1. 1In that they venture upon a certain Guilt, in hopes of an uncertain Repentance. For either God may cut thee off, O ⟨p. 31⟩Sinner, in the very Act of that Sin which thou intendest to repent of hereafter: Or, if he afford thee Time for Repentance, he may withhold his Grace, and in his just and righteous, but yet fearful Judgment, seal thee up under Hardness and Impenitency, that thou shalt go on, 2treasuring up to thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath. And if either of these, through the righteous Judgment of God, should happen unto thee, what a deplorable Fool wilt thou prove thy self to be, that sinnest out of Hopes of Repentance, and of a Repentance which perhaps will never be granted? Alas! How many hath God, in his signal Vengeance, cut off, by some remarkable stroke, with an Oath, or Curse, or Blasphemy in their Mouths, scarce fully pronounced? ⟨p. 32⟩How many, with their drunken Vomits goggling in their very Throats: How many, while their Souls have been burning with their lustful Embraces, have even then been cast into Hell, and burnt up with Everlasting Fire? Or, if Vengeance should spare thee for a while, O Sinner, yet thou knowest not how soon it will strike thee: It is great Folly to expect the Warning of a sick Bed; Death often surprises by sudden Casualties, or by some Diseases as sudden as Casualties; and there are many Ways of Dying, besides Consumptions, Agues, and Dropsies, the lingering Fore-runners of an approaching Dissolution. But if God should cast thee down upon a sick Bed, he may justly visit thee, who hast neglected thy Soul in thy Health, with such ⟨p. 33⟩Distempers as may make thee not only unfit, but such as may render thee uncapable of doing thy last kind Office for it. It is Folly to expect the Admonition of Old Age: Alas! 3the Almond-Tree doth not every where flourish; and it is not one, to many Thousands, that lay down an Hoary Head in the Bed of the Grave. 4But grant thou couldst be assured of the Continuance of thy Life, yet is it not egregious Folly to sin in hope of repenting, when every Act of Sin will make thy Repentance the more difficult, if not impossible? The older thou growest, still the more desperate is thy Case; for thy Sins will be the more rooted and habituated in thee, and thy Heart the more hardened to resist the Grace of God: So that, upon all Accounts, thy Repentance is ⟨p. 34⟩most uncertain;
1. 1In that they venture upon a certain Guilt, in hopes of an uncertain Repentance. For either God may cut thee off, O ⟨p. 31⟩Sinner, in the very Act of that Sin which thou intendest to repent of hereafter: Or, if he afford thee Time for Repentance, he may withold his Grace, and in his just and righteous, but yet fearful Judgment, seal thee up under Hardness and Impenitency, that thou shalt go on, 2treasuring up to thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath. And if either of these, through the righteous Judgment of God, should happen unto thee, what a deplorable Fool wilt thou prove thy self to be, that sinnest out of Hopes of Repentance, and of a Repentance which perhaps will never be granted? Alas! How many hath God, in his signal Vengeance, cut off, by some remarkable stroke, with an Oath, or Curse, or Blasphemy in their Mouths, scarce fully pronounced? ⟨p. 32⟩How many, with their drunken Vomits gogling in their very Throats: How many, while their Souls have been burning with their lustful Embraces, have even then been cast into Hell, and burnt up with Everlasting Fire? Or, if Vengeance should spare thee for a while, O Sinner, yet thou knowest not how soon it will strike thee: It is great Folly to expect the Warning of a sick Bed; Death often surprises by sudden Casualties, or by some Diseases as sudden as Casualties; and there are many Ways of Dying, besides Consumptions, Agues, and Dropsies, the lingring Fore-runners of an approaching Dissolution. But if God should cast thee down upon a sick Bed, he may justly visit thee, who hast neglected thy Soul in thy Health, with such ⟨p. 33⟩Distempers as may make thee not only unfit, but such as may render thee uncapable of doing thy last kind Office for it. It is Folly to expect the Admonition of Old Age: Alas! 3the Almond-Tree doth not every where flourish; and it is not one, to many Thousands, that lay down an Hoary Head in the Bed of the Grave. 4But grant thou couldst be assured of the Continuance of thy Life, yet is it not egregious Folly to sin in hope of repenting, when every Act of Sin will make thy Repentance the more difficult, if not impossible? The older thou growest, still the more desperate is thy Case; for thy Sins will be the more rooted and habituated in thee, and thy Heart the more hardned to resist the Grace of God: So that, upon all Accounts, thy Repentance is
- 1Sinners Folly great, in venturing upon a certain Guilt, in hopes of an uncertain Repentance.
- 2Rom. 2 5.
- 3Eccles. 12.5.
- 4Prov. 16.31.
