to Conclude Themfelves Neglected, or Hated and Rejected of God: Whereas the Scripture concludes juft the Contrary; They are Corrected by him, Therefore they are the Objects of his Love and Care. My Son, (fays the Apostle,) Defpife not Thou the Chaftening of the Lord,nor faint when Thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord Loveth, he Chasteneth; and Scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth. If ye endure Chaftening, God dealeth with you as with Sons; &c.

3dly, If God fends Troubles and Af fictions upon us for the Trial of Us, then ought we thereupon to Try Ourfelves, if there be any Way of Wickednefs found in us; and Examine Ourfelves thoroughly in Heart and Life; That we may find out what is Amifs in us, what it is that God would have Reform'd And Confcience that has been a Witness to all our Miscarriages, and to all the Secret Bafenefs and Naughtinefs of our Heart, and is now alarm'd, will not fail to direct us in the Search. And if we will give up the Accurfed Thing, that is the Cause of God's Anger, and the Disturber of Our Peace, as the Mariners caft Jonas over-board to allay the Storm, God's Juftice and Goodness

have their Ends, and will restore us to our Peace.

I now proceed to the

II. Cafe, wherein the Cenfurer feems to have both Reafon and Scripture on his Side; And 'tis the Cafe of the Vicious, Atheistical, and Profane; That either Deny the Truth, or hold it in Unrighteousness: And is not the Wrath Rom.i.18. of God reveal'd from Heaven against all Ungodliness and Varighteousness of Men, who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness? Have not the Scriptures told us, that They that Live after the Flesh, Adulterers, Fornicators, Idolaters, Murderers, Sorcerers,. Extortioners, and the Like, shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, but shall Rev. xxi. have their Part in the Lake that burneth8. with Fire and Brimstone? And if God has already pronounced upon them, may not We Condemn whom God has condemn'd?

I Cor. vi.

I Answer first by way of Conceffion; That tho' God in Mercy to our Weakness may make gracious Allowances to Human Frailties, yet he has no where given the leaft Encouragement, nor Hopes of Impunity to Wilful Unrepented Sin. He has commanded no Man, Ecclus.x to Do wickedly, neither bath he given D 2

any 20.

Man

Man Licence to Sin. And therefore They that will continue in the Practice of thofe Things which God forbids and abhors, ought in reafon to expect Nothing but the Punishments denounc'd againft them.

But We are only to Confider, what is Our proper Part and Duty herein; not only in point of Chriftian Charity, but in Common Humanity. When we fee One of Our Fellow-Creatures fallen into the Snares of the Devil, Are we to Rejoice and Triumph over his Fall? Must we infultingly Leap in upon him like Enemies from an Ambush? Or as David's Enemies did on Him God has forfaken him, Down with him, Down with him. And Leave him as we find him, in the Power of the Devil; Ty'd and Bound with the Chain of his Sins? St. Paul gives us very Different Rules--Brethren, (fays he,) If a Man be overtaken in a Fault, ye that are that are Spiritual, (ye that are Strong,) Reftore fuch an One in the Spirit of Meeknefs; confidering Thyfelfe, left Thots Gal. vi. 1.alfo be Tempted. Bear ye One another's Burdens, and fo fulfil the Law of Chrift. 2 Tim. ii. Be Gentle unto All Men; in Meekness inftructing those that oppose themselves, if God per adventure will give them Repentance, that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil, For be the Sin what it will,

Rom. xv.

1.

24.

there

there is None fo Grofs, None so Habitual, but may Now, under the Gospel Covenant, be Aton'd for by Repentance; Except only the Sin against the Holy Ghoft; (which many Learned Men have queftion'd, whether it can poffibly now be Committed by Us, who have not been Eye witneffes of the Miracles that were wrought by our Saviour for Confirmation of the Truth of the Gospel.) So long therefore as there is any Hope of Pardon, how can We Condemn?

Nay, tho' 'twere Granted, that there is but a Day of Grace, a Certain Time whilft Salvation may be had, and that the Sinner may outftand his Time, Sin away all his Opportunities, and, by his Obftinacy in Sin, render himself not only Unworthy, but altogether Uncapable of any farther Impreffions of Divine Grace; yet even All this, (tho' 'twere fully allow'd,) would not juftifie Our Judgment of any Man's Final State, unless we could exactly define the Bounds of God's Patience and Long-fuffering and Forbearance with his Creatures; unlefs we could tell who they were that had finn'd themselves into this Remedylefs State; and Certainly knew the Criticall Minute, the utmoft Period of the Sinner's Hopes; when the Time he shor

the Fatal Gulph, and what was the Laft Sin that was to fill up the Measure of his Iniquities. God has fometimes had Mercy on Great Sinners, whom he has Snatch'd as Fire-brands out of the Burning, and turning them from the Evil of their Ways, has made them Inftruments of his Glory. Others he has been pleas'd to Call, at the Last Hour of the Day; And to whomsoever God grants true Repentance, he will be fure to receive them to his Mercy.

But it may be faid, "that fuch a Late "Repentance is very Likely to be In"fincere; What we think to be Repent

66

ance, may be Nothing but Affright66 ment and Horrour of Confcience in "the Dying Sinner - And fo indeed it may; And there is always great Danger of it, in a Late Deathbed-Repentance; But whether it be fo or not, God Alone knows; and therefore He Alone is Able to Judge. As for Our Part, when We have had All the Signs

*Late Earl of Rochester: See his Funeral Sermon by Mr. Parfons: And Paffages of the Life and Death of the late Earl of Rochester by Dr. Gilbert Burnet 1680. Sir Alan Broderick. See his Funeral Sermon: by Dr. Refbury 1680

Sir Duncomb Colchefter. See his Penitential Declaration published by his own Defire, during his Sicknefs in all the Parish Churches round him in Glocefterfoire.

and