Discourses on various important subjects, nearly concerning the great affair of the soul's eternal…

1. Now there seems to be a Door opened for old Sinners. Now God is dealing forth freely to all Sorts: His Hand is opened wide, and he don't pass by old ones so much as he used to do. You are not under such Advantages as others are that are younger; but yet, so wonderfully has God ordered it, that now you are not destitute of great Advantage: Tho' old in Sin, God has put a new and extraordinary Advantage into your Hands. O, improve this Price that you have to get Wisdom! ⟨p. 168⟩You that have been long seeking to enter in at the strait Gate, and yet remain without, now take your Opportunity and press in! You that have been long in the Wilderness, fighting with various Temptations, and have been labouring under Discouragements, and have been ready to give up the Case, have been often tempted to Despair, now, behold the Door that God opens for you! Don't give Way to Discouragements now; this is not a Time for it: Don't spend Time in thinking that you have done what you can already, and that you see Signs that you be not elected, and in giving Way to other perplexing, weakening, disheartening Temptations: Don't waste away this precious Opportunity in such a Manner: You have no Time to spare for such Things as these: God calls you now to something else: Improve this Time in seeking and striving for Salvation, and not in that which tends to hinder it. 'Tis no Time now for you to stand talking with the Devil; but hearken to God, and apply your self to that, which he does now so loudly call you to.

Some of you have often lamented the Loss of past Opportunities: As particularly the Loss of the Time of Youth, and have been wishing that you had so good an Opportunity again; have been ready to say, O! if I was young again, how would I improve such an Advantage! That Opportunity that you have had in Time past, is irrecoverable; you can never have it again: but God can give you other Advantages of another Sort, that are very great, and he is so doing at this Day. He is now putting a new Opportunity into your Hands; tho' not of the same Kind with that which you once had, and have lost, yet in some Respects as great of another Kind. If you lament, and are ready to cry out of your Folly in neglecting and loosing past Opportunities, then don't be guilty of the Folly of neglecting the Opportunity which God now gives you. This Opportunity you could not have purchased, if you would have given all that you had in the World for it: But God is putting of it into your Hands, of himself, of his own free and sovereign Mercy, without your purchasing