noble Work we are put upon; and what a glorious Iffue and Conclufion we may expect, if we be faithful in it. And let us every Day praise God, who hath prepared fo great Things for us; and our Lord Jefus, who hath made known to us the Certainty of them, and taught us the Way how we may attain them.

SER

SERMON VIII.

The great Folly and Danger of delaying Repentance.

Preach'd before Queen Anne, 1708.

PSALM cxix. 59, 60.

I thought on my Ways, and turned

unto thy Teftimonies.

I made hafte and delayed not to keep thy Commandments.

T

HE following Week, which we commonly call Paffion Week, being, of all the Time of Lent, more especially fet apart for the Purposes of Religion and Devotion, for the examining the State of our Souls, and exercifing Acts of Repentance, that by deeply confidering what bitter Things our Saviour fuffered for our Sakes, we may be brought to an Abhor

rence

185

rence of them, and enter into Refolutions of forfaking them for ever, and fo devote ourselves anew to God on Eafter-day by coming to his Table: I fay, this being the Business of this Week, I do not know how I can more usefully spend this half Hour, than by endeavouring to excite you all to the Imitation of this Practice of holy David, which you find in the Words which I have read unto you. And fince there is no Difficulty, either in the Expreffion, or in the Senfe of my Text, that needs any explaining, I fhall apply myfelf, without more ado, to the Thing I defign.

I hope there are few of you here prefent, but have fo far, with the Pfalmift, thought upon your Ways, that if you have not already turned your Feet unto God's Tefimonies (as he here expreffeth it;) if you have not already fet yourselves to ferve God, and to mind the Work of Religion, yet you are fully convinced, that fome Time or other you must do it, if you mean not to perish everlaftingly: Nay, I doubt not but you heartily purpose and refolve, that if God grant you Life and Health, you will do it. But now why fhould you not presently put these Purposes in Execution? Why fhould you not with David here make hafte, and without further Delay, apply your Minds and Study to the keeping of God's Commandments? Why fhould you not immediately break loofe

from

V. II.

from the Sins which hold you in Captivity,
and give all Diligence, by a ftrict, fober,
virtuous and devout Life, to make your Pet.1.10.
Calling and Election Jure? (as the Apostle
expreffes it) that fo, when you come to die,
an Entrance may be miniftred unto you abun-
dantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our
Lord Fefus? Let me therefore, this Day,
call upon you in the Name of God, now
while he affords you Health and Strength,
let me exhort you to follow David's Ex-
ample in the Text, to make hafte, and delay
not to keep God's Commandments.

For the more effectual ftirring you up
to this, give me Leave to represent four
Things to you, which I fhall make the
Heads of my
Exhortation.

I. First of all; pray let it be confider'd, that the longer you delay this Work, ftill the more difficult it will be to you, and the more Labour and Pains you will be put to, if ever you profecute it fuccefsfully. This all the World muft acknowledge to be true upon these two Ac

counts.

ift. The longer you defer this Matter, the more unfit you are to undertake it: And 2dly, the Work ftill grows greater upon your Hands.

1. First of all, the longer you defer this Work, the more unfit you render your felyes for the Performance of it. For it is

here,

here, as in all other Arts and Habits, that are to be acquired by Exercise and Application of Mind, the longer we put off any Design of that Nature, the greater Unfitnefs and Incapacity we shall find, even in our natural Powers, for the compaffing of it. One cannot be thought fo capable of becoming a learned Man, who begins to ftudy at the Age of thirty or forty, as he who hath applied his Mind to Learning from his Childhood. The Faculties of a Man's Soul are in a conftant Flux, and the Nature of them is fuch, that the more early we exercise them about any Thing, the more prompt we fhall find them in it, and the lefs Trouble we fhall have in keeping them to it. It just fares with them as with those that learn Mufick. The younger they are when they begin with that Art, the more pliable and nimble their Fingers are in touching their Inftrument. But if they stay till their Sinews are knit, they will find them much more ftiff and unmanageable. How flight foever the Comparifon is, yet it truly fets forth the State of the Powers of Mankind, as to the great Work of Religion. The longer we delay the employing our Faculties that way, the more unfit they will be for it; and especially if we neglect the Thing fo long that Nature begins to decline, and the Heat and Briskness of our Spirits do abate. In this Cafe it will be a very hard Tug for us

to