it carefully with tears. It seems then, that Efau repented too late, and fo may we; his Repentance would not be accepted: And if we are concerned in this Example, as the Apostle 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 Miftake 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 Jacob; 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 Birth-right, 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 baptifmal Regeneration, and Faith in Chrift; to fell this Birth-right is to part with our Hopes of Heaven, for the Pleasures, or Riches, or Honours of this World, as Efau fold his Birth-right for one Morfel of Meat; that is, as the Apostle speaks, to fail of the grace of God, either through Unbelief, which he calls the root of bitterness, a renouncing the Faith

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Faith of Chrift, and returning to Judaism or Pagan Idolatries, or by an impure and wicked Life: Left there be any fornicator, or prophane perfon, as Efau, who for one morfel of meat jold his birth-right; i. e. who defpifes the Hopes of Heaven for the finful Pleasures and tranfient Enjoyments of this World: Men who thus fail of the Grace of God, and finally do fo, as Efau finally fold his Birthright, when our heavenly Father comes to give his Bleffing, thofe great Rewards he has promised in his Gofpel, how importunate foever they shall 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 Purposes 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, fhall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he 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, bave 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 Importunity for the Bleffing. And then will I profefs 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 Re

pentance:

pentance: Our Lord will not be perfuaded by all their Importunities to alter his Sentence, but depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

This Example then of Efau does not concern our present Cafe; it does not prove that a wicked Man, who hath spent the greatest Part of his Life in Sin and Folly, shall 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 Pleasures 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 fhall fee 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; sometimes their Day of Grace is fixed and determined, beyond which, withour Repentance, they fhall no longer enjoy the Light of the Gospel. Thus the Appearance of Chrift in the Flesh, and his preaching the Gospel to them, was the last Trial of Jerufalem, and determined the Fate of that beloved City; and therefore when Christ rode into Jerufalem, in order to his Crucifixion, When be was come near, he beheld the city, and P 2 wept

wept over it, faying, 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 fhall come upon thee, that thine enemies fhall caft a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every fide, and fhall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another: Because 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 bave the light, left darkness come upon you: For be that walketh in darkness, knoweth not whither be 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 destroyed: The kingdom of God Should 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, Matth. 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 fummon them to Repentance, and to threaten them with the Removal of the Candlestick, 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,

another, are very myfterious and unfearchable; but as for particular Perfons, who enjoy the Light of the Gospel, unless they fhorten 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 shortening the Time of Grace and Mercy, for that lasts 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 Judgments may give up fuch Men to a State of Hardness 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 submit to, Rom. viii. 13. Col. iii. 5.

An Habit and Cuftom of Sin turns into Nature, and is as difficultly altered as Nature is: Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard bis fpots? Then may you alfo do good, who who are accustomed to do evil, Jer. xiii. 23.

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