God, and refolving to ferve him, when you are fo im portunately courted and fo hotly affaulted by the devil and the world. However, you may not live to be old; therefore, upon that confideration, begin the work prefently, and make use of the opportunity that is now in your hands.

You that are grown up to ripeness of years, and are in the full vigour of your age, you are to be put in mind, that the heat and inconfideratenefs of youth is now past and gone; that reason and confideration are now in their perfection and strength; that this is the very age of prudence and difcretion, of wisdom and warinefs: fo that now is the proper time for you to be ferious, and wifely to fecure your future happiness.

As for thofe that are old, they methinks fhould need no body to admonish them, that it is now high time for them to begin a new life, and that the time paft of their lives is too much to have spent in fin and folly. There is no trifling where men have a great work to do, and but little time to do it in. Your fun is certainly going down, and near its fetting; therefore you fhould quicken your pace, confidering that your journey is never the fhorter, because you have but little time to perform it in. Alas! man, thou art juft ready to die, and haft thou not yet begun to live? Are thy paffions and lufts yet unfubdued, and have they had no other mortification than what age hath given them? It is ftrange to fee how, in the very extremities of old age, many men are as if they had ftill a thousand years to live; and make no preparation for death, though it dogs them at the heels, and is just come up to them, and ready to give them the fatal stroke.

Therefore let us not put off this neceffary work of reforming ourselves in what part and age of our lives foever we be: To day, whilft it is called to day; left any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of fin. Nay, to day is with the latest to begin this work; had we been wife, we would have begun it fooner. It is God's infinite mercy to us that it is not quite too late, that the day of God's patience is not quite expired, and the door shut against us. Therefore do not defer your repentance to the next folemn time, to the next occafion of receiving

the

the bleffed facrament: do not fay, I will then reform, and become a new man; after that I will take leave of my lufts, and fin no more. For let us make what hafte we can, we cannot possibly make too much:

-Properat vivere nemo fatis:

"No man makes hafte enough to be good;" to cease to do evil, and to learn to do well. Be as quick as we will, life will be too nimble for us, and go on fafter than our work does; and death will go nigh to prevent us, and furprise us unawares.

Do, do, finner; abuse and neglect thyfelf yet a little while longer, till the time of regarding thy foul, and working out thy own falvation, be at an end, and all the opportunities of minding that great concernment be flipped out of thy hands, never to be recovered, never to be called back again; no not by thy most earnest wishes and defires, by thy moft fervent prayers and tears; and thou be brought into the condition of profane Efau, who, for once defpifing the bleffing, loft it for ever, and found no place of repentance, though he fought it carefully with tears.

To conclude: Art thou convinced that thy eternal happiness depends upon following the advice which hath now been given thee? Why then, do but behave thyfelf in this cafe as thou and all prudent men are wont to do in matters which thou canst not but acknowledge to be of far lefs concernment. If a man be travelling to fuch a place, fo foon as he finds himself out of the way, he prefently stops, and makes towards the right way, and hath no inclination to go wrong any farther. If a man be fick, he will be well presently, if he can, and not put it off to the future. Moft men will gladly take the first opportunity that prefents itself of being rich or great; every man almoft catches at the very firft offers of a great place, or a good purchase, and fecures them presently if he can; left the opportunity be gone, and another fnatch these things from him. Do thou thus fo much more in matters fo much greater. Return from the error of thy way; be wife, fave thyfelf, as foon as poffibly thou canft. When happiness prefents itself to thee, do not turn it off, and bid it come again to mor

row.

row. Perhaps thou mayeft never be so fairly offered again; perhaps the day of falvation may not come again to morrow; nay, perhaps to thee to morrow may never come. But if we were fure that happiness would come again, yet why fhould we put it off? Does any man know how to be safe and happy to day, and can he find in his heart to tarry till to morrow?

Now, the God of all mercy and patience give every one of us the wisdom and grace to know, and to do in this our day, the things that belong to our peace, before they be hid from our eyes, for the fake of our bleffed Saviour and Redeemer. To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory now and for ever. Amen.

ERMON

SE

XV.

The distinguishing character of a good and a bad man.

I JOHN iii. 10.

In this the children of God are manifeft, and the children of the devil: Whofoever doth not righteousness, is not of God.

T is certainly a matter of the greatest consequence to

I

us, both in order to our prefent peace and future happiness, truly to understand our fpiritual state and condition, and whether we belong to God, and be his children, or not. And it is not fo difficult as is commonly imagined, to arrive at this knowledge, if we have a mind to it, and will but deal impartially with ourselves; for the text gives us a plain mark and character whereby we may know it: In this the children of God are manifeft, and the children of the devil: Whofoever doth not righteoufnefs, is not of God.

From which words I fhall endeavour, by God's affitance, to lay men open to themselves, and to reprefent VOL. I.

Y

to

to every one of us the truth of our condition; and then leave it to the grace of God, and every man's ferious confideration, to make the best use of it.

And it will conduce very much to the clearing of this matter, to confider briefly the occafion of these words. And this will beft appear by attending stedfastly to the main fcope and defign of this epiftle. And I think that no man that reads it with attention, can doubt, but that it is particularly defigned against the impious fect of the Gnofticks, who, as the fathers tell us, fprang from Simon Magus, and pretended to extraordinary knowledge and illumination; from whence they had the name of Gnofticks: but, notwithstanding this glittering pretence, they did allow themselves in all manner of impious and vitious practices, turning the grace of God into lafcivioufnefs, as St. Jude fpeaks of them. And that St. John aims particularly at this fort of men, is very evident from the frequent and plain allufions throughout this epiftle to thofe names and titles which this fect affumed to themselves: as, ep. 1. chap. ii. 4. He that faith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; and, y 9. He that faith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until 210W. Which paffages, and many more in this epistle, do plainly refer to the pretences of this fect, to more than ordinary knowledge and illumination in the mysteries of religion, notwithstanding they did fo notoriously contradict thefe glorious pretences, by the impiety of their lives, and particularly by their hatred and enmity to their fellow Chriftians. For, as the ancient fathers tell us, they pretended, that, whatever they did, they could not fin. And this our Apoftle intimates in the beginning of this epiftle: If we fay that we have no fim, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And they held it lawful to renounce Christianity to avoid perfecution; and not only fo, but also to join with the Heathen in perfecuting the Chriftians; which feems to be the reason why the Apostle fo often taxeth them for hatred to their brethren, and calls them murderers.

Now, to fhew the inconfiftence of thefe principles and practices with Chriftianity, the Apostle ufeth many arguments; amongst which he particularly infifteth up

on

on this, that nothing is more effential to a difciple of Chrift, and a child of God, by which titles Chriftians were commonly known, than to abstain from the practice of all fin and wickedness: y 6. of this chapter, Whofoever abideth in him, finneth not: whofoever finneth, hath not feen him, neither known him; whatever knowledge they might pretend to, it was evident they were deftitute of the true knowledge of God, and his fon Jefus Chrift; and, y7. Little children, let no man deceive you he that doth righteoufnefs, is righteous, even as he is righteous; and, y 8. He that committeth fin, is of the devil; and, y 9. Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit fin. Let men pretend what they will, wickedness is a plain mark and character of one that belongs to the devil; as, on the contrary, righteoufnefs is an evidence of a child of God: In this the children of God are manifeft, and the children of the devil, &c.

I fhall briefly explain the words, and then confider the matter contained in them.

By the children of God, and the children of the devil, are meant good and bad men; it being ufual in the phrafe of fcripture, to call perfons or things which partake of fuch a nature or quality, the children of thofe who are eminently endued with that nature and difpofition. Thus they who are of the faith of Abraham, and do the works of Abraham, are called Abraham's children in like manner, those who in their difpofitions and actions imitate God, are called the children of God; and, on the contrary, thofe that addict themselves to fin and impiety, are counted of another race and defcent; they refemble the devil, and belong to him as the chief and head of that faction.

:

By righteousness is here meant univerfal goodness, and conformity to the law of God, in oppofition to fin, which is the tranfgreffion of that law.

By being manifeft is meant, that hereby good and bad men are really distinguished; fo that every one that will examine his condition by this mark, may know of which number he is, and to what party he belongs.

I come now to the main argument contained in the words; which is, to give us a certain character and mark of diftinction between a good and bad man: èv 787E,