Melancholy, are afflicted with fuch Thoughts as thefe, That their Day of Grace is paft, that God has fworn in his Wrath that they fhall not enter into his Reft; and therefore their Repentance and Tears will be as fruitlefs as Efau's were, which could not obtain the Bleffing. Now for the refolving this Queftion, I shall fay thefe three Things: 1. That the Day of Grace, according to the Terms of the Gofpel, is commenfurate with our Lives. 2. That notwithftanding this, Men may fhorten their own Day of Grace, and God may in Wrath and Justice confirm the Sentence. 3. That the Reasons for lengthening the Day of Grace, together with our Lives, do not extend to the other World, and therefore Death must put a final Period to it. 1. That the Day of Grace, according to the Terms of the Gofpel, is commenfurate with our Lives; and there needs no other Proof of this, but that the Promife of Pardon and Forgiveness is made to all true Penitents, without any Limitation of Time: Whoever believes in Chrift, and repents of his Sins, he fhall be faved: This is the Doctrine of the Gofpel; and if this be true, then it is certain, that at what time foever a Sinner fincerely repenteth of his Sins, he fhall be faved; for otherwife fome true and fincere Penitents, if they repent too late, after the Day of Grace is expired, Thall be damned; and then it is not true, that all fincere Penitents fhall be faved. I know but one Objection against this, from the Example of Efau, who having fold his Birth-right, when afttrwards he would have inherited the Bleffing, was rejected; for he found no Place for Repentance, though he fought it carefully with Tears. It seems then that Efau repented too late, and fo may we; his M 2 Repentance Repentance would not be accepted: And if we are concerned in this Example, as the Apoftle intimates we are, then we may repent of our Sins when it is too late, and lofe the Bleffing as Efau did. But this Objection is founded on a Mistake of Efau's Cafe: The Repentance here mentioned is not Efau's Repentance, but Ifaac's; that is, when Ifaac had bleffed Jacob, Efau with all his Tears and Importunity could not make him recal it; i. e. Ifaac would not repent of the Bleffing he had given to Facob; I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be bleffed, Gen. xxvii. 33. Efau's Cafe then was not that his Repentance came too late to be accepted, but that he could not obtain the Bleffing, after he had fold his Birthright, to which the Bleffing was annexed. Now to apply this to the State of Chriftians; that which anfwers to Efau's Birth-right, is their Right and Title to future Glory, being made the Sons of God by baptifinal Regeneration, and Faith in Chrift; to fell this Birth-right is to part with our Hopes of Heaven, for the Pleafures, or Riches, or Honours of this World, as Efau fold his Birth-right for one Morfel of Meat; that is, as the Apostle fpeaks, to fail of the Grace of God, either through Unbelief, which he calls the Koot of Bitterness, a renouncing the Faith of Chrift, and returning to Judaifm, or Pagan Idolatries, or by an impure and wicked Life: Left there be any Fornicator, or prophane Perfon, as Elau, who for one Morfel of Meat fold his Birth-right; i. e. who defpifes the Hopes of Heaven for the finful Pleafures and tranfient Enjoyments of this World: Men who thus fail of the grace of God, and finally do fo, as Efau finally fold his Birth-right, when our heavenly Father comes comes to give his Bleffing, thofe great Rewards he has promised in his Gofpel, how importunate foever they fhall then be for a Bleffing, as Efau was, who fought it carefully with Tears, they fhall find no Place for Repentance; God will not alter his Purpofes and Decrees for their Sakes. Our Saviour has given us a plain Comment on this, Matth. vii. 21, 22, 23. Not every one that faith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but be that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven. Many will fay unto me at that Day; that is, the Day of Judgment, when the Bleffing is to be given, Lord, Lord, have we not prophefied in thy name, and in thy name caft out Devils, and in thy name done many wonderful Works? Here is Efau's Importu nity for the Bleffing. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: Depart from me ye that work Iniquity. They were prophane Efau's, who had fold their Birth-right for a Morfel of Meat, and now they found no Place for Repentance: Our Lord will not be perfuaded by all their Importunities to alter his Sentence, but depart from me je that work Iniquity. This Example then of Efau does not concern our prefent Cafe; it does not prove that a wicked Man, who hath spent the greatest Part of his Life in Sin and Folly, fhall not be accepted and rewarded by God, if he fincerely repent of his Sins, and reform his Life; but it only proves that a wicked and ungodly Chriftian, who prefers the Pleafures and Enjoyments of this World before. the Hopes of Heaven, and defiles his Soul with impure and worldly Lufts, what Pretences foever he may make to the Bleffing, or how importunate foever he may be for it, fhall receive no Bleffing from God; that is, that without Holiness no Man shall M. 3 Jee Tee God; which is the very Thing the Apostle intended to prove by this Example, as you may fee, ver. 14. I grant, the Cafe is different as to Churches and Nations fometimes their Day of Grace is fixed and determined, beyond which, without Repentance, they fhall no longer enjoy the Light of the Gofpel. Thus the Appearance of Chrift in the Flesh, and his preaching the Gofpel to them, was the laft Trial of Jerufalem, and determined the Fate of that beloved City; and therefore when Chrift rode into Jerufalem, in order to his Crucifixion, When he was come near, he beheld the City, and wept over it, Jaying, if thou hadst known even thou, at least in this thy Day, the things which belong unto thy Peace! But now they are hid from thine Eyes. For the Days hall come upon thee, that thine Enemies thall caft a Trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every Side, and fhall lay thee even with the Ground, and thy Children within thee; and they fhall not leave in thee one Stone upon another: Becaule thou kneweft not the Time of thy Vifitation, Luke xix, 41, &c. And this our Saviour warned them of before, John xii. 35, 36. Yet a little while is the Light with you, walk while ye have the Light, left Darkness come upon you: For he that walketh in Darknefs, knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have Light, believe in the Light, that ye may be the Children of Light; Which fignifies, that unless they believed on him, while he was with them, they must be utterly deftroyed: The Kingdom of God fhould be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof; as he proves by the Parable of the Houfholder, who planted a Vineyard, Matt. xxi. 33, &c. And this was in fome Measure the Cafe of the feven Churches of Afia, to whom St. John directed his Epistle, to fuminon them to Repentance, and to threaten them with the Removal of the Candleftick, if they did not repent. The Judgments of God in the Overthrow of fome flourishing Churches, and in tranfplanting the Gofpel from one Nation to another, are very myfterious and unfearchable; but as for particular Perfons, who énjoy the Light of the Gospel, unless they shorten their Day of Grace themselves, God does not shorten it: As long as they live in this World, they are capable of Grace and Mercy if they truly repent. 2. Men may shorten their own Day of Grace; not by fhortening the Time of Grace and Mercy, for that lafts as long as this Life does; but by outliving the Poffibility of Repentance; and when they are paft Repentance, their Day of Grace is at an End, and this may be much shorter than their Lives: That is, Men may fo harden themselves in Sin, as to make their Repentance morally impoffible; and God in his juft and righteous Judg ments may give up fuch Men to a State of Hardnefs and Impenitence. Every Degree of Love to Sin, proportionably enflaves Men to the Practice of it: makes Repentance as uneafy and difficult, as it is to pluck out a right eye, and cut off a right Hand, Matth. v. 29, 30. as painful as dying, as crucifying the Flesh with its Affections and Lufts, which few Men will fubmit to Rom. viii. 13. Col. iii. 5. An Habit and Custom of Sin turns into Nature, and is as difficultly altered as Nature is: Can the Ethiopian change his Skin, or the Leopard his Spots? Then may you alfo do Good, who are accustomed to de Evil, Jer. xiii. 23. Some Sins are of fuch a hardening Nature, that few Men who are once entangled by them, can ever break the Snare: Such as Adultery, M 4 the |