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Preached before the Queen at WhiteHall, Feb. 27. 1689, being the Third Wednesday in Lent.

ACT S. XXIV. 25.

Felix trembled; and anfwer'd, Go thy way for this time, when I have a convenient feafon, I will call for thee.

N which Words we have the refult of St. Paul's Difcourfe before Felix, concerning the future Judgment, and the Punishments that should one day be pronounced against finners in it. had fent for our Apoftle, Verfe 24. who was then a Prifoner at Cafarea, to hear what he

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had to fay concerning the Faith or a Gospely of Chrift.

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"And as he reafon'd of Righteoufnefs, Temper rance, and Judgment to come, Felix trembled, "and anfwer'd, Go thy way for this time, mben I "have a convenient feafon, I will call for thee. !

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It was the ufual method of St. Paul i Preaching the Gofpel of Chrift, in the firft place, to awaken mens fears, by declaring to them the terrors of a future ftate, and the ftri&t dccount that we muft one day render to God of all our Actions; that fo being full of Horror at the apprehenfion of theis danger, they might become the better difpofed to hearken to thofe means he was afterwards to propose to them, whereby to fecure them against it. And in his fecond Epistle to the Corinthians, V. 11. he gives us an account how effectual a preparation it commonly made for him to prevail; Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord; 1. e. as appears by the foregoing Verfe, this revelation of the future Fudgment, we perfuade men.

2 Cor. v. 10.

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He had here in this Felix, a moft profligate finnen to deal with. A Man in his + Government violent and unjuft: In his own manners lewd and debauch'd: He had ravifh'd another Man's * Wife out of his

+ Tacitus Hift. lib. v. c. 9. fays of him, That per omnem fævitiam ac libidinem, jus regium fervili ingenio exercuit Ec annal. . xii. c. 54. cuncta malefacta fibi impune ratus, canta potentia fubnixo.

* Jofeph. Antiq. Jud. 1. 20. c. 5. pag. 616, Bafil. 1544. The Account of which fee above, p. 112.

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Bofom,

Bofom, and lived in an open state of Adultery with her.

And now what fo proper to awaken his Confcience, and make him indeed begin to repent him of his fins, as to reafon before him of a Judgment to come? What Application fo pertinent, as to fhow him the particular danger of unjust and intemperate men, that is, fuch as himself fhould be exposed to in it. This was certainly the most proper address to fuch a one, and fuch was this of St. Paul to Felix He reafonid before him of Righteoufnefs, Temperance, and the Judgment to come.

And behold in my Text, the refult of his Difcourse, such as in all reafon we might expect it fhould have been, Felix trembled.

And now who would not hope for fome good effect, from fo fair and promifing a beginning? And that the next thing we fhould have heard of, fhould have been fome fuch question to St. Paul, as the A Fews once made on the like occafion to St. Peter, and the other Apoftles,

Acts ii. 37.

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Men and Brethren, what shall we do? This one might reafonably have expected fhould have been the refult of his Terror. But alas! We find a much different effect of it. He was indeed. amazed to hear of a Fudgment to come; but he could not for all that, refolve fo. foon to begin to provide for it. He trembled to think what his condition there fhould be, and very probably he might intend that he would fometime or other very feri oufly confider how he was prepared against it. But he could not prefently determine to part with his fins; and therefore he defers the time; he puts off the Apofile to fome more convenient feafon; but we never read that ever that feafon came, or that he had ever any Admonition given

him afterward,

doings.

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to repent him of his evil

Felix trembled, and anfwer'd, Go thy way for this time: when I have a convenient feafon, I will call for thee.

Such was the effect of St. Paul's reafoning at this time before Felix, and I would to God we had no cause to complain, that fuch is too often the confe quence of our Preaching to you. That the Knowledge which we have, and the belief which we profefs of a Fudgment to come, were fo efficacious to our amendment, that we none of us needed to be called upon, no longer to defer it, but to begin in good earnest to confider how to make our Peace with God, and to provide for Eternity. But alas! I fear I have here pitch'd upon a fubject never like to be out-dated. And though it be certainly one of the greatest Contradictions in the world, not only to Scripture and Reafon, but to our own Interefts too, and to which we are not apt to be fo blind, to pretend to believe a Judgment to come, and yet nevertheless to neglect to provide for it; yet I know not how, fuch is the power of our lufts, that they stop our ears against all Arguments, though never fo clear and forcible, that would induce us to forfake them; we tremble to think what fhall be the confequence of our fins, yet ftill we go on in the commiffion of them.

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And now what Argument can I take up more feafonable to the prefent time, or indeed more fit at all times for our Confideration, than to reafon a while of this great and dangerous neglect? To enquire into the Caufes which move fo many thus to delay their Repentance, and to offer fome effectual

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Arguments that may convince you of the unreafonableness of it. In a word, to ftir up fuch an Auditory as this, both from the example of this wretched man in the Text, and from the juft capfe we may have to fear, left if we continue with him to put off ftill the time of our Repentance, we finally perish with him in his Impenitence; to haften with all the fpeed we can, to return to our duty, that our Iniquity may not be our

ruin.

And this is the defign of my present Discourse, wherein I fhall

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Firft, Enquire into the Caufes that move fo many to delay their Repentance, and be ftill put ting off their provifion for another World, to fome more convenient feafon. And Secondly, Shall fhew the Danger of so doing:

And by both endeavour, what I can, to engage every one that now hears me, to a timely, a fpeedy, or rather to fpeak more properly, to a prefent Repentance. And,

IA, Of the Caufes that move fo many to delay their Repentance; and be ftill putting off their provifion for another World, to fome more Convenient Seafon.

Now thofe, I prefume, may well be reduced to thefe four General Confiderations. Either.

ift, They do not think at all, or not to any pur pofe, of their Future State, and therefore negleet to provide for it. Or,

2dly, They

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