2. Suppose it were most infallibly certain that thou shalt repent, 1yet none but Fools will take up the Pleasures of Sin upon the Sorrow, Anguish, and Bitterness of a true and hearty Repentance. Dost thou seriously consider what Repentance is? It is not a transitory Wish, a warm Sigh, or a languishing Lord have Mercy, in a Distress, or on a sick Bed; (and yet even these cannot be without judging and condemning themselves for Fools, when they sinned:) No, but ⟨p. 35⟩Repentance is the breaking of the Heart, a rending of the very Soul in pieces: The usual Preparatives to it are ghastly Fears and Terrors, sharp and dreadful Convictions, that will even search thy very Bowels, break thy Bones, and burn up thy very Marrow within thee. More especially doth God deal thus terribly with veteran, old, confirmed Sinners, making Repentance more bitter to them, than to others, that they may see and confess themselves Fools, in indulging themselves in their Sins, in hopes of repenting for them. Say then, when the Devil and thine own Lusts tempt thee to any Sin; say, If I commit this Sin, either I shall repent of it, or I shall not; if I never repent of it, as it is a hazard whether I shall or no, what is there ⟨p. 36⟩in Sin, that can recompense the everlasting Pain of Damnation? If I shall repent, what is there in the Sin, that can recompense the Anguish and Bitterness of Repentance? This is such an unanswerable Dilemma, that all the Craft and Subtlety of Hell can never solve. And if we would but always keep this fixed in our Minds, it were impossible that ever we should make slight of Sin. While thou thus arguest, thou arguest solidly and wisely; but to say I will sin, because perhaps I may repent, is quite below the meanest Capacity that ever owned the least Glimpse of Sense and Reason.
2. Suppose it were most infallibly certain that thou shalt repent, 1yet none but Fools will take up the Pleasures of Sin upon the Sorrow, Anguish, and Bitterness of a true and hearty Repentance. Dost thou seriously consider what Repentance is? It is not a transitory Wish, a warm Sigh, or a languishing Lord have Mercy, in a Distress, or on a sick Bed; (and yet even these cannot be without judging and condemning themselves for Fools, when they sinned:) No, but ⟨p. 35⟩Repentance is the breaking of the Heart, a rending of the very Soul in pieces: The usual Preparatives to it are ghastly Fears and Terrours, sharp and dreadful Convictions, that will even search thy very Bowels, break thy Bones, and burn up thy very Marrow within thee. More especially doth God deal thus terribly with veterane, old, confirmed Sinners, making Repentance more bitter to them, than to others, that they may see and confess themselves Fools, in indulging themselves in their Sins, in hopes of repenting for them. Say then, when the Devil and thine own Lusts tempt thee to any Sin; say, If I commit this Sin, either I shall repent of it, or I shall not; if I never repent of it, as it is a hazard whether I shall or no, what is there ⟨p. 36⟩in Sin, that can recompence the everlasting Pain of Damnation? If I shall repent, what is there in the Sin, that can recompence the Anguish and Bitterness of Repentance? This is such an unanswerable Dilemma, that all the Craft and Subtilty of Hell can never solve. And if we would but always keep this fixed in our Minds, it were impossible that ever we should make slight of Sin. While thou thus arguest, thou arguest solidly and wisely; but to say I will sin, because perhaps I may repent, is quite below the meanest Capacity that ever own'd the least Glimpse of Sense and Reason.
- 1Sinners great Folly to purchase the Pleasures of Sin with a bitter Repentance.
