is with God to deal severely witli such, I will leave you to judge. And let this suffice for answer to the first objection.
Object. 2. But hereafter may he time enough to look after holiness ; I may yet pursue after the pleasures and profits of the world, I may yet spend some years in gratifying mine own lusts, and in walking after the course of the world ; I have time enough before Tine, and therefore some years hence may be time enough to look after holiness, Now to this objection I shall give these answers :
1. First, Tliou ivilt not say that thou canst be saved too soon, nor happy too soon, nor blessed too soon, nor pardoned too soon, nor in the favour of God too soon, nor out of the danger of lorath, hell, and ever-
lasting burnings too soon; and if so, then certainly thou canst not be holy too soon; for thou canst never be truly liappy till thou art truly holy. No man wiU be so foolish and mad as to say he may be rich too soon, and great too soon, and high and honourable in the world too soon, and in favour and esteem with men, especially with great men, too soon ; and why then shouldst thou be so mad and foohsh, as prac- tically to say that thou canst be holy too soon ? and yet thus much thou dost proclaim upon the house-top, when thou criest out. Here- after, hereafter will be time enough to seek after holiness. But,
2. Secondly, I answer. That it is thy wisdom and thy work to set one may-be against another ; thou say est now, that hereafter may be time enough to look after holiness, Eccles. vii. 14. Oh, set another may-be against this may-be, and say, If I now neglect this season of grace, may-be I shall never have another, Isa, Iv. 6 ; if I now slight the offers of mercy, it may be I shall never have such offers more ; if I now despise this day of salvation, it may be I shall never have such another day ; if I now withstand the tenders of Christ, it may be Christ will never make a tender to me more ; if I now resist the strivings of the Spirit, it may be the Spirit will never strive with my soul more, and then woe, woe to me that ever I was born ! ^ Oh, don't put off God, don't put off thy soul, don't put off the thoughts of holiness, don't put off eternity with may-bes, lest ' the Lord should swear in his wrath, that 'thou shalt never enter into his rest,' Heb, iii. 18 ; and seeing that thou wilt not suffer holiness to enter into thee, thou shalt never enter into thy master's joy. Oh, why shouldst thou put off thy poor soul, so as thou wouldst not have God to put it off? Thou wouldst not have God to put off thy soul with may-bes ; as with a may-be I will pardon thee, it may be I will lift up the light of my countenance upon thee, it may be I will change thy nature and save thy soul, it may be I will fiU thee with my Spirit and adorn thee with my grace, it may be I will bring thee to my kingdom and glory. Oh, thou wouldst not have God to put thee off with such may-bes ! and why then shouldst thou deal more hardly and cruelly with thine own soul than thou wouldst have God to deal with thee ? But,
3. Tliirdly, I answer, It is a clear argument that thou art not truly nor throughly sensible of thy present condition and danger, who thus objectest. Wert thou but truly sensible of thy lost and undone estate out of Christ ; didst thou but indeed know what it is to live one hour in a Christless and graceless condition ; didst thou but see that wrath
^ Prov. i. 20-33 ; Heb. ii. 1-3 ; Luke xix. 41-45 ; Gen. vi. 3.
HeB. XII. 14,] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 247
that hangs over thy head ; didst thou but read the curses that are pronounced in the book of God against thee ; didst thou but behold how hell gapes to devour thee ; didst thou but see how far off thou art from God, Christ, the covenant, and all the glory and happiness of another world ; ah, how wouldst thou every day cry out, Give me holi- ness or I die, give me holiness or I eternally die ! Acts ii. 39 ; Eph. ii. 12. The patient that is truly sensible of his disease will not say, hereafter will be time enough to send for the physician ; nor the wounded man will not say, hereafter will be time enough to fetch the surgeon ; nor the condemned man will not say, hereafter will be time enough to sue for a pardon ; nor the needy man will not say, hereafter will be time enough to look for relief; nor the fallen man will not say, hereafter will be time enough to lift me up ; nor the drowning man will not say, hereafter wiU be time enough to bring a boat to save my life. Now this is the very case of all unsanctified persons in the world ; and why then should they cry out, hereafter, hereafter will be time enough to be holy ? The boar in the fable, being questioned why he stood whetting his teeth so when nobody was near to hurt him, wisely answered, that it would then be too late to whet them when he was to use them, and therefore he whetted them so before danger that he might have them ready in danger. Ah, sirs, there is nothing more dangerous than for you to have your holiness to seek, when temporal, spiritual, and eternal dangers are at your heels. There is no wisdom to that which leads men forth to a present pursuit after holiness, nor no hell to that for a man to have his holiness to seek when he should use it.
4. Fourthly, I answer, Tliat the brevity, shortness, and preciousness of time, calls alovd upon thee to pursue after holiness without delay} Time past is irrecoverable, time to come is uncertain, the present time is the only time, and on this moment of time depends eternity. This very day is a day of grace ; oh that thou hadst but grace to take notice of it. This very time is an acceptable time ; oh that thou hadst but a heart to accept of it, and to improve it. He that hath a great way to go, and a great deal of work to do in a Kttle time, had not need to trifle away his time ; and this is the case of every unsanctified soul. Oh, the sins that such a soul hae to repent of ! oh, the graces that such a soul has to seek ! oh, the evidences for heaven that such a soul has to secure ! oh, the miseries that such a soul has to escape ! oh, the mercies that such a soul has to press after, &c. ; and therefore of all men in the world, it stands upon unsanctified persons well to husband and improve their present time. Oh, it is a dangerous thing to put off that work to another day which must be done to-day, or else thou mayest be eternally undone to-morrow. The old saying was, Nunc aut nunquam : Now or never ; if not now done, it may be never done, and if so, then thou art undone for ever. Many sinners are now in hell, who when they were on earth were wont to put off the motions of the Spirit by crying out, eras, cra^, to-morrow, to-morrow. Time is so precious a thing that mountains of gold and rocks of pearl cannot redeem one lost moment; which that great lady [Queen Elizabeth] well understood, when on her death-bed she cried out, ' Call time ^ Sumptus pretiosiasimus trempus. — Theoj>hrastu$,