Casuistical morning-exercises the fourth volume /

To conclude. May not the consideration of a Mans repenting no sooner, abate his comfort in repenting at last? May not, will not that gracious ingenuity God hath now wrought in such a one, make severe reflections upon his long impenitency, and not turning to God till he was past serving him? And then may not the Devil set in and maliciously aggravate it to the sinners Conscience, and hold the mind so fixed and intent upon the thoughts of repenting no sooner, as to divert it from the contemplation of that grace which hath now wrought repentance in him, and thereby diminish the comfort he might take in it?

To conclude. May not the consideration of a Mans repenting no sooner, abate his comfort in repenting at last? May not, will not that gracious ingenuity God hath now wrought in such a one, make severe reflections upon his long impenitency, and not turning to God till he was past serving him? And then may not the Devil set in and maliciously aggravate it to the sinners Conscience, and hold the mind so fix'd and intent upon the thoughts of repenting no sooner, as to divert it from the contemplation of that grace which hath now wrought repentance in him, and thereby diminish the comfort he might take in it?

For Information. If it be so dangerous to run the hazard of a death-bed Use I repentance, how great is their folly that do so? They that defer their repentance till they come to die, show themselves fools.

For Information. If it be so dangerous to run the hazard of a death-bed Ʋse I repentance, how great is their folly that do so? They that defer their repentance till they come to die, shew themselves fools.

1. In putting off the greatest work till they have least time for the doing of it, if any at all. A Man would be accounted a fool as to the concernments of this life that should idle away the time of his youth, and vigorous age, and defer seeking for an Estate, and providing for his Family, till he were old and decrepit and past working. And is it not a greater work to provide for Eternity than for time, to drive a Spiritual trade than a Civil one, and get a stock of Grace than of Riches? And then what fools are they that put off such a work to the last, and leave themselves no time for it but that which is most unfit for it, as well as uncertain whether they shall enjoy it? Repentance as to the exercise of it, is not the work of a day, but should be the work of all a Mans days; and what folly is it to thrust that into a little corner of a Mans life, which should be extended through the whole of it? A Christians work is not to be done all at once; it is a walk, a race, a course of holy, gracious actings, and that requires time. Repentance (as it implies our first turning from sin to God) is but the entrance upon or beginning of that course, and how foolish are they that think to run their race in an instant, to begin their course and finish it at once?