offer unto him their first-born, and the first-fruits of their inheritance, will he take it well now, in this admirable sunshine of the gospel, that thou shouldest offer to the devil, and to the world, the first-fruits of thy youth, the strength of thy years, and that thou shouldst reserve for him only the dregs and corruption of a decaying old age?

It is to mock God and man, to dream of living well, when our life is far spent and gone; to lift up our eyes and thoughts to heaven, when the earth fails us under our feet; to restore other men's goods, when we can keep them no longer; to renounce all desires of revenge, when we have no power of acting; to abstain from the foul lusts of the flesh, when we are able to continue in them no longer; to abhor theft, usury, rapine, and extortion, when a coffin is preparing to receive us, and Death looks us in the face. Such persons cannot be said to leave sin, but rather sin leaves them, as the ravens leave the tree that falls down with age, or that is struck with the thunder.

By our unreasonable delays, evil and sin grow older, and the cure becomes every day more difficult: for the more thou shalt be hardened in thy corruption, and confirmed in thy sins, the harder it will be for thee to break and melt thy corrupted heart. The deeper lust shall have cast its roots in thy soul, the more labour thou shalt find in plucking them out. In short, he that gives too much liberty to his unlawful affections, makes his vices by custom become natural, and cannot be converted without a great miracle.

Man's most important and difficult affair in the world, is his conversion to God. Therefore it is a great folly to put it off to such a time as we shall be in the feeblest and weakest condition; to a time when we shall have most business to do and most trouble. Doubtless he orders not his affairs well,

who

who puts off his praying to God, and his thoughts of heaven, until he comes to be stretched on his death-bed, for then we know not to whom we are first to answer. An account of our worldly concerns is then required from us; we are then to make our last will and testament; we call for a scrivener, and are inwardly vexed to behold him; the visits of friends trouble us, and their absence doth much displease us; pain seizes upon us; defluxions are ready to choke us; fevers burn us, and disturb our minds; physicians oppress us with noisome remedies; the noise is a trouble to us, and silence is suspected; our parents and friends torment us with their officious dealings; our children and our greatest darlings melt our hearts, and their tears force us to weep. But the worst is, the devils are then most busy and active. fiends, like devouring ravens, fly about us, endeavouring to fright us. In short, it is then the prince of the power of the air stirs up against us furious storms and tempests, to cause us to perish in the very haven. In the midst of so many disturbances, and so many powerful waves, it is a difficult task to possess our souls in peace, to think upon our consciences, to hear God speaking to us, to prepare for death as we ought, and to keep ourselves from sinking, and from being swallowed up with its apprehensions and frights.

These hellish

Old age hath infirmities enow; we need not defile it with youthful sins and lusts: for many times it causeth more wounds in our souls, than there are wrinkles upon our skin. When the body decays and grows weak, the lusts of the flesh become stronger; and oft-times, when it whitens the face, it spots the conscience. In a word, the bones of old age are weak enough, and sufficiently full of pain, that we need not overburden them with the sins committed in the flower and strength of our age.

Moreover, we know not when nor how Death will assault

us,

us, nor what favour we are to expect from it. Who knows but that it intends not to give us the liberty of speaking to our friends, nor of thinking upon our souls? For it sends not always a warning to us, as to the good king Hezekiah, "Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die," 2 Kings xx. For as we have already taken notice, it surpriseth us in every age, in every time and place, and in the midst of all manner of employments. Old Eli fell down backward, and brake his neck, when he heard the unhappy news of the taking of the ark, and the death of his sons. Job's children dreamed of nothing but of solacing and delighting themselves in their feasts and jollity, when the house where they were fell down, and buried them in its ruins. But besides these unhappy accidents, how many are there whose mouth Death closed on a sudden, without suffering them to speak a word! How many are there in the world, who are thought to be in perfect health, and yet suddenly fall into an apoplexy, and into other quick diseases, so that they are to be found sooner dead, than thought to be sick!

Besides, though we should have greater strength and vigour, so that we might foresee the time of our departure drawing near, repentance is not at our command; it is given us from above, and a special favour of the Holy Spirit. God works not a miracle every day; he changeth not at every moment rocks into springs of water, nor stones into rivers of oil; he grants not the favour to all sinners, hardened in their lusts, and confirmed in their apostasy from him, to be converted, and to be washed with the tears of repentance.

If thou seest a thief repenting at the time of his suffering, it is a particular example, that abolishes not the general rule. By this man God intends to comfort sinners who truly repent at the end of their days, and to assure them, that the arms of his mercy are always open to receive them into his favour. I

con

confess, that true repentance can never be too late; but I affirm, that it can never be too soon. It is most certain, that at any time the sinner repents, God will shew him mercy; but that moment is not in our power. For one sinner that repents at the hour of death, there are thousands that depart in impenitency. And to set no other example but that which mount Calvary offers to us; if thou seest on one side of Christ a thief converted and believing, look on the other side, and thou shalt perceive a wretch, who having spent his days in wickedness and impiety, expires in his sins, belching forth grievous blasphemies and reproaches against the King of glory: so that if one of these remarkable passages flatter thee, and lulls thy conscience asleep, the other should move and awaken thee with an holy fear. Moreover, the thief was converted at the first moment, and Christ called and invited him. Therefore, that you now hear the voice of God calling, harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation, for fear that God should swear in his anger that you shall never enter into his rest. Now, at this very instant that you read this, turn unto God with all your heart, and he will have pity and compassion upon you.

When the opportunity is once lost, it is not easily and at all times recovered; therefore painters have represented Occasion with a great tuft of hair on the forehead, and all bald behind; but unto every thing there is a season. God hath vouchsafed unto us a time, and reserved another for himself. Our time is when we are invited to repentance; but God's time is when he manifests and declares his justice and judgments. During the space of one hundred and twenty years, Noah, an herald of righteousness, preached repentance to the old world; this was their time: but when God's abused patience was justly provoked, it turned into fury. Then he sent a fearful deluge, that covered all the face of the earth; this was God's time, and the day of his just vengeance.

When

When Lot spake to his sons-in-law to persuade them to go out of Sodom, this was the time of their salvation and deliverance but when fire and brimstone overwhelmed and burned them alive, their crying and gnashing of teeth were as useless as their laughter and mocking had been formerly unjust. When Esau sold the privilege of his birthright, it was the time of thinking seriously upon the true and heavenly blessing: but when he had sold it for a sup of pottage, all his tears and weepings were as fruitless, as his gluttony had been insatiable, and his temper profane. When the Bridegroom in the Canticles was at the door with the dew of his heavenly joys, and myrrh of his eternal comforts, it was the bride's time, and the occasion that was offered her to enjoy the heavenly delight: but when she had delayed awhile, unwilling to rise from her bed, and put on her coat, he was gone, and it was to no purpose that she sought him about the city; for instead of meeting with the embraces of her beloved, she finds her enemies that beat and wounded her. When poor Lazarus begged his bread at the rich man's gate, it was the time when this unmerciful man should have repented, and shewed mercy to the poor: but when in hell, burning in the flames, it was in vain that he lifted up his eyes to heaven to seek for some comfort. When our Saviour exhorted the Jews to believe in him; when he wept so bitterly over Jerusalem, that had killed the prophets; it was the time and opportunity of this unhappy nation, it was the time of their salvation, and of God's blessings: but when they had obstinately rejected this great God and Saviour, and desired that his blood might be upon them and their children, God cast them away from him, and they became a scorn and a reproach among all the nations of the earth. Finally, as it is to no purpose that a malefactor resolves to amend his life, when the judge is at the door, and when the serjeants have caught him by the throat, or when he is upon the gallows, ready to be strangled and executed; likewise it is too late to