Christian ethics -- Fiction; Christian fiction; Conduct of life -- Fiction
Wise. I was one of them that went to him, and that beheld his carriage
and manner of way, and this is a true relation of it that I have given
you.
Atten. I am satisfied. But pray if you can, shew me now by the Word,
what sentence of God doth pass upon such men?
Wise. Why, the man that is thus averse to repentance, that desires not
to hear of his sins, that he might repent and be saved; is said to be a
man that saith unto God, Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge
of thy wayes. {163a} He is a man that sayes in his heart and with his
actions, I have loved strangers, (sins) and after them I will goe. He
is a man that shuts his eyes, stops his ears, and that turneth his
spirit against God. Yea he is the man that is at enmity with God, and
that abhorres him with his soul. {163b}
Atten. What other signe can you give me that Mr. Badman died without
repentance?
Wise. Why, he did never heartily cry to God for mercy all the time of
his affliction. {163c} True, when sinking fits, stitches, or pains took
hold upon him, then he would say as other carnal men use to do, Lord
help me, Lord strengthen me, Lord deliver me, and the like: But to cry
to God for mercy, that he did not, but lay, as I hinted before, as if
he never had sinned.
Atten. That is another bad sign indeed; for crying to God for mercy,
is one of the first signs of repentance. When Paul lay repenting of
his sin, upon his bed, the Holy Ghost said of him, Behold he prayes.
{163d} But he that hath not the first signs of repentance, ’tis a sign
he hath none of the other, and so indeed none at all. I do not say, but
there may be crying, where there may be no sign of repentance. They
cryed, says David, to the Lord, but he answered them not; {163e} but
that he would have done, if their cry had been the fruit of repentance.
But, I say, if men may cry, and yet have no repentance, be sure, they
have none, that cry not at all. It is said in Job, They cry not when
he bindeth them; {163f} that is, because they have no repentance; no
repentance, no cryes; false repentance, false cryes; true repentance,
true cryes.
Wise. I know that it is as possible for a man to forbear crying that
hath repentance, as it is for a man to forbear groaning that feeleth
deadly pain. He that looketh into the Book of Psalms, (where repentance
is most lively set forth even in its true and proper effects,) shall
there find, that crying, strong crying, hearty crying, great crying,
and uncessant crying, hath been the fruits of repentance: (But none of
this had this Mr. Badman, therefore he dyed in his sins.)
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