Casuistical morning-exercises the fourth volume /

II. By way of Position or Assertion, It is a very dangerous thing to run the hazard of a death-bed Repentance, or defer Repentance till the approach of death; that is, to neglect the doing a Mans own part in order to the obtaining this grace (as was above premised) viz. the seeking it of God, and using all those means by which he ordinarily works it. The danger of this neglect may appear by the following considerations.

1. That no Man knows the time of his death, any more than the manner of it, or means by which it shall be brought about. Our breath is in Gods hands, Dan. 5.23. No Man hath a lease of his earthly Tabernacle, but is Tenant at will to his great Landlord. Who knows when he shall die, or how? Whether a natural death or a violent one? To how many thousand unforeseen accidents are Men subject? Not only Swords and Axes may dispatch them, but God can commission Insects and Vermin to be the executioners of his justice upon them.¹ A great Prelate may be eaten up of Mice, and a potent Prince devoured by Worms, Acts 12.23. And who doth not carry the principles of his own dissolution perpetually within him? Death lies in ambush in every vain, in every member, and none know when it may assault them. It doth not always warn before it strikes. If some Diseases are Chronical, ⟨image 95⟩others are Acute and less lingering, and some are as quick as lightning; kill in an instant. Men may be well in one moment, and dead in the next. God shoots his arrows at them, they are suddenly wounded, Psal. 64.7. How many are taken away not only in the midst of their days, but in the midst of their sins? The lusting Israelites with the flesh between their teeth,