tions, and with Felix ftill puts off the practice of this duty to fome more convenient Ephef. iv. 30. feafon; does not thereby grieve the Holy Spirit of God, and defpife his Grace, and affront his Goodness, who thus gracioufly offers and continues to him the means and opportu nities of Salvation?....

2dly, Whether by fo doing, he does not provoke God in as high a manner as can well be imagined, no longer to continue his Grace to him, nor to expofe his Mercy to contempt, by fuffering his Holy Spirit ftill to frive with fuch obftinate Offenders? And then by confequence,

3dly, and laftly; Whether every fuch Perfon may not have juft caufe to apprehend, that by delay ing his Repentance, and putting off the bufinefs of Religion to a ftill future opportunity, he shall at laft provoke God to withdraw his Grace from him? And feeing when he had the opportunity given him, and was invited to repent, he defpifed the of fer, and neglected fo to do, God may not hereaf ter deliver him up to a hardned and impenitent heart; and take away that Grace from him, which he has fo unworthily abused, and thereby deferved to have no longer continu'd to him.

Rom. ii. 5.

See Matt. xxv.

14, 28, 30.

To conclude: If in that famous Parable of the Talents, there be any application yet remaining to be made of that part of it, in which we find the Talent taken from the unprofitable Servant, and a terrible Sentence of Everlasting Mifery pronounced against him for his neglect: Or, in that other of the Fig-tree, which was to be pruned and digg'd, and then

Luk. xii. 6.

try'd

try'd another year; and if ftill it continued to bring forth no Fruit, then to be cut down, and caft. out of the Vineyard: The meaning of both can be no other than this; That he who defpifing the Grace of God, and the opportunity of Salvation, continues ftill in his Sins, and improves not thofe Abilities God has given him to the great ends for which they were beftowed upon him, fhall at laft by a fevere, but most juft judgment of God, be deprived of them; and have his neglect punish'd with the lofs of God's Grace here, and in the confequence of it, with an Eternal Damnation hereafter.

And this then may fuffice to fhew, how dangerous it is for a man to put off the bufinefs of Repentance at the prefent, out of an unwarrantable prefumption that it will be time enough to perform it hereafter. But now if the Queftion be, What a man who has unhappily done this, fhould do? I reply,

ift, Let him by all means haften his Repentance. all he can; and the longer he has deferr'd it already, the more careful and refolute let him be not to put it off one moment longer.

2dly, Let him be fo much the more zealous and diligent in his Religious Performances; let his forrow be the more pungent, his Confeffions the more humble, his Prayers the more fervent; but especially his Refolutions and his Endeavours the more hearty and fincere to break off the course of his Sins, the longer he has continued in them: that fo by the extraordinary vigour of his prefent Endeavours, he may make fome kind of repara

2

tion for the flowness he has been hitherto guilty of in fetting about his duty.

But this is not all: It will, perhaps, be farther enquired; Whether upon the Principle I have now laid down, of the withdrawing God's Grace from fuch as refuse and reject the offers of it, it will not follow, that fuch perfons as these are to be look'd upon as in a defperate Eftate; and therefore that it is in vain for them now to think of repenting at all?

But this is a Question which every man will beft be able to fatisfy himself about. That he who puts off his Repentance now, upon a pre fumption that it will be time enough to fulfil it hereafter, may juftly fear the withdrawing of God's Grace from him, I have fully fhewn: But that God does abfolutely withdraw his Grace from every fuch Perfon, I do not fay; and whether or no he has withdrawn it from any particular Perfon, he will presently be able to difcern by the ftate in which he finds his Soul as to the business of Religion.

If his Lufts and his Paffions lead him captive at their pleasure; If he has no Affections or Defires remaining after Piety in his foul; if he cares not for God nor his duty, nor can yet perfuade himfelf either to think of another world, or to provide for it; Thefe indeed are, though I will not fay certain figns of a defperate condition, yet such as may give us juft caufe to fear whether he be not come into that ftate, from which there is no Redemption, and in which God will no longer give him any Affiftance, to return into the way of Righteousness.

But if, on the contrary, he even now begins to come again to himself, and wishes and defires, if

it

it be poffible, to be reconciled unto God: If being touch'd with a lively fenfe of his fins and his obftinacy, he is at laft willing to amend, and reeurn unto God with all his heart: Then 'tis plain, that though his Condition may be bad, yet it is not defperate. God has not yet given him up a Slave to the Devil, but ftill continues to him the benefit of Repentance; fo that if he be not again wanting to himself, he may yet hope for a fufficient measure of Divine Grace to bring him by Repentance to Salvation.

But here ftill there will one difficulty more arife, and it is this. How fuch a Perfon fhall fatisfy himself that he is truly penitent; and by confequence that he may depend upon the mercy of God for Pardon, notwithstanding his former Impenitence?

To this I anfwer, 1ft. If the perfon who thus repents at the last, be in a condition of continuing yet longer in this world, he may then be fure of the fincerity of his Repentance, and of the confequent fecurity of his Condition, by the fame experience that all others are, viz. by the fruits of it in a conftant performance of Piety and Good Works. But now

2dly. If the Queftion be of a dying Penitent, then indeed it will be a matter of more difficulty to answer it. For if on the one hand I may not be fo uncharitable as to conclude at all adventures the utter invalidity of fuch a Repentance, because for ought I know, 'tis poffible for a man in the very laft act of his life, to be ftruck with such a true contrition for his fins, as might, if he had lived, have produced a real Amendment, and then

God

God who is able to difcern this, will confider him accordingly: Yet_neither on the other, can we ever be fure that such a Repentance is fincere, nor by confequence may we at all Adventures suppose in favour of it.

The truth is, a Death-bed Repentance is, in the beft profpect we can take of it, exceeding dangerous, and in the cafe before us, I am afraid defperate. Nor have we in all the Holy Scripture, fo much as one Example of any one that purposely put off his Repentance to this time, and yet was faved upon it; and the Inftance of Felix in my Text, is a terrible one to the contrary. He was touch'd with St. Paul's Preaching, and feared the Fudgment of which he fpake. But he put off the Apoftle to a more convenient feafon; and we do not find that ever that more convenient feafon came, or that he had ever any future call to Repentance.

It is not to be queftion'd, but that if a man be come to this fad pafs, he ought by all means to be exhorted to repent, because otherwise to be fure, he must perish, and 'tis poffible this may fave him. But what that Repentance is, which a wicked man then exercises, we cannot tell, and the effect of it must be left to God's Judgment to declare; and it will be our parts instead of being over-inquifitive into these fecrets, to be careful not to expofe our felves to a condition fo full of danger; in which there is much to be feared, but little Hope, and no Security.

And now, what more remains to engage us to a Speedy, or rather to a prefent Repentance, but that having thus largely fhewn the danger of deferring our duty, I very briefly clofe all with a more excellent Profpect,

IIdly, Of