainty, and rather than begin his Repentance to day, run the hazard of being eternally miserable to morrow Morning! that he who will not trust his Gold one hour in the Possession of a Thief, nor his Life one minute within the reach of a Lions Paw, should abandon his Soul whole Months and Years together, to the Mercy of a Danger great enough to distract all the Wits of Mankind, did they but fully understand it! Let us therefore consider that the present Time only is in our Power, and that as for the future, it is wholly in God's; so that while we defer our Repentance to the future, we do as it were cast Lots for our Souls, and venture our everlasting Hopes upon a Contingency that is not in our Power to dispose of. For all we know, this may be the Evening of our Day of Tryal; and if it be, our Life and Eternity depends upon what we are now doing. Wherefore it highly concerns us, as we regard our own Safety, wisely to manage this last Stake, the winning or losing whereof, may prove our making or undoing.
3. Every Delay of our Repentance endangers the forfeiture of that Grace, without the Assistance whereof, we can never repent to purpose. For we can no more repent without God's Grace, than we can live without our Food. No man can come to me, saith our Saviour, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. Joh. 6. 44. But since God hath promised, that if we draw near to him, he will draw near unto us. Jam. 4. 8. that if we work out our own salvation, he will work in us to will, and to do. Philip. 2. 12. and that he will give the holy Spirit unto every one that asks him. Luke 11. 13. Since I say, God hath thus intailed his Grace upon our Endeavours, Repentance is within our Power, so long as that Grace is so; by which, if we do our Endeavour, we shall be enabled to it. He who can repent by the Grace of God, is able to repent so long as he is able to obtain his Grace to assist and concur with his Endeavours; but if he once withdraw his Grace, and give us over to our own Hearts Lusts, then are we no more able to repent by our own natural Strength and Power, than a Clod of Earth is to mount up to Heaven, and fix it self a glorious Star in the Firmament: But all the time we do delay our Repentance, we are wearying out the Grace of God, which whilst we are running away from God and our Duty, follows us with Importunities to return; but instead of complying with it, we still defer to listen to its Sollicitations, and put it off from time to time with false and empty Promises, what can be expected but that after so many defeats and disappointments it should at last abandon, us to our selves, and leave us to the miserable Fate of our own Folly and Madness: and if once it doth so, farewel to all the Hopes of our Recovery. Consider therefore, O thou vain Man, that sayst thou wilt repent hereafter; must thou command God to wait thy leisure, or fasten his Grace with such adamantine Chains as that it should never be able to get loose from thee? art thou sure it will be always at thy Beck, or that notwithstanding thy long Provocations, it will be ready to come in to thy aid whensoever thou callest for its Assistance? for by promising to repent hereafter, thou dost not only promise for thy self, but for the Grace of God too, whose Assistance is as necessary to thy Repentance, as thy own Endeavour; and methinks 'tis a strange piece of Confidence in thee, to promise for that which thou hast so much disobliged, and which upon that account thou hast so little reason to trust to. 'Tis true God hath promised you his Grace, but I beseech you, where hath he promised that you shall have it when you please? or that after all his Tenders, and your scornful Refusal of it, it shall be still at your Choice whether you will at last accept of, or again refuse it? for unless you can produce some such Promise as this, you can have no reason to expect that God will still continue his Grace to you, how long soever you refuse and reject it: And if he should at last deal by you, as you have dealt by him, this will be the final Issue, because when he hath called, you have refused, when he hath stretched out his hand, you have not regarded, but have set all his Counsels at naught, and would not hearken to his Importunities; therefore when you call, he will not answer, when you seek, he will not be found; but will even laugh at your Necessity, and mock when your last Extremity comes upon you. And should things be reduc'd once to this sad Issue, woe be to us that ever we were born.
4. And lastly, Every Delay of our Repentance drives us nearer to the last Extremity, which is that of a Death-bed Repentance; and how great a one that is, I have already shewed you at large, and given you evident Proof, that tho' it be not absolutely desperate, yet it is most fearfully hazardous and comfortless; and yet this is the common Center to which all our Delays do naturally tend. We venture to sin on, because we know that if we do repent, God will have Mercy upon us, and so we do resolve upon both; that is to sin now, and to repent hereafter. And by this Train the Devil touls us on through all the Stages of Sin and Life, till we come to our Death-bed, and then when our Time and Strength is spent, we shall have all the Business of our Life to do, and being reduc'd to this Extremity, what a woful Condition shall we be in? when we shall feel our selves departing into a long Eternity of Weal or Woe, and have nothing to bear us company thither, but our Sins and Guilts, which, if they be not cancelled in an instant, will consign us immediately to endless Misery; and whether we look either within, without, or above us, shall be able to see nothing but a black and dismal Cloud hanging over us, and Causes of Fear surrounding us on every side; how will our Heart sink within us, and our Soul quiver on our Lips to think how naked and harbourless she is left, having no other Refuge to fly to, now the Avengers of Blood are at her heels, but only that wronged and affronted Mercy which all her Life time she spurned and trampled on? When we shall consider what a vast Work we have to do, how little Time we have to do it in, how our own Strength is spent, and what little Reason we have to expect that God should strengthen us by a Miracle; in what a Tumult will our Souls be? how shall we quake and tremble to think whither we are going? and what will become of us for ever? Surely if we die in our Wits, and are not Atheists or Sots, it will be impossible for us to reflect on our selves and the fearful Risque we are running, without extream Horror and Amazement. For we must be strangely stupified, if when we perceive our selves upon the Confines of Eternity, within a very few Moments of being Happy or Miserable for ever, we do not awake from our Security; and if we do, the vastness of the Work that lies upon our Hands, the number of the Guilts that will stare us in the Face, and the little Time and Power we have to perform the one and expiate the other, must needs put our guilty Consciences into a fearful Agony, and unchain, and let loose all its Terrors upon us: And then how miserable will our Condition be, when we shall look about for Comfort, and see nothing but God's everlasting Threats ready to be fired and discharged upon us, and not one Promise opening a Door of Hope, nor any Arm of Mercy held forth to catch us now we are leaping down into Eternity; but Hell gaping for us as wide as our Grave, and both ready to receive a part of us, and our selves ready to divide our selves into those Two sad Habitations. O then shall we sigh and lament our Folly, and curse our lingring Delays, and wish a Thousand and a Thousand Times we had begun our Repentance sooner. This is the sad Extremity whereunto we are driving in every Delay of our Repentance; and considering all these Things, methinks these mighty Dangers whereunto our Delays expose us, should be enough to frighten the most resolute Sinner into present purposes of Amendment. And O would to God, that this might be the happy Effect of it! that Men at last would be but so wise as to consider these things, how monstrously Wicked, how shamefully Absurd, how fearfully Dangerous it is for them to put off their Repentance; and that considering this they would be so kind to themselves as now at last to betake themselves to the Discipline of a severe Repentance. This I know is a Word that Men are extreamly frighted at, they think if once they betake themselves to Repentance, they must encounter with vast Difficulties, and enter into a very dolorous and unpleasant Course of Life, which while they can live merrily in their Sins, they are very loath to do. And indeed I cannot deny, but after an habitual Course of Sin, our Entrance into a penitent Life, will in all probability, be attended with a great deal of Sorrow and Disquiet, but who can help this? it is you that have brought this Inconvenience on your selves by deferring your Repentance so long; and assure your selves, the longer you defer it, the more difficult it will be whenever you begin. But for God's sake consider Sirs, which do you think will be more uneasie, to undergo the Severities of Repentance for a Time, or Hell Fire for ever; to weep for your Sins whilst you have Hope of Mercy, to contest against them whilst you have a Prospect of Victory; or sigh and groan for them to all Eternity, without any hope of Ease or Redemption; for whether you will or no, you must endure Repentance or Hell; and therefore since there is no other remedy, at least be persuaded to choose that which is most tolerable, and if you do so, I am sure you must conclude, that 'tis infinitely easier to repent, than to be damned. But yet it is plain, that Men do commonly fancy Repentance to be much more grievous than it is; for could they once persuade themselves to resolve upon the Work, and seriously to engage in it, they would find the greatest part of the Trouble were over; for the main Difficulty of Repentance, lies in forming our first Resolution; this indeed will exact great Consideration, and vigorous Struggling with the wicked Habits and Inclinations of our own Natures; but when we have so far overcome our selves, as to obtain a full and clear Consent and Resolution, we have past the main brunt of our spiritual Warfare, and if we have but the Courage to keep our Ground, shall soon be crowned with the Joys of Victory, and that which seem'd at first so frightful, and terrible to us, will presently grow tolerable, and soon after easie, and after that by degrees so pleasant and delightful, that we shall prefer it before all the Pleasures of Sense, and feel our selves infinitely more blessed and happy in it, than ever we were in the midst of the highest Ravishments of our sinful Delights. Come then, my Brethren, let us stand no longer amusing our selves with the Difficulties, but let us seriously consider the indispensible necessity of it, the great Assistance God hath promised us if we will speedily undertake it, and the immense Rewards he proffers to encourage us to it, and let us never leave pressing our selves with these Considerations, till we have obtained of our selves a full and free consent to it, and wrought our Wills into a serious and hearty Resolution. And when we have prevailed thus far, we have gotten over the greatest Difficulty that lies between us and Heaven, and if we do but vigorously pursue our Resolution, our Work will every day grow easier and easier, and so at last it will be our Recreation, and we shall reap from it so much Peace of Conscience, so much Ioy in the Holy Ghost, such a calm and sweet Enjoyment of our selves, and such a glorious Hope of a future blessed Immortality, as will carry us with unspeakable Vigour through all the weary Stages of our Duty, till we are arrived to our Journeys end, where all the Sorrows of our Repentance shall be swallowed up in everlasting Joys and Triumphs.