The longer we live in any sin unrepented of, the more our hearts will be hardened ; the more Satan takes advantage against us, the more hardly he is driven out of his old possession, the more just it may be with God to give us up from one sin to another. The understanding will be more dark upon every repetition of sin, and conscience will be more dulled and deaded. Those that are young, therefore, let them take the advantage of the youth, and strength, and freshness of their years to serve God. That which is blasted in the bud, what fruit may we look for from it afterwards ? Alas ! when we see the younger sort given to blaspheme and swear, to loose- ness and licentiousness, what old age may we look for there ? Again, what welcome shall we expect, when we have sacrificed the best of our strength and the marrow of our years to our lusts, to bring our old age to God ? Can this be any other than self-love ? Such late repentance is seldom sound. It comes, I say, from self-love, and not from any change of heart. As in the humility of wi-etched persons, a little before the judge comes, though they have carried themselve-s as rebels before, yet then they will humble themselves, not out of any hatred to their courses, but out of fear of the judge. So it may be now thou art arraigned by God's judg- ments); thou forsakest thy sinful courses, not out of the hatred of thy sins — for if thou couldst thou wouldst sin eternally, and that is the reason sinners are punished eternally, because they would sin everlastingly — but thou seest thou art in danger to be pulled away by God's judgments. It is not out of love to grace, it is not from any change of nature that thou desirest to be a new creature, that thou admirest grace to be the best state, but it is to avoid danger ; not that thou carest for the face of God, to be reconciled to him, but to avoid the present judgment.
And what a staggering will this be to conscience, when a man shall defer
his repentance till God's judgments seize upon him ! We see it is false
for the most part, because such persons that are then humbled, when they
recover they are as bad or worse than ever they were. Therefore an
* That is, ' stumblingblocks.' — G.
god's inquisition. 213
ancient saith ■well, ' He that is good only under the cross is never good ' (a). It comes not from any change that God works, but merely from self-love. | , Therefore presently let us repent of those ways that God convinceth our conscience to be evil ways ; God may strike us suddenly. Those that forget God, and care not for him now, it may be just with God to make them forget themselves, to strike them with frenzy, to take away the use of their memories then ; and when sickness comes we shall have enough to do to conflict with sickness, we shall have enough to do to answer the doubts of conscience. Oh, it would upbraid them ! We shall think it a hard matter then to have favour from God, whose worship we have despised, the motions of whose Spirit we have neglected and resisted. Con- science, after long hardening in sin, will hardly admit of comfort. It is a harder matter than it is taken for. Therefore, even to-day, presently, you that are young, now in the days of your youth, now in the spring of your 3'ears, repent you of your sins before old age comes, which indeed, as Solo- mon describes it, ' is an ill time' to repent in, Eccles. xii. 1. Alas ! then a man can hardly perform civil duties ; as we see in Barzillai, he complains that in his old age he could not take the comfort of the creatures, 2 Sam. six. 32, seq. Therefore put not off this duty till then. And all, both young and old, now when the judgments of God are abroad in the world, take the advantage]; return to God, renew your covenants, make your peace now. Now this danger doth warm our hearts a little, let us strike the iron now while it is hot ; let us take the advantage of the Spirit now awakening us with this danger. Our hearts are so false and so dull, we have need to take all advantages of withdrawing ourselves from our sinful courses.
And to encourage us to do it, let us consider, if we do this, and do it in time, we shall have the sweetness of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.
You will say. We shall lose the sweetness of sin ; ay, but
1. You shall have a most sweet communion with God. One day of a repentant sinner, that is reconciled to God, is more comfortable than a thousand years of another man that is in continual fear of death and judgment. Oh, the sweet life of a Christian that hath made his peace with God ! He is fit for all conditions : for life, for death, for everything. Now by this we shall have this grace and favour of God. The Lord will say unto us by his Spirit, * I am your salvation,' Ps. xxxv. 3. And besides, you shall have his grace renewing and altering and changing you, framing you to a better course of life. And he will be so/ar from misliking any for their former sins, that he will give them cause to love him the more, as we see Luke vii. 47, ' She loved much, because she had much forgiven her.' Christ, we see, upbraided not any of his followers with their former sins. He regarded not what they had been formerly • Zaccheus the extortioner, Mary Magdalene, Matthew the publican, Peter that denied him. We never hear that he upbraided any of them. He doth not only vouchsafe mercy to Peter repenting, but advanceth him to his former office apostolical. So sweet a God have we to deal with ! Let this encourage us.