Part 7
2dly, There is in this returning a return of the soul to its duty to God. Hence said Saul, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Acts 9:6. Whoever returns to God, comes home as a servant to enter to work: for idlers about God's house may be nominal servants, but real ones they cannot be. God's servants have higher relations which they stand in to him; but all of them have duty annexed to them. Are they married to Christ? they must bring forth fruit, Rom. 7:4. Are they friends? they must do whatsoever he commands them, John 15:14. See Mal. 1:6. Now, the penitent returns to his duty in these two respects.
(1.) The penitent returns to his duty in his heart. He is (1.) reconciled to the whole law of God, and the whole yoke of Christ, so far as it is known to him to be his law and yoke, Psal. 119:6. "I have respect unto all thy commandments." He has a love and liking of the duties of piety towards God, and righteousness towards men. Though there remain in him a contradicting principle, yet he can say, as Rom. 7:22, "I delight in the law of God, after the inward man." The heart-enmity against the law and the power of godliness is removed, and nothing is so desirable to him as to be holy as God is holy. (2.) He has a full and fixed purpose of new obedience: Psal. 119:57, "O Lord, I have said, that I would keep thy words." Ver. 112, "I have inclined mine ear to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end." He returns with a purpose never to be what he has been; to pursue holiness, to enter upon, and keep the way of duty, whatever be the hardships and difficulties he may meet with in it. And this purpose is for to-day, not for to-morrow only; not to delay a minute, but presently to fall in with every known duty, as knowing there is no time for delaying.
(2.) The penitent returns to his duty in both heart and life. He is brought to sincere endeavours after new obedience: 2 Cor. 7:11, "Behold, this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! in all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter." Purposes without endeavours are but fair blossoms without fruit, which will never prove a penitent. If the lame man be cured, though not perfectly cured, he will rise and walk as he can. It is true, while here we can do nothing perfectly well; but the true penitent will endeavour to do all, and aim at no less than perfection. Hence said Paul, "I press toward the mark, for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," Phil. 3:14. So the penitent returning to his duty,
[1.] Returns to the practice of every known duty. Hence said David, "I have respect unto all thy commandments," Psal. 119:6. He labours to know what is duty, and is willing to know it; and when known, endeavours to perform it. He puts hand to external and internal obedience; to serve God in heart and life too; to perform his duty to God and to his neighbour; personal and relative, secret, private, and public.
[2.] Returns to spirituality in every duty: Phil. 3:3, "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."* The true penitent will not sist in the carcase of duties, but will endeavour to get in to those unseen things where lies the life and soul of duties; namely, to have his heart imbued with love to God as the principle of his obedience, touched with regard to the honour of God as his end, raised above selfish ends and designs, and performing all in faith, leaning on the Lord for strength.
Now, this returning to the Lord is,
1. A sincere returning, not feigned and hypocritical, with the whole heart, Jer. 3:10. Hypocrites are said to have a heart and a heart, a divided heart, one for God, and another for their lusts. But the Lord says in this case, If ye take me, let these go away. For no man can serve two masters. It is a returning to him to abide with him for ever, as Onesimus to Philemon, ver. 15. The penitent, like the servant under the law, his ear is nailed to God's door-posts, to serve him for ever. To return for a time is naught.
2. A voluntary return. The penitent comes back with heart and goodwill, Psal. 110:3, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power;" as one that is going back to a good and honourable master, and will serve him with gladness: Psal. 100:2, "Serve the Lord with gladness." They that are only driven back to God, by heavy rods or sharp convictions, will come away again; yet people may be driven at first to God, who seeing his glory and excellency, and the desirableness of his service afterwards, do voluntarily and heartily yield themselves to him.
3. A speedy return: Psal. 119:60, "I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments." They that are sincere will not delay for a moment; they will make no truce with sin. The moment wherein true repentance touches the heart, is the precise term of going home to God; for they know that if they delay a moment longer, that moment may be the fatal moment to them.
4. A thorough return. The soul sticks at no known duty, but embraces all, be it ever so hard, and unpleasant to flesh and blood. Hence said the Lord of David, Acts 13:22, "I have found David the son of Jesse; a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will." The penitent puts a blank in God's hand, saying, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Speak, Lord," says he, "thy servant heareth." He is for the will of God, without disputing. For God is an absolute master, and is therefore to be obeyed without reserve.
USE of this point. It lets us see, that negative reformation is not sufficient for repentance. One must not only turn from sin, but turn unto God. We must not only put away evil, but take in to us the contrary good: Is. 1:16, "Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil
of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well," &c. We must not only give up with such and such lusts, but be endued with the contrary graces. Some people reform from the evils of their life, but they do not go forward to the positive ways of holiness. They satisfy themselves, with the proud Pharisee, that they are not unjust, no extortioners, &c.; but, alas! they do not consider, that when the house which the devil goes out of is empty, he returns with seven spirits more wicked than himself, and so the last state of such a person is worse than the first, Matt. 12:44, 45.
THE APPLICATION
I come now to the application of the whole. And here I would sound the alarm in the ears of impenitent sinners, to repent, and turn from their sins unto God. O sinners, repent, repent; ye are gone away to your lusts and idols, turn from them; ye have turned your back on God, turn to him again. In prosecuting this call to repentance, I shall,
1. Endeavour to convince you of the need you have to repent.
2. Lay before you a train of motives to repentance.
3. Shew you the great hindrances of repentance. And,
4. Give directions in order to your obtaining repentance.
I. I shall endeavour to convince you of the need you have to repent, to make way for the motives to it. There are three sorts of persons that will readily stave off all our calls to repentance.
1. One says, I repent of my sins daily. Well were it with thee, if it were so. Surely there is need for it. But none are so ready to pretend to
this, as those that never yet knew what it is to repent. If ruing the ill thou hast done, a sigh for it, and a short-winded wish for mercy, be repentance, it is easy work. But it is not so. Thou canst not repent with a hale heart: that heart of thine must be rent for sin, and rent from it; thou must turn from sin unto God in all known duties of obedience. If ye pretend then to repentance, bring forth fruits meet for it. But to such pretended penitents we may say, as Samuel to Saul, 1 Sam. 15:14, "What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the oxen?"
2. Another says, I have repented already. But O consider, repentance is not the work of a day, but of thy whole lifetime, since thou art never free of sin, Jer. 8:6. New provocations require new repentance; nay, old sins are not to be forgotten. Hence said Moses, Deut. 9:7, "Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness." And hence prays the Psalmist, Psal. 25:7, "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions." And if thou repent of them thoroughly, thou wilt be ashamed, and the wound will bleed afresh at the remembrance of them. Hence said the apostle, Rom. 6:21, "What fruit had ye in those things, whereof ye are now ashamed?"
3. Another sees no need of repentance for him; for such persons are of that blinded generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness, Prov. 30:12. They deny their sin instead of mourning over and confessing it, saying as ver. 20. "I have done no wickedness." They possibly keep free from the gross pollutions of the outward man; and for the positive duties of religion, they either see no need of them, or if they do perform them too, they are blind to the corruption of their nature, and to heart sins, and the
spirituality of the law of God. But ye need repentance as much as the proud Pharisee, Luke 18 and as the Apostle Paul, Rom. 7:9. compared with Tit. 3. But O consider,
1st, Are there not many of us that never got a sound awakening all their days? They had lived under the sound of the gospel, but it never broke their rest effectually in a sinful course. I will read the mystery of your case, Luke 11:21. "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace." Repent then, else ye are undone.
2dly, Are there not many whose awakening has produced a partial change on them, but it has ended in a fearful apostacy from the way of God? 2 Pet. 2:22. "It is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and, the bow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire." Their fair blossom they once had, has gone up as dust. Repent, or your backsliding will be your ruin.
3dly, Are there not many sleeping virgins at this day, who are in a course of departing from God? The life, vigour, and tenderness they sometimes had, is gone; and death has settled down on their eyelids, and they are turned to be of the colour of the earth. To these we must say, as Rev. 2:5. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works."
4thly, Are there not many living in known sin? They know the particulars wherein they are wrong, and yet on they go, as an ox to the slaughter. Their corruptions are too strong for conscience. Ye must repent, or ye will perish. Profane courses will make a miserable end, and one sin retained will ruin the soul.
5thly, Look and see whether thou canst perceive the footsteps of Christ's flock, or of the devil's drove, on the way which thou art going, Cant. 1:8. Is your case the case wherein the fair company walked with displayed banners to Cannan, or that wherein many have slept and slipped away to the pit?
6thly, Canst thou deny but that there are many foul steps thou hast made and art making? O then repent. Go no farther on; one step more may put you beyond returning, Luke 14:24. Little knows the sinner how soon God may take the foot from him, either by clapping a withering curse on him, as on the fig-tree, Hos. 4:17. or by taking him red-hand in his sin, and sending him to the pit, Prov. 29:1. "He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."
II. I will lay before you a train of motives to repentance
MOTIVE 1. Consider the obligations that lie on you to repent. Sit down and consider how manifold ties are on you to it.
1. The command of God obligeth you to it: Acts 17:30. "God commanded all men every where to repent." And will ye not have regard to the sovereign authority of him that made you? The command to repentance is one of the two great commands of the gospel, Acts 20:21. "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the command which the prophets of old did so often inculcate, Ezek. 18:30. "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." This our Lord Jesus and the Baptist preached, and his disciples, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This the Apostles preached,
Acts 2:38. "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins." And this all along is the joint sound of the preachers of the gospel. So it is an old and new command too. No command is more peremptorily laid on, as in the text. As ye regard then God's authority, repent.
2. Your baptism obligeth you: Mark 1:4. "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins." It is a solemn tie laid upon you to return to and serve God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; to die unto sin, to live unto righteousness. Ye have then taken on the Lord's badge; how dreadful must it be to continue runaways from your Great Master? Repent, then, and return, as ye would not be treated as runaways from your colours, as rebels that cast off your allegiance sworn to the King of heaven.
3. Your mercies oblige you in point of gratitude; 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?" your common mercies, and special ones, preventing, restraining, &c. Every mercy is forfeited by sin; yet ye are still in God's debt, and every day a new load of favours is laid on, and these are strong ties to repentance.
4. Lastly, Your profession obligeth you. Ye profess yourselves Christians. If ye will name the name of Christ, then depart from iniquity, 2 Tim. 2:19. Why do ye call God Father, if ye will needs do the works of the devil, (John 8:44.) which Christ came to destroy? Do ye profess Christ your Redeemer, the Holy Ghost your Sanctifier? why then do ye continue in bondage to your sin, in unholy courses?
Do ye believe every sin deserveth God's wrath? what madness is it then to be treasuring up wrath againt the day of wrath? Quit your profession then, or quit your sinful courses.
MOTIVE 2. Seriously consider what sin is, that ye are so fond of, prefer to Christ, and for the enjoyment of it forfeit the favour of God. What do you see in it, that does so powerfully charm you? If you are taken with the profit of it, ye would consider that no advantage will quit the cost of the soul's ruin brought about by it: Matt. 16:26, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Job 27:8, "For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?" If you are taken with the pleasure of it; that is dear bought, being purchased at the rate of eternal flames, which sin will bring men to without repentance. The pleasures of sin are but momentary, Heb. 11:25. And there is far more in God's service, even in this world: Psal. 4:6, 7, "There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased." Consider, I pray you,
1. Has not every bait a hook with it? Prov. 23:31, 32. Is there not a trap, gin, and snare in them all for you? How often have ye seen there has been death in the pot, when ye have sit down to feed your corruptions? Ye have snatched at the bait, but have ye not in the meantime felt yourselves wounded with the hook? ye have smelled the rose, but have not the prickles mean while annoyed you? And how can it be otherwise? for "he that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him," Eccl. 10:8.
2. Is there any solid rest in a sinful course? No, surely: Is. 57:21, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Do not your consciences witness, that the sting of guilt in the conscience is like a dead fly in the ointment, causing all to be unsavoury? Is there not always a worm at the root of every sinful gourd you sit down under the shadow of? Do not the very may bees of conscience suck the sap out of your lusts many times? Will any man say, that ever he found rest to his soul in a course of departing from God? No, no; ten thousand worlds will not satisfy an immortal soul.
3. Do not ye find sin to be an insatiable tyrant, like the grave and the barren womb, never saying, It is enough? Is. 57:20. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." O but they have a hard task, that have living raging lusts to feed! James 4:2, 3, "Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." Psal. 78:18, 19, "And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meet for their lust. Yea, they spake against God: they said, can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" The more they are indulged, the more they grow rampant: the more their thirst is cared for, the greater thirst is created. Hence men in a sinful course go from evil to worse.
4. Is not a sinful course a most foolish course? No man is unfaithful to God, but he is unfaithful to himself, and his own interest and happiness. The Lord offers to reason the matter with you, and to make your consciences judge; Isa. 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool." It stands betwixt you, and temporal and eternal happiness. It is a poisonous cup, bringing death along with it. And how foolish is it for men to hug a serpent in their bosom, when called to throw it out; to drink a cup of poison, when called to throw it away; to take coals in their bosom, when it is told they will burn them; to court their own death and ruin?
5. Is not sin the separation wall betwixt God and you? Is. 59:2, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." Does it not mar your comfort from the word, your confidence in the Lord, and your access to God in duties? does it not make as it were a gulf betwixt Heaven and you, that whatever communion others have with Heaven, your unrepented-of sins lets you have none? Shall this be your choice? Sure, then, ye need not wonder, if ye will not come back to God, he bid you at last depart from him, "into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
6. Lastly, Consider what will be the end thereof. Sorely it will be bitterness in the end: Jer. 2:19, "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee: know therefore and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts." However pleasant the cup seem to be at the brim, the dregs of it will be bitter: Prov. 9:17, 18, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell." However taking the entertainment be, the reckoning wilt be dreadful.
MOTIVE 3. Consider ye must die: Heb. 9:27, "It is appointed unto men once to die." Death is certain, and therefore repentance is necessary. O if men would realize death to themselves, sinners would soon find it necessary to turn a new leaf. One hearing Gen. 5. read in the church, was so impressed with the thoughts of death, that he presently betook himself to a new course of life, that he might die well. We must all meet with death, lie down in the grave; let us view it aforehand, and see how it calls us to repent. Look to thy dying hour, and to thy grave, O impenitent sinner, and consider these few things.
1. Wouldst thou be content to die as thou livest? Thou livest in thy sin, without God; wouldst thou desire to die so? Many indeed entertain Balaam's wish, for the death of the righteous, while they care not for their life, Num. 23:10, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." But remember he did not get it, chap. 31:8, "Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword." And while death is so uncertain, it is the hanging of an eternal weight on a hair, to look to get matters mended then, that are not mended now.
2. Consider, what will a sinful life look like on a death-bed? How will ye be able to look your unrepented-of guilt, and a long eternity in the face together? Ezek. 22:14, "Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it." Sin sits easy now on a sleepy conscience, while health and strength lasts, and death appears not. But when death stares thee in the face, and the awakened conscience flies upon thee, it will cut thee to the heart, that thou hast not repented before.
3. What will it be to die, and go to another world with a load of unrepented-of guilt on thy back? Look to your grave aforehand; think with yourselves, how will it be to lie down there with your bones full of your iniquity? Is it not best now, to shake off and east away your transgressions, as knowing that however ye may live with them, ye cannot die with them well.
4. At a dying hour ye must part with the world, and the enjoyment of your lusts. The foul feast ye sit at now, death will overthrow the table, and the sad reckoning for it comes in then, and continues for ever. O rise up now, and leave it by repentance. Part with these things at God's call, which ye must part with ere long, whether ye will or not.
5. Lastly, There is no repentance in the grave, Eccl. 9:10. Ye must repent, or ye perish; and it is now or never. Mar matters now by an impenitent life, and let death catch you there, ye shall never be able to mend them more. The working time, and time of trial is over then. If the brittle thread of life were broke, which may be snapt asunder in a moment, then ye are beyond the line of mercy. The candle burnt to snuff, shall be as soon brought to born again, as time shall be recalled.
MOTIVE 4. Take a view of the tribunal of God, before which thou must appear: 2 Cor. 5:10, 11, "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." O sinner, knowest thou not that there is a judgment to come, and how this calls thee to repent? Acts 17:30, 31, "God commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained: whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Were men to lie for ever neglected, without a future reckoning, as the beasts that perish, they might live as they list, the hazard of condemnation for an eternity would not press them. But it is not so: Heb. 9:27, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Consider,
1. While thou art going on in sin, thy debt to the divine justice is increasing, the accounts are swelling; and the reckoning for them before the tribunal will be terrible, however little ye think of them now, Eccl. 11:9. They may fall out of thy memory, but they will not fall out of the book of God's remembrance, Hos. 13:12. But now is the time to get them laid over on the cautioner's score.
2. Though thou wilt not seek them out now to mourn over them, and turn from them, they will find thee out before the tribunal of God, Happy would the sinner be, if his sins would part with him at the grave; but they "shall lie down with him in the dust," Job 20:11: or if they would lie down with him there, if they would lie still and never rise again; but "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil," Eccl. 12:14. The Judge is omniscient, nothing can be hid from him, he is not capable to forget the least injury which the sinner has done to his glory; all must come into the account.
3. When thou seest Christ come again, and his throne set for judgment, when the trumpet shall blow, and the dead arise, and made to compear before that tribunal, when the heavens and earth shall pass away, what will be thy thoughts of staving off repentauce?
4. Lastly, Thy state for eternity will be determined there according to thy deeds done in the flesh. Impenitent sinners will get a long eternity to rue their obstinacy in, while those that repented in time shall be happy for ever.
MOTIVE 5. To move you to repentance, consider the sufferings of Christ. A Roman senator intending to provoke the people to revenge the death of Cæsar killed by Brutus, brought forth his bloody robe, and cried, "Here is the robe of your late emperor." And O will ye look to the bloody robe of Christ, hung up on the pole of the gospel, to move you to repentance? Zech. 12:10, "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him," &c. And learn here,
1. How dreadful must God's indignation against sin be, which is written with the blood of Christ, pierced with the sword of justice. Is it not "a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God?" And shall we continue in sin, against which such indignation appeared?
2. Sin appeared terrible in Sodom when in flames, but yet more terrible in mount Calvary, where the justice of God pursued the Son of God with the sword of vengeance. A spectacle of amazement, the Son of God set up for a mark to the arrows of God! Do ye not ask into the cause of all this? It was sin. The children ate the sour grape, and the father's teeth were set on edge. They contract the debt, justice lays hold on him, and he "restores what he took not away, Psal. 69:4. The elect took on the debt jovially, but he is put to tears and strong cries in the paying of it. And will we not hate and loath sin?
3. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods from above nor from below drown it. "Behold how he loved you." He
might have been happy in his Father's love, though mortals had never shared of it with him. But such was his love to sinners, as made him lay down his life for them, that so a way might be pared for the egress of his Father's love towards them. And will ye not hate and loathe sin which was the cause of his death? Is this your kindness to your friend?
4. When Christ suffered, the earth quaked, rocks rent, the dead arose, the sun was struck, blind with the sight, and hid his face for shame: and how can we stand unmoved, who were the first movers of the bloody tragedy, whose sins furnished a Judas to betray him, a Pilate to sentence him? &c. Look here, and mourn for, and turn from sin.
5. Lastly, Did he not suffer enough? must he suffer more still, even in his state of exaltation? will ye grieve his Spirit, trample on his laws, yea and his blood, continuing impenitent in your sins?
MOTIVE 6. Consider the wrong done to God by your sin, in which ye may see the ugly picture of it. This kept Joseph from yielding to a strong temptation, Gen. 39:9; and pierced David's heart with repentance for his sin, Psal. 51:4; and lay heavy on the prodigal son, Luke 15:18. Every sin reacheth the throne of God in heaven, and him that sits on it. It is true, the malice of sinners against God is impotent malice, and can do him no real prejudice, do their worst. They cannot make him less happy, they cannot disturb his peace, Job 35:6–8. But the sinner is like the beggar full of sores lying on a dunghill, venting his spite against the prince on the throne. He wrongs the honour of God, his declarative glory, though he can do nothing against his essential glory. Sinner, thou wrongest God by thy sin,
1. By setting thyself in opposition to his nature and will. What is sin continued in without repentance? "A walking contrary to God," Lev. 26:21; an interpretative aim to throw him down from his sovereignty, Psal. 14:1, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Thou mayst put what fair colours thou pleasest upon it; but it is a throwing out the flag of defiance against the God that made thee. For dost thou not thereby in effect disregard his all-seeing eye, and presence every where, bid defiance to his justice, and call in question his truth, despise his goodness and mercy, and run counter to his holy nature and will, while thou runest still on that of which he has said, Jer. 14:4, "Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate!" And is this a course to be insisted in?
2. Thou wrongest God by trampling on his laws, Is. 33:22. He has given thee a law to be the rule of thy life, he has stamped it with his own sovereign authority, fenced it with punishments threatened, suitable to his infinite greatness: but thou makest no more of these than if they were cobwebs fit only to catch flies. Thou breakest through the fences, and in contempt of his authority, will be over into the forbidden ground. Thus thou affrontest the God that made thee: will he sit with it think ye? No, he can avenge the affront, James 4:12, "There is one lawgiver, who is able to destroy;" and he will do it, Luke 19:27, "Those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."
3. Thou wrongest God by despising his Son, John 5:40. Ye wrong God at the rate heathens cannot do, and therefore your condemnation will be greater than theirs, John 3:19. God has sent his Son into the world, by his death to procure reconciliation betwixt God and sinners; he has "exalted him to give repentance," Acts 5:31:
but by your continuing in sin, ye slight his death, and the purchase of his blood: you love your disease so, as you loathe the Physician. What will be the end of these things? Acts 13:41, "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish."
4. Thou wrongest God by grieving his Spirit, Eph. 4:30. Hear God's complaints of impenitent sinners, Ezek. 6:9, "I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from me, and with their eyes which go a whoring after their idols." Amos 2:13, "Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves." How often has the Spirit of the Lord been at work with you to turn you from your sins, speaking to you by the word, providences, the secret checks of your own conscience, and secret motions and whispers within your own breast, but all to no purpose? This will not last: Gen. 6:3, "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh." And it will have a doleful end, if ye do not repent: Is. 63:10, "They rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them." If sinners continue to be a burden to the Spirit of God, and do not take off the burden by repentance, God will throw it off to their cost: Is. 1:24, "Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies."
5. Thou wrongest God by defacing the remains of his image in your own soul, "God made man upright, after his own image." Adam's sin ruined his image in us. But the more we go on and sin, we render ourselves still the more unlike God, and the more contrary to him. How fearful is this, to be still blotting out any appearance of the traits of God's image in us?
6. Lastly, Thou wrongest God by the ill influence your example has on others. Hence says our Lord, Matth. 24:12, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Every impenitent sinner is an agent for the devil, and invites and encourages others to despise God and his ways, and so will be made to reckon for the mischief his sin does that way. The rich man in hell was sensible of this, though it would seem not before, Luke 16:27, 28, "I pray thee, father," said he to Abraham, "that thou wouldst send him [Lazarus] to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment."
Now, will ye go on, thus wronging God by your sin, and not turn from it unto him? Consider, I pray you,
1. He is your Creator, Eccl. 12:1. He gave you a being, and brought you out of the womb of nothing, and will ye not be for him? will ye be against him? Has not he that made you a right to rule you? does not reason itself say, that God's creating us gives him a sovereign dominon over us? O why will the creature thus set itself against the Creator? Will the potsherds strive against the potter.
2. He is your Preserver, Heb. 1:3. Acts 17:28. You live on his earth, feed on his good creatures, breathe in his air, and will ye not hearken to his voice? Who was it that preserved thee in the womb, that brought thee out of it, so that it was not made thy grave? Who has kept the brittle thread of thy life from being broken hitherto, and fed thee all thy life long? Is it not the Lord? And wilt thou fight against him with his own benefits which he has bestowed on thee, yea, is bestowing on thee while thou goest on in thy sin? Shall the life, strength, comforts of life, time, &c. which he has given thee, be
employed to the grieving of his Spirit? What will the end of these things be?
3. He can destroy you, and that when he will, Matth. 10:28. Your life and breath is from him, and he can stop it when he pleaseth. He does not suffer you to go on to your sin, because he cannot help it, nay, the moment thou provokest him, he can strike thee dead, or send thee down alive into the pit. But he waits to be gracious. And this one consideration might determine sinners to repent, if madness were not in their hearts, setting them to provoke him, who in a moment can destroy them, and make them silent in the grave.
4. He is your Witness, Psal. 51:4. Luke 15:18. Sinners that like not to retain God in their knowledge, do in effect please themselves with the notion that God is closed up in heaven, Ezek. 9:9. "For they say, The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not." But the day comes when they will see themselves miserably deceived. No; he is a witness, though many times a silent witness; but he will speak in due time, Psal. 50:21, 22. The opening of the book of conscience, and of God's remembrance, will clear his being a witness of your whole way and every step of it.
5. Lastly, He will be your Judge, 2 Cor. 5:10. And he is an omnicient one, from whom nothing can be bid; a just one, that will reward every one according to his works; an omnipresent one, from whose presence there can be no escape; an omnipotent one who can without fail make his sentence take effect. Will men pretend to believe a judgment to come, and yet be at no pains to make the judge their friend aforehand, but keep up the war against him, and not
break it off by repentance? Alas! horrid unbelief is at the bottom of impenitency.
MOTIVE 7. God is calling you to repentance. Be not deaf to the calls of God, lest the Lord pay home your rebellion, by refusing to hear you when ye call to him, Prov. 1:24. and downwards. God is calling you to repentance,
1. By the mercies wherewith he is daily loading you. Quot beneficia, tot ora. 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? These are the cords of a man wherewith God is drawing you. That you are spared on God's earth, that you are kept out of hell, that he gives you daily bread, and does not lock up heaven and earth that they may not help you, call aloud to you to repent, and turn to him. And he takes notice how little these prevail, Jer. 5:24. "Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth rain, both the former and the latter in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest."
2. God is calling you to repentance by the crosses and afflictions, either laid on you, or threatened. Every cross providence is a messenger from Heaven calling you to repentance: Mic. 6:9. "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. They meet you in the way of sin, as the angel did Balaam; they bid you halt, and go no farther on; nay, they bid you return to the Lord. God is speaking to the land this way, to this church, and to the congregation, and to every one of us at this day.
3. God is calling you to repentance by the preaching of the word, Acts 17:30. This is the great scope of all our preaching, that ye may repent and turn from your sins unto God. And while God continues his gospel with us, it is a sign he is waiting for our repentance: but to continue in sin over the belly of all warnings, will have a fatal end to take us from the gospel, or the gospel from us; which we have ground to fear at this day on more accounts than one. Hence says Christ to the church of Ephesus, Rev. 2:5, "Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."
MOTIVE ult. Consider the text, "Except ye repent, ye shall perish." There are two things in this to press you to repentance.
1 If ye repent not, ye shall perish. Sin unrepented of, brings ruin upon kingdoms, churches, congregations, families. And that is like to be the ruin of our land, and of our church, at this day. For, alas! the face of all at this day is like that described, Jer. 8:6. "I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned unto his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle." God has threatened us with desolating strokes, and is yet threatening but the generation is like to those scoffers spoken off, 2 Pet. 3:4. saying, where is the promise of his coming? And because God does not speedily execute the sentence, therefore men cast off fear, and go on in their sins, in defiance of heaven. But that concerns us nearly: Jer. 9:9. "Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"
Sin unrepented of will ruin your souls; Except ye repent, ye shall perish. Consider, your life, your souls lie at stake. Sinner, thou hast gone away from God, thy soul is left in pawn that thou shalt return by repentance. If thou return not, thy pawn, thy soul is lost, lost for ever. Heaven's gate is too narrow to let you in there with a burden of unrepented-of sin on thy back. Nay, heaven thou canst never see; hell thou canst not escape, if thou repent not. The gospel calls you to repent; if not, the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on you that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," 2 Thess. 1:7, 8. Have pity therefore on your souls, Ezek. 18:31, 32, "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make yon a new heart, and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." To this narrow point the matter is brought, Repent, or perish eternally; quit your sins, or quit heaven.
Now, I pray you consider here,
1st, The certainty of your ruin in an impenitent state. Ye have it from the mouth of the Lord himself, in most plain and peremptory terms, that "except ye repent, ye shall perish." If it were but a may-be, it were sufficient in all reason to determine us to repentance; for it is unaccountable to put the soul in hazard of everlasting destruction, for all the profit or pleasure of a sinful course; a thousand times more than for one to put himself in hazard of drowning to catch a fly. But it is not a may-be, but certainly it shall be.
2dly, All other grounds of hope are out off, if ye repent not. Tell me, O impenitent sinner, that will not turn from thy sin, what wilt thou trust to for salvation from the wrath of God? Wilt thou trust to the mercy of God? I tell thee thou art a despiser of mercy, Rom. 2:4; and thou canst not have it in this case, but over the belly of the truth of God; for he has said, "Except ye repent, ye shall perish." Pray consider, if thou wouldst have mercy, thou must seek it in God's way: Is. 55:7, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
Wilt thou trust to Jesus Christ, his blood and merits? Do not deceive yourself. Is not this Christ's own word, "Except ye repent ye shall perish?" does not the Saviour tell thee this? Q. d. None of my blood shall ever be wared on a sinner to save him from wrath, that will not repent and turn from his sin. Why does any body at all perish that hears the gospel, if folk may continue impenitent, and yet share of Christ's blood? No, no; to whom Christ will be a Saviour from wrath, he will be first a Saviour from sin, Matth. 1:21. He will first give repentance, before he give access to heaven; for Christ's blood was never shed to bring in dogs and swine into his Father's house, but shed, "that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, Tit. 2:14.
3dly, Where will the fruit of sin be, when this dear reckoning begins? Heb. 10:31, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Thou mayst get a time to run thy course: but at length thy eyestrings will break, the last pulse beat, and the soul will take wing and go to another world, and because of unrepented-of sin, be condemned to everlasting flames. And when thou enterest there,
what will abide with thee of all the satisfaction thou hast had in thy sinful courses? No; then thou must bid an eternal farewell to all satisfaction, ease, or delight whatsoever, either in God or thy lusts.
4thly, How wilt thou be able to stand under the load of wrath in the pit of destruction? Is. 33:14, "The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites: who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? How wilt thou be able to grapple with vengeance, the Mediator's vengeance, while God shall hold thee up with the one hand, and punish thee with the other? Think in time on the worm that never dies, and the fire that is never quenched: for either thou must repent now, or that worm will gnaw thee, and that fire scorch thee for ever.
Lastly, Consider the eternity of this state. The pleasure, profit, and ease of sin are but for a moment; but the destruction for sin unrepented of is for ever, 2 Thess. 1:9. O madness! to run the risk of everlasting pain for a moment's pleasure! If ruing, sorrow, remorse, rage against one's self for sin, were repenting, there would be repentance enough in hell. Men stave off repentance now for the bitterness of it; but there is a sweet in it too: but then ye shall have the bitterness of it in full measure, but never taste of the sweetness of it; for then the hopes of mercy are razed; and a fearful sight of an everlasting continuance of misery, without end.
Have pity then on your own souls, and throw them not away for that which cannot profit.
2. If ye repent, ye shall never perish. Repentance is the way to keep off the wrath of God from nations, churches, &c. Repentance is the
way for each of us to escape the wrath of God: Ezek. 18:30, "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions;, so iniquity shall not be your ruin." Acts 2:38, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins." All the threatenings of wrath are summons to repent, and have always that clause understood in them, "Except ye repent, ye shall perish:" Rev. 2:22, "Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds." Though ye have sinned with the world, if ye repent with God's elect, ye shall not perish with the world. Consider,
1st, It is not falling into sin, but lying in sin without repentance, that ruins folk to whom the gospel comes, John 3:19. For there is a remedy provided; and it is for all diseases of the soul, even the worst and most desperate: and so nothing can be fatal to those that are willing to employ the Physician, and to undergo his method of cure. They are in glory this day, whose sins have been of the first magnitude, as David, Paul, Manasseh, Peter, &c. but they were repenting sinners.
2dly, There is mercy for thee, if thou wilt repent, and come to Christ. Good news, O sinners, If ye repent, all your sins shall be blotted out, ye shall be embraced in the wide and warm arms of mercy; if, as ye have gone away from God, so ye will come back again; Is. 55:7, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Rev. 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." O sirs, will not bowels of mercy draw you? God is now on a throne of
mercy; he stretches out the golden sceptre to you for peace, if ye will have it in his own way: and in his name we proclaim mercy to all poor sinners that desire to turn from their sins unto God. O will not the proclamation of the indemnity touch the hearts of rebel sinners, and cause them to relent?
OBJECTION 1. But my sins are many and great sins, ANSWER. God's mercies are many, Psal. 51:1. and great too, Psal. 86:13; and his mercy is magnified in pardoning of such. If thy sins were as great as mountains, as many as the catalogue of them would reach from heaven to earth, there is mercy for thee, if thou wilt repent: Is. 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." There are riches of mercy, Eph. 2:4 abundance of pardoning grace, Is. 55:7.
OBJECTION 2. I have relapsed, gone back with the dog to the vomit, and with the sow that was washed, to the wallowing in the mire. ANSWER. There is mercy for backsliders too: Jer. 3:14, "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you." Ver. 22, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." If it were not so, who could be safe? Men must forgive in that case, and much more God will, Luke 17:4. For as the heavens are above the earth, so are God's thoughts above ours: Jer. 3:1, "They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord."
OBJECTION 3. But I have despised and alighted mercy, and the remedy of sin. ANSWER. They had gone all that length, who had so far despised mercy, and the remedy of sin, as they had murdered the Lord of glory, and yet they obtained mercy, Acts 2:36, 37, 38. Despise and slight it no more, and your former sins shall not be remembered.
OBJECTION 4. I have so long gone on in sin, that I can have no hope. ANSWER. The longer the greater is your sin; yet God has not discovered to us any particular time, beyond which he will not wait. There are some called at the eleventh hour; and those that come in then, are not rejected. So was the thief on the cross. See Ezek. 33:10, 11; Luke 14:22; Joel 3:21.
OBJECTION 5. But there is no body's case like mine. ANSWER. Consider the case of Manasseh, 2 Chron. 33. and of Paul, 1 Tim. 1:13. Such instances are designed to encourage sinners to repent in hope of mercy, Eph. 2:7. Adam's case was more hopeless, who had sinned against more light and mercy, than ye were capable to do. But suppose your case is a non-such evil, the mercy of God and the blood of Christ are non-such remedies. And ye may be sure, since he has said, John 6:37, "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out," that he will work a new thing on the earth, rather than that your case be unhelped, if ye will put it in his hand. So I conclude that there is mercy for you, if ye will repent.
Lastly, Thou shalt certainly be saved for ever, if thou dost repent: Ezek. 18:30, "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." No true penitents go to hell. Heaven is the landing-place of all true penitents. They that
turn from their sins now, and turn unto God, shall for ever be with the Lord in another world.
O look to the glory that is above, and let your souls be moved to repentance by it. Cast not away the hope of eternal happiness for what does not profit.
Now, sinners, consider these things, and be stirred up to repentance, and do not adventure over the belly of fair warning to go on in a course of impenitency. Impenitency under the gospel is a sin of a deep dye; beware of it.
1. It is a continuation of sin; it draws out the thread of a Godprovoking course, adding sin to sin, till God cut the thread of life. And O are there not enough of items standing in God's accounts against you already? why will ye be still adding more, instead of diminishing and breaking off the course by repentance?
2. It seals sin and guilt on your soul. Impenitency keeps all the rest of your sins fast on your souls: John 3:19, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." If you would repent, no sins whatsoever you are guilty of should ever be able to ruin you: but if you do not, that one will keep all the rest in life and vigour, to your utter ruin.
3. It flies in the face of the gospel, of Christ himself, his apostles and ministers, who with one voice call sinners to repentance. If ye do this, ye do all; if ye do not this, ye do nothing; ye receive the grace of God in vain; it will be in vain to you that ever you heard the gospel,
that Christ died for sinners, &c.; for ye will hare no benefit by any of these things.
4. Lastly, It is a bloody sin, that will involve you in everlasting misery. For there is no escaping of the wrath of God; if ye do not repent, ye are undone for ever. For "except ye repent ye shall perish."
Now, ye have had a message from the Lord, what answer shall I return to him that sent me? I think I may rank up all in these six sorts of sinners.
1. The brutish sinner, that hears as if he heard not. The word makes a noise in their ears, because they are capable of hearing; but, alas! they are no better than the beasts, in so far as they make no reflections on it, with respect to their state and case. What shall I say to you, but that the time comes when these souls of yours, drowned in a moss of flesh and blood, will be separate from your bodies, and get a long eternity to reflect on the calls ye have had to repent? Is. 1:3, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Psal. 32:9, 10, "Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked."
2. The sullen, desperate sinner, whose answer will be that, Jer. 2:25, "There is no hope. No, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go." Their hearts are glued to their sins, they have no will to part with them, and they have no hope that ever they shall be made willing, or if they were so, that God would receive them; and therefore they are resolved to take their time. But O consider, they have been reformed that have been as mad on their idols as you, as
Manasseh and Paul. If that cannot draw you, pray answer that question, Is. 33:14, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
3. The crafty, subtile sinner, whose answer will be that of Saul to Samuel, 1 Sam. 15:13. "Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord." But let the return to them be that of Samuel to Saul, ver. 14. "What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" What means your continuing in sin, your not wrestling and striving against it in heart and life, if it be so?
4. The presumptuous sinner, whose answer will be that, Deut. 29:19. "I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart." There are some who have a heart of adamant, and put on a forehead of brass, that nothing of this sort can affect them. Let the messengers of the Lord be saying what they will, they will be doing. They will have their course, and persuade themselves all shall be well. To such I would say, as vers. 20, 21. "The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate him unto evil, out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant, that are written in this book of the law." See Is. 28:16. and downwards.
5. The slothful sinner, whose answer will be that of Felix to Paul, Acts 24:25. "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." They are convinced that they must repent, and resolve to do it, but not yet. Young folk put it off to old age; old folk
delay it till a death-bed. Every one puts it off from time to time. But O sirs what certainty have ye of an hour, much less of a year? How many are there that never see old age? How many drop into eternity ere ever they are aware?
6. Lastly, The convinced sinner, who being awakened, says, "What shall I do to be saved?" For which reason I shall,
III. Show you the great hinderances of repentance. And,
1. Thoughtlessness is a great hinderance of it: Jer. 8:6. "I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle." Men do not consider their souls' state, case, and way. They sleep away their time carelessly without due reflection; and therefore their spiritual state goes to wreck and they pine away in their iniquity, and are not aware of the same.
2. The love and cares of the world are great hinderances of repentance, Luke 8:14. These take up men's hearts so, as that they have neither heart nor hand for the case of their souls. How many are there, whom the world keeps in a constant hurry all their life long, that they never come to consider their way till death stare them in the face?
3. Prejudices against religion and seriousness are great hinderances of repentance. Some see no profit in it; but "godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come," 1 Tim. 4:8. Some see no pleasure in it; but "wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are
peace," Prov. 3:17. Some think that it is needless to be at all that pains, for less will serve: but, alas! they do not consider what a holy jealous God the Lord is, and how many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
4. Presumption is a great hinderance of repentance, Deut. 29:19. They hope still all shall be well, however they take their liberty in a sinful course. They abuse the mercy of God as a screen to their lusts; not remembering that he will by no means clear the guilty.
5. Unbelief, the not embracing of Christ, and apprehending the mercy of God in him, is likewise a great impediment in the way of repentance. And,
6. Lastly, Slothfulness, whereby the business is still put off from time to time.
IV. I shall give directions in order to your obtaining repentance. Supposing what I have said before of the way to gain repentance by believing, I offer further these following directions.
1. Labour to see sin in its own colours, what an evil thing it is. Jer. 2:19. What makes us to cleave to sin, is false apprehensions we have about it. To see it in itself would be a means to make us fly from it. For this end consider,
1st, The majesty of God offended by sin. Ignorance of God is the mother of impenitency, Acts 17:30.
2dly, The obligations we lie under to serve him, which by sin we trample upon.
3dly, The wrath of God that abides impenitent sinners.
4thly, The good things our unrepented-of sins deprive us of.
Lastly, The many evils which are bred by our sin against the honour of God, our own and our neighbour's true interest.
2. Be much in the thoughts of death. Consider how short and uncertain your time is. Hopes of long life bring many into a hopeless case. And who knows when he may have outlived his day of grace, when the moment comes that God shall say, "My Spirit shall not strive any more with this man, for that he also is flesh?"
3. Dwell on the thoughts of a judgment to come, where ye shall be made to give an account of yourselves.
4. Meditate on the sufferings of Christ.
5. Pray for repentance and believingly seek and long for the Lord's giving the new heart, according to his promise, Ezek. 36:26. "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." Ver. 32. "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel."
6. Lastly, What ye do, do quickly. The sooner you begin, the easier trill the work be.
Take the three following marks of true repentance.
1. Sorrow for sin, as offensive to a good and gracious God, Zech. 12:10.
2. Hatred of sin, as the most abominable thing, Rev. 2:6. This will be, 1. universal, against all known sin; 2. constant, without in termission; 3. implacable, without reconciliation; and, 4. vehement, without tolerating it.
3. A fixed purpose and desire of eschewing sin, and following duty; guarding against present sins, and the occasions of these we are in hazard of; honestly endeavouring after it in the use of means, and labouring to remove the hinderances to a holy life.
THE DANGER OF DELAYING
REPENTANCE
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall thy poverty come as one that travaileth, and thy want as an armed man. - PROV. 6:10, 11.
I HAVE been pressing sinners to repentance from the former text, and I hope by this time all of you may be convinced of the necessity of it But, alas! delays in this matter kills their ten thousands. Men put off the work from time to time, till time be gone, and they are surprised into ruin, as we may learn from this text. Where,
1. We have the sluggard's picture drawn in reference to his eternal concerns; which is the main thing here aimed at. He is one that puts
off his great work from time to time, "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep."
In the 6th verse the slothful sinner is set to school to learn a lesson of the emmet; which though she has not the advantages that he has, yet has so much natural sagacity, as to provide for winter, in the time of summer and harvest, when meat is to be got. In the 9th verse there is a rousing call to the sinner to follow that example. But behold how he entertains it; as a person that is loath to arise, he begs "a little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep." Here is,
1st, Something supposed; and that is threefold.
(1.) The sleeper convinced that he has slept, and neglected his work. There are many who see themselves wrong, yet have no heart to endeavour to get right. They are convinced that their great work is far behind, yet have no heart to stir to set it forward.
(2.) The sleeper convinced that he must awake, and set to his work. Slothful sinners may see that the case they are in, is not a case they would venture to die in: they see that it is necessary to turn over a new leaf, to mind their salvation at another rate than they have done, or are doing.
(3.) The sleeper resolved to awake, and mind his business. He would fain sleep, but he does not design to sleep long, to sleep always. No; he designs but a little sleep, if ye will believe him, and afterwards to awake; though, poor soul, he does not consider that he is sleeping within the sea-mark, and may be swallowed up ere he awake out of his little sleep.
2dly, Something expressed; and that is threefold too,
(2.) A delay craved: "Yet a little sleep," &c. He is not thinking never to waken, never to repent, but only he cannot think on doing it as yet. However long a sleep he has taken in sin, yet he must have more. For as men, the more they sleep, the more they would sleep; so the more they continue in sin, the more they would continue. And the more they put off repentance, they are the more unfit for it.
(2.) The quantity of this delay: it is but a little in the sluggard's conceit. Though the Spirit of the Lord be grieved and wearied with waiting on his awakening, yet he thinks that all is but little. If the sluggard considered that his whole time is but little in comparison of eternity, the least time he spends in his sleep would appear very great. But, alas! he considers it not.
(3.) The mighty concern he is in for this delay. Though his ruin be wrapt up in it, he is fond of it, his heart is set upon it; and he pleads for it, as a starving man for bread. Ease is sweet to him; and so he speaks, "A little sleep, a little slumber." There are three things here which he craves, each less than the other; which shews how loathe he is to bestir himself. (1.) "A little sleep;" not a dead sleep, but a moderate one. (2.) If that cannot be granted, let him have but "a little slumber;" a napping, as it were, a middle betwixt sleeping and waking. (3.) If he cannot get that, yet he would have "a folding of the hands to sleep;" (Heb.) to lie a-bed. Let him but lie still loitering, and embracing his sweet self, and not presently be obliged to rise to put hand to work. Love to folded hands goes deep with him.
Observe, how the hearts of sinners are glued to their sins, and carnal security. When conscience begins to draw them out of their bed of
sloth, they will not yield, they will dispute every foot of ground with it. And they will take very little ere they want all. O were we as nice in the point of our salvation, as in the state of blindness, in the point of our ruin, how happy might we be?
2. We have the fatal issue of this course. Delays are dangerous, but most of all in matters of eternal concern. The issue of these delays is, the man is ruined, he never awakes till it is out of time. His little sleep, &c. spends all his little time, and throws him out quite unprovided into a long eternity. Here consider,