but is a debtor to the law, until he be dead. So is this penitent; he hath not finished his work, or done a repentance in any measure proportionable to his sins, but only because he can do no more; and yet he did something, even before it was too late. 22. XI. Let an old man, in the mortification of his vicious habits, be curious to distinguish nature from grace, his own disability from the strengths of the Spirit; and not think that he hath extirpated the vice of uncleanness, when himself is disabled to act it any longer; or that he is grown a sober person, because he is sick in his stomach, and cannot drink intemperately, or dares not for fear of being sick. His measures must be taken by the account of his actions and oppositions to his former sins, and so reckon his comfort. 23. XII. But upon whatever account it come, he is not so much to account concerning his hopes, or the performance of his duty, by abstaining from sin, as by doing of good. For besides that such a not committing of evil may be owing to weak or insufficient principles, this not committing evil in so little a time, cannot make amends for the doing it so long together, according to the usual accounts of repentance, unless that abstaining be upon the stock of virtue and labour, of mortification and resistance; and then every abstinence is also a doing good, for it is a crucifying of the old man with the affections and lusts. But all the good that by the grace of God he superadds, is matter of choice, and the proper actions of a new life. 24. XIII. After all this, done vigorously, holily, with fear and caution, with zeal and prudence, with diligence and an uninterrupted observation, the old man that lived a vile life, but repents in time, though he stayed as long as he could, and much longer than he should, yet may live in hope, and die in peace and charity. To this purpose they are excellent words which St. Austin said: "Peradventure some will think that he hath committed such grievous faults, that he cannot now obtain the favour of God. Let this be far from the conceits of all sinners. O man, whosoever thou art, that attendest that multitude of thy sins, wherefore dost thou not attend to the omnipotency of the heavenly physician? For since God will have mercy because he is good, and can be • Serm. 28. de Temp. cause he is almighty, he shuts the gate of the divine goodness against himself, who thinks that God cannot or will not have mercy upon him, and therefore distrusts either his goodness or his almightiness." The proper Repentance and Usage of Sinners, who repent not untiltheir Death-bed. The inquiry after this article consists in these particulars. 1. What hopes are left to a vicious ill-lived man, that repents on his death-bed, and not before. 2. What advices are best, or can bring him most ad vantage: 25. That a good life is necessary; that it is required by God; that it was designed in the whole purpose of the Gospel; that it is a most reasonable demand, and infinitely recompensed by the very smallest portions of eternity. That it was called for all our life, and was exacted by the continual voice of Scripture, of mercies, of judgment, of prophets. That to this very purpose God offered the assistance of his Holy Spirit; and to this ministry we were supplied with preventing, with accompanying, and persevering grace, that is, powers and assistances to begin, and to continue in welldoing. That there is no distinct covenant made with dying men, differing from what God hath admitted between himself and living healthful persons. That it is not reasonable to think God will deal more gently with persons who live viciously all their lives, and that at an easier rate they may expect salvation at the hands of God whom they have so provoked, than they who have served him faithfully according to the measures of a man; or that a long impiety should be sooner expiated than a short one. That the easiness of such as promise heaven to dying penitents after a vicious life, is dangerous to the very being and constitution of piety, and scandalous to the honour, and reputation, and sanctity, of the Christian religion, that the grace of God does leave those that use it not. That therefore the necessity of dying men increases, and their aids are lessened and almost extinguished, that they have more to do than they have either time or strength to finish. That all their vows and holy purposes are useless, and ineffective as to their natural produc tion, and that in their case they cannot be the beginnings of a succeeding duty and piety, because for want of time it never can succeed. That there are some conditions and states of life, which God hath determined never to pardon. That there is a sin unto death, for which because we have no encouragement to pray, it is certain there is no hope; for it is impossible but it must be very fit to pray for all them, to whom the hope of pardon is not precluded. That there is in Scripture mention made of an ineffective repentance, and of a repentance to be repented of, and that the repentance of no state is so likely to be it as this. That what is begun and produced wholly by affrightment is not esteemed matter of choice, nor a pleasing sacrifice to God. That they who sow to the flesh, shall reap in the flesh,' and the final judgment shall be made of every man according to his works.' That the full and perfect descriptions of repentance in Scripture, are heaps and conjugations of duties, which have in them difficulty, and require time, and ask labour. That those insinuations of duty in Scripture, of the need of patience, and diligence, and watchfulness, and the express precepts of perseverance, do imply that the office and duty of a Christian are of a long time, and business, and a race. That repentance being the renewing of a holy life, it should seem that on our death-bed the day for repentance is past, since no man can renew his life when his life is done, no man can live well, when he cannot live at all; and therefore to place our hopes upon a death-bed repentance only, is such a religion as satisfies all our appetites, and contradicts none, and yet promises heaven at last. These things, I say, are all either notorious and evident, or expressly affirmed in Scripture; and therefore that, in the ordinary way of things, in the common expectation of events, such persons are in a very sad condition. 26. So that it remains, that in this sad condition there must be some extraordinary way found out, or else this whole inquiry is at an end. Concerning which, all that I can say is this; 1. God hath an almighty power, and his mercy is as great as his power. He can do miracles of mercy, as well as miracles of mightiness. And this St. Austin brings in open pretence against desperation. "O homo, quicunque illam multitudinem peccatorum attendis, cur et omnipotentiam cœlestis medici non attendis ?" Thy sins are great, but God's mercies are greater. But this does represent the man's condition at the best to be such, that God may, if he will, have mercy upon him; but whether he will or no, there is as yet no other certainty or probability, but that he can if he please which proposition to an amazed, timorous person that fears a hell the next hour, is so dry a story, so hopeless a proposition, that all that can be said of this, is, that it is very fit that no man should ever put it to the venture. For upon this argument, we may as well comfort ourselves upon him that died without repenting at all. But the inquiry must be further. 27. II. All mankind, all the doctors of the church for very many ages at least, some few of the most ancient and of the modern excepted, have been apt to give hopes to such persons, and no man bids them absolutely despair. Let such persons make use of this easiness of men, thereby to retain so much hope as to make them call upon God, and not to neglect what can then be done. Spem retine, spes una hominem nec morte relinquit. As long as there is life there is hope, and when a man dies, let him not despair; for there is a life after this, and a hope proper to that; and amidst all the evils that the ancients did fabulously report to be in Pandora's box, they wittily placed hope on the utmost lip of it, and extremity. Vivere spe vidi qui moriturus erat. And St. Cyprian exhorts old Demetrianus to turn Christian in his old age, and promises him salvation in the name of Christ: and though his case, and that of a Christian who entered into promises and covenants of obedience, be very different; yet‘ad immortalitatem sub ipsâ morte transitur,' a passing from such a repentance to immortality, although it cannot be hoped for upon the just accounts of express promise, yet it is not too great to hope from God's mercy: and until that which is infinite hath a limit, a repenting man's hopes in this world cannot be wholly at an end. 28. III. We find that in the battles which were fought by the Maccabees, some persons who fought on the Lord's side, and were slain in the fight, were found having on their breasts iepura, or 'pendants' consecrate to the idols of the Jamnenses, and yet the good people of their party made oblation for them, hoping that they might be partakers of a blessed resurrection. They that repent heartily but one hour, are in a better condition than the other that died in their sin, though with the advantage of fighting in a good cause: and if good people will not leave hoping for such persons, it is not fit that themselves should. 29. IV. He that considers God's great love to mankind, the infinite love that God hath to his holy son Jesus, and yet that he sent him to die for every man; and that the holy Jesus does now, and hath for very many ages, prayed for the pardon of our sins, that he knows how horrible those pains are which are provided for perishing souls, and therefore that he is exceeding pitiful, and desirous that we should escape them; and that God did give one extraordinary example of saving a dying penitent, the thief upon the cross, and though that had something in it extraordinary and miraculous, yet that is it which is now expected, a favour extraordinary, a miraculous mercy. And that Christ was pleased to speak a parable of comfort, and the master of the vineyard did pay salary to him that began to work at the eleventh hour: and though that was some portion of his life, the twelfth part of it, and the man was not called sooner, yet there may be something in it of comfort to the dying penitent, since it looks something like it, it certainly relates to old men, and can do them comfort, and possibly the merciful intention of it is yet larger; and that since God is so well pleased with repentance, it may be, he will abate the circumstance of time, "nec ad rem pertinet ubi inciperet, quod placuerat ut fieret," and he will not consider when that begins, which he loves should be done. And that he is our father, and "paulum supplicii satis est patri," a father will chastise, but he will not kill his And that it is therefore seasonable to hope because it is a duty, and the very hope itself God delights to reward; for so said the Apostle; "Cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward"." And the church of God, imitating the mercies of our gracious God and Father, hath denied to give the sacrament of peace and mercy to none that seek it: "Viaticum omnibus in morte positis non son. P Heb. x. 35. |