(2.) The next thing that will deceive you is some faint resistance or striving against sin, but it groweth upon you. There are some sins where striving is conquering, as in the case of infirmities that we can- not wholly get rid of in this life ; but in the case of heinous sins it is otherwise ; they must not only be striven against, but left, otherwise no difference between godly and ungodly. The conatus, the endeavour, is not enough ; the evenius, the event or issue, is considerable. If a man live in gross sins though he hath strivings and convictions, and ineffectual wishes to be better and to turn to God, this showeth he doth sin against conscience, and resist the Spirit, that should turn him from these sins : 1 Peter iv. 1, ' Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind ; for he that suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.' Christ bad his innocent reluctances, but his love to God and men broke through all. Take heed of being rebellious against the importunities of grace. Such sins must not only be resisted, but conquered. A usurper may reign though there be much contradiction. Turn the tables. Should the feeble oppositions of sin against the life and reign of grace make the saints question their sincerity ? Why then should this ineffectual striving acquit you from the reign of sin ? It is not enough to disuse sin, l)ut he must mortify it also.
(3.) That which will deceive you is a hope to cry God mercy upon your death-beds ; and so, after an impure life, men hope still to go to heaven. We do not wholly exclude a death-bed repentance (if it be sincere^ and we do it at last) ; it is possible, though men have but so little time left. It is great folly, as well as wickedness, to ]mt it off till Ihen ; yet if God renew you by his Holy Spirit, you shall be accepted. But all the business is to prove it sincere; for how shall we know
VeR. 5.] SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 219
whether our repentance cometh from fear or love ? What cometh from fear will die again when your fear is over. Gocl hath not your hearts till he hath your love. Now this sensible death-bed work is hard, not only for the most skilful about you, but for yourself, to discern from what cause it cometh, whether you are frightened into an unsound repentance, or be effectually and sincerely turned from sin to God, whether your heart and will be changed or not. Alas ! it is easy to renounce and detest sin when we can keep it and cherish it no longer, and it is the mere fruit of necessity and fear. Besides, what hope of this, when we are contented to live longer in a course of known foul sin, provided at length we may be saved ? To live a sinful life against conviction of conscience bringeth on final and judicial hardness.
[7.] If the children of God fall into any of these sins, they lose not their right, but their present fitness, to enter into the kingdom of God and Christ. When you hear or read such a saying as the text, a doubt may arise in your mind, What then shall become of Samson, David, and Solomon ? I answer —
(1.) One act doth not denominate a man, but habits ; such cannot be called whoremongers. The reign of sin in the heart cannot consist with a right to heaven : Kom. viii. 13, ' If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die ; ' that is, in a course of sin.
(2.) They lose their fitness : Gal. v. 21, ' They that do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' Our divines at Dort, by the leper who w^as to dwell apart, say that he lost not his right in his house, but his fitness to dwell in it for the present. Sins are bound in heaven till repentance. They need a new pardon, though they are not put into a state of condemnation again, nor their former justification nullified. Infirmities have pardon of course : John xiii, 10, ' He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet.' But great and known sins must have actual repentance before they can be pardoned ; they must be confessed and forsaken.
Use. Let sinners propound this to their choice, either these sins must be laid aside, or the kingdom of God must be lost. It is the highest profaneness this, to sell the birthright, Heb. xii. 6, to forfeit our glorious inheritance for a little brutish satisfaction. Will you for your unclean delights forsake the delight of angels, and choose the filthy pleasures of sin before the pleasures at God's right hand for ever more ? The very punishment showeth the nature of the sin, which is loving pleasure more than God.
To quicken the children of God to avoid all uncleanness and ten- dency to it. You should check temptations to sin, and strive for an abundant entrance : 2 Peter i. 11, ' Give diligence to make 3'our calling and election sure, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' Reason with yourselves, as it is said of the trees in Jotham's parable,' Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, to be promoted over the trees ? Should I for- sake my sweetness, and my good fruit, to be promoted over the trees ? Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?' So should )^ou repel all temptations to sin, jukI abstain from all appearances of evil.