cording to that of the Pfalmift, Pfal. xcv. 6. O come, let us worship, let us fall down and kneel before

the Lord our Maker.

26. The ninth DUTY to God Repentance. is REPENTANCE. That this is a Duty to God, we are taught by the Apoftle, Aas xx. 21. where fpeaking of Repentance, he ftiles it Repentance towards God. And there is good Reafon this should be a Duty to him, fince there is no Sin we commit, but is either mediately or immediately against him. For though there be Sins both againft our felves and our Neighbours, yet they being forbidden by God, they are alfo Breaches of his Commandments, and fo Sins against him.

A turning

This Repentance is, in fhort, nothing but a turning from Sin to God, from Sin to the cafting off all our former Evils, God. and inttead thereof conftantly prac

tifing all thofe Chriftian Duties which God requireth of us. And this is fo neceffary a Duty, that without it we certainly perish. We have Chrift's Word for it, Luke xiii. 5. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewife perish.

27. The Directions for performing the feveral Parts of this Duty, have been already given in the Preparation to the Lord's Supper; and thither I refer the Reader. Only I fhall here Times for mind him, that it is not to be looked this Duty. upon as a Duty to be practifed only at the time of receiving the Sacrament. For this being the only Remedy against the Poison of Sin, we muft renew it as often as we repeat our Sins; that is, daily: I mean, we muft every Day repent of the Sins of that Day. For what Chrift faith of other

Daily.

Evils, is true alfo of this, Sufficient to the Day is the Evil theresf. We have Sins enough of each Day to exercise a daily Repentance, and therefore every Man muft thus daily call himself to

account.

28. But as it is in Accounts, they who conftantly fet down their daily Expences, At fet have yet fome fet Time of cafting upon the Times. whole Sum, as at the End of the Week, or Month; fo fhould it also be here: We should fet afide fome time to humble ourselves folemnly before God for the Sins, not of that Day only, but of our whole Lives. And the frequenter these Times are, the better: For the oftner we thus caft up our Accounts with God, and fee what vaft Debts we are run in to him, the more humbly fhall we think of our felves, and the more fhall thirst after his Mercy; which two are the special Things that muft qualify us for his Pardon. He therefore that can affign himself one Day in the Week for this Purpose, will take a thriving Course for his Soul. Or if any Man's State of Life be fo bufy, as not to afford him to do it fo often, let him yet come as near to that Frequency as is poffible for him; remembring always that none of his worldly Employments can bring him in near fo gainful a Return, as this fpiritual one will do; and therefore it is very ill Husbandry to pursue them, to the Neglect of this.

29. Befides these conftant Times,

there are likewife occafional Times In the Time for the Performance of this Duty; of Affliction. fuch efpecially are the Times of Cala

mity and Affliction; for when any fuch befals us, we are to look on it as a Message fent from Heaven to call us to this Duty, and therefore must never neglect

neglect it, when we are thus fummoned to it, left we be of the Number of them who defpife the Chaftifements of the Lord, Heb. xii. 5.

30. There is yet another Time of At Death. Repentance, which in the Practice of Men, hath gotten away the Custom from all thofe, and that is the Time of Death; which, it is true, is a Time very fit to renew our Repentance, but fure not proper to begin it: And it is a moft defperate Madness for Men to defer it till then. For to fay the mildeft of it, it is the venturing our Souls upon fuch miferable Uncertainties, as no wife Man would truft with any thing of the leaft Value.

For, firft, I would ask any Man The Danger that means to repent at his Death, of deferring how he knows he fhall have an it till then. Hour's Time for it? Do we not daily fee Men fnatched away in a Moment? And who can tell that it fhall not be his own Cafe? But, fecondly, fuppofe he have a more leifurely Death, that fome Disease give him warning of its Approach, yet perhaps he will not understand that Warning, but will till flatter himfelf, as very often fick People do, with Hopes of Life to the laft; and fo his Death may be fudden to him, though it comes by never fo flow Degrees. But again, thirdly, If he do concern his Danger, yet how is he fure he fhall then be able to repent? Repentance is a Grace of God, not at our Command; and it is just and usual with God, when Men have a long Time refufed and rejected that Grace, refifted all his Calls and Invitations to Converfion and Amendment, to give them over at last to the Hardness of their own Hearts, and not to afford them any more of that Grace they

have fo defpifed. Yet fuppofe, in the fourth Place, that God in his infinite Patience fhould ftill continue the Offer of that Grace to thee, yet thou that haft refifted it, it may be thirty, or forty, or fifty Years together; how knoweft thou, that thou fhalt put off that Habit of Refiftance upon a fudden, and make ufe of the Grace afforded? It is fure thou haft many more Advantages towards now, than you will have then.

The Disadvan tages of aDeathbed Repentance.

the doing it

The Cuftom of

Sin.

31. For, firft, The longer Sin hath kept poffeffion of the Heart, the harder it will be to drive it out. It is true, if Repentance were nothing but a prefent ceafing from the Acts of Sin, the Death-bed were fitteft for it, for then we are. difabled from committing moft Sins: But I have formerly fhewed you, Repentance contains much, more than fo; there must be in it a fincere Hatrex of Sin, and Love of God. Now how unlikely is it, that he which hath all his Life loved Sin, cherifhed it in his Bofom, and, on the contrary, abhorred God and Goodnefs, fhould in an inftant quite change his Affections, hate that Sin he loved, and love God and Goodnefs, which before he utterly hated?

32. And, fecondly, The bodily

Pains that attend a Death-bed will Bodily Pains. diftract thee, and make thee un

able to attend the Work of Repentance; which is a Business of fuch Weight and Difficulty, as will employ all our Powers, even when they are at the fresheft.

33. Confider thofe Difadvantages

Danger of thou must then ftruggle with, and Unfincerity. then tell me what hope there is thou fhalt then do that, which now upon

much easier Terms thou wilt not. But in the third Place, there is a Danger behind, beyond all thefe, and that is, that the Repentance which Death drives a Man to, will not be a true Repentance; for in fuch a Cafe it is plain, it is only the Fear of Hell puts him on it; which though it may be a good Beginning, where there is Time after to perfect it, yet where it goes alone, it can never avail for Salvation. Now that Death-bed Repentances are often only of this Sort, is too likely, when it is obferved that many Men, who have feemed to repent when they have thought Death approaching, have yet, after it hath pleafed God to reftore them to Health, been as wicked (perhaps worse) as ever they were before; which fhews

inly that there was no real Change in them; and then furely had fuch a Man died in that feeming Repentance, God, who tries the Heart, would not have accepted it, which he faw was unfincere. When all thefe Dangers are laid together, it will furely appear a most defperate Adventure for any Man to truft to a Death-bed Repentance. Nor is it ever the lefs for that Example of the penitent Thief, Luke xxiii. 43. which is by many fo much depended on. For it is fure his Cafe and ours differ widely; he had never heard of Chrift before, and fo more could not be expected of him, than to embrace him as foon as he was tendered to him: but we have had him offered, nay, preffed upon us from our Cradles, and yet have rejected him. But if there were not this Difference, it is but a faint Hope can be raised only from a fingle Example,