2. How unprofitable their Importunity in feeking the Mercy of God will be, as to their Escape in the Day of Judgment.

Now as to the former, I do not say that their Prayers and Repentance under the Extremity of worldly Calamity, which they have brought upon themselves, will do them no Good in the World to come, but that they will do them little or no Good as to their Happiness in this World, that is, when they are once brought to the utmost Extremities; their Prayers and Repentance may be utterly unprofitable, as to the recovering thofe Opportunities of Happiness in this World which they have lot, but they may turn to good Account for them, as to their future and immortal State; and it is very happy for them if the late Senfe of their own Folly, as to the Management of their Worldly Fortunes, helps to make them wife unto Salvation, if they will but then begin to be feriously concern'd for their Everlafting Welfare, when they have made Shipwrack of all the Comforts of this Life.

Now the late Repentance and Prayers of Men are very frequently unprofitable to them in this Life, and that in tro Refpects.:

1. As to the Recovery of those Advantages which they have loft by their obstinate, and, till now, incurable Folly. The three greatest Comforts of this World are, Health, and Plenty, and a gocd Name amongst

Men,

Men, and all the reft do fome way or other depend upon thefe; but when thefe are loft, by the Continuance of a luxurious and vicious Course of Life, it is almost impoffible to recover them; there is no Opportunity and Means left to begin upon a new Stock, when they are once fool'd away, by a long Abufe of Profperity; the Age, and Strength, and Life of Man, will not bear a fecond Opportunity of doing well for himself upon thefe Accounts, after a long irreclaimable Courfe of Vice and Folly. When the Whoremonger is grown into Years, and feels the Sins of his Youth in his Bones, and his Flesh and Body are confumed, he may well mourn at laft, and fay, How have I bated Inftruction, and my Heart defpifed Reproof? But can his Repentance bring back his Youth to him, or repair his crazy Carcafs, or make his Pains give over, and vex him no more? In like manner when a good Eftate is lavished away, and Poverty comes like an armed Man, the Opportunity and Ability of coming into Plenty again is for the most part quite gone; it is then indeed neceffary to give over Gaming, Riot and Debauchery, and it is unavoidable to look back with fome Sadnefs upon those Conveniences of Life that have been fo wan, tonly thrown away; but this is a Mischief that fhould have been prevented, but alas! it is incapable of being remov'd, and a Man mult

411 must try afterwards to make as good a Shift as may be, he must not hope to grow rich again, but to be as content with Poverty as he can. And this is true alfo with respect to Reputation amongst Men, which being once loft, every Body knows how exceedingly hard it is to be regain'd. Sometimes one Knavish Trick, or one foolish Action of any Kind, blafts a Man's good Name for ever in this World, and all his after Wifdom and Repentance is never able to make it flourish again as it did before; and it muft ftill be much harder to recover it, if it hath been his way for many Years to bring Infamy and Difgrace upon himself. And fo the Lofs of the former Advantages is the more irreparable, if it hath come by flow degrees, and thro' an Abuse of continued Profperity, if Diseases and Sickness are ftealing upon the Habit of a Man's Body many Years, and he perceives it not till the thing is manifeft and undeniable, if Poverty comes as one that travelleth, before it comes as an armed Man, by how much the more healthy and ftrong his Conftitution was, and the more plentiful his Estate was, and the harder it was to be fpent, fo much the more Time alfo is confumed in Luxury, Poverty and Pains come the later before they are thoroughly felt, but for that reafon they are incomparably harder to be remedied, because Life is not long enough to

bear

bear it. Thus the Profperity of Fools fhall deftroy them, v. 32. that is, by how much greater their Profperity is, fo much more certain and inevitable their final Ruin will be. If they had not had fuch a Stock of Health and fo vaft an Eftate to presume upon, then they had not lafh'd out fo prodigally, or they had fooner felt the ill Confequences of their Luxury, and Time enough had been left to recover themselves after the firft Experiences of their own Folly. And this is true, not only with respect to those Miferies, which are the natural Punishments of fome Sins, but as to those Judg ments of God too, that he inflicts upon wicked Men by a more immediate Providence. He fends Adverfity to admonish them, he tries whether they will hearken to the Voice of his Rod. But if they are not reclaim'd by this Difcipline, it very often happens, that after much Forbearance they are overtaken by fuch Diftreffes, towards the End of their Days, from which they fee no Hopes of Deliverance; their Prayers and Repentance come too late to do them any Good in this refpect. Thus God fometimes proceeds with fingle Perfons, tho' it be more remarkably true of his Juftice upon incorrigible Nations, there being a Time, when, after many Warnings, he doth deal with them as he did with his own People, Jerem. 11. 11. I will bring Evil upon them,

which they shall not be able to escape; and the' they shall cry unto me, I will not bearken unto them. And this Threatning was the more remarkably accomplished, in that the Piety of Jofiah, and the Reformation of the People under him, was not able to re verfe the Decree againft Jerufalem. The Wickedness of the People had been fo often repeated under the Reign of Manaffeb, that the Repentance under Jofiah was unprofitable to any other Purpofe, but for the reprie ving of the City during his Reign. Thus it was faid of Jofiah, 2 Kings 23. 25, 26. that there was no King before him, that turned to the Lord with all his Heart, and with all his Soul, and with all his Might, according to all the Law of Mofes; neither. after him arofe there any like him. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the Fierceness of his great Wrath, wherewith his Anger was kindled against Judah, becaufe of all the Provocations that Manaffeh had provoked him withal.

2. The late Prayers and Repentance of Men under thofe unavoidable Calamities to which they are come, are unprofitable in another Refpect too, that is, they will not be able to procure them that Comfort from the Principles of Religion, which relieves good Men under all the Adverfities that befal them; they have ufed Religion too ill to expect any great Comfort from it now;

they