Oh, how wilful will thy destruction be, if thou fhould ft yet harden thyfelf in thy finful state? But none of you can fay but you have had fair warning. Yet methinks I cannot tell how to leave you fo. It is not enough for me to have delivered my own foul. What! Shall I go away without my errand ? Will none of you arife and follow me? Have I been all this while speaking to the wind? Have I been charming the deaf adder? . If you be men, and not fenfeless stocks, ftand still and confider whither you are going: if you have the reafon and understanding of men, dare not to run into the flames, and fall into hell with your eyes open, but bethink yourselves, and fet to the work of repentance. What! Men, and yet run into the pit, when the very beafts will not be forced in! What! endowed with reason, and yet dally with death and hell and the vengeance of the Almighty! Will you not haften your elcape from eternal torments ? O fhew yourselves men, and let reafon prevail with you is it a reasonable thing for you to contend against the Lord your Maker? Or, to harden yourselves againft his word, as though the ftrength of Ifrael would lie? Is it reasonable that an understanding creature fhould lofe, yea, live quite against the very end of his being, and be as a broken pitcher, only fit for the dunghill? Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, and let the creatures without sense be judges if this be reason, that man, whom God hath nourished and brought up, fhould rebel against him! Judge in your own felves; is it a reasonable understanding for briars and thorns to fet them felves in battle against the devouring fire? Ifa.xxvii. 4; or for the potsherd of the earth to strive with its Maker ?

1

What shall I fay ? I could spend myself in this argument. O that you would but hearken to me! And that you would prefently fet upon a new courfe! Will you not be made clean? When

shall

for one?

fhall it once be? Reader, fhall I prevail with thee Wilt thou fit down and confider, whether it be not best to turn: come and let us reafon together is it good for thee to be here ? Wilt thou fit ftill till the tide come upon thee ? Is it good for thee to try whether God will be fo good as his word, and to harden thyfelf in a conceit that all is well with thee, while thou remainest unfan&tified.

O distracted finners! What will their end be! What will they do in the day of vifitation? Whither will they flee for help? Where will they leave their glory? Ifa. x. 3. How powerfully hath fin bewitched them! How effectually hath the god of this world blinded them! How ftrong is the delufion! how uncircumcifed their ears! how obdurate their hearts! Satan hath them at his beck. But how long may I call, and can get no anfwer? Though I tell them there is death in the cup, yet they will take it up; though I tell them 'tis the broad way, and endeth in deftruction, yet they will go on in it; I warn them, yet cannot 'win them. Sometimes I think the mercies of God will melt them, and his winning invitations will overcome them; but I find them as they were: fometimes that the terror of the Lord will perfuade them: yet neither will this do it. I am to them as the lovely fong of one that hath a pleafant voice, yet I cannot get them to come under Chrift's yoke. What shall I do for the daughter of my people? O Lord God help! Alas! fhall I leave them thus! If they will not hear me, yet do thou hear me. O that they may yet live in thy fight! Lord fave them, or elfe they perish. My heart would melt to fee their houfes on fire about their ears, when they were fast asleep in their beds; and shall not my foul be moved within me, to fee them falling into endless perdition! Lord, have compaffion, and fave them out of the burning: put forth thy divine power, and the work will be done; but as for me, I cannot prevail.

F 3

СНАР,

[66]

CHAP. IV.

Shewing the MARKS of the Unconverted.

TELP, O all-fearching Light, and let thy difcerning eye difcover the rotten foundation of the felf-deceiver and lead me, O Lord God, as thou didst the prophét, into the chambers of Imagery, and dig through the wall of finners' hearts, and difcover the hidden abominations that are lurking out of fight. Ofend thy angel before me, as thou didst before Peter, and make even the iron gates to fly open of their own accord. And as Jonathan no fooner tafted the honey but his 'eyes were enlightened, fo grant, O Lord, that when the poor deceived fouls fhall caft their eyes upon thefe lines, their minds may be illuminated, and their confciences awakened, that they may fee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and be converted, and thou mayeft heal them!

This must be premised, that 'tis certain men may have a confident perfuafion that their, hearts and ftates are good, and yet be unfound. Yea, they may be confident they are rich, and increased in grace. There is a generation that are pure in their ́own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthinefs. Prov xxx. 12. So that they are miferably deceived that take a strong confidence for a fuffici ent evidence. They that have no better proof than a strong perfuafion that they are converted, are certainly ftrangers to conversion,

But fome of the unconverted carry their marks in their forehead more openly; and some in their hands more covertly. The apoftle, reckons up fome upon whom he writes the fentence of death; as in thefe dreadful catalogues, which I befeech you to attend to with all diligence, Eph. v.5, 6. For this you know, that no, whoremonger, nor unclean •perfon, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath

any

any inheritance in the kingdom of Chrift and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of thefe things cometh the wrath of God upon the chil dren of difobedience, Rev. xxi. 8. But the fearful -and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and -whoremongers, and forcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, fhall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimftone, which is the fecond death, 2 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous fhall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor reffeminate, nor abufers of themfelves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, fhall inherit the kingdom of God fee Gal. v. 19, 20. Woe to them that have their name written in these rolls; fuch may know, as certainly as if God had told them from heaven, that they are under an impoffibility of being faved in this condition.

Thefe paft all difpute) are unconverted; they carry t their marks in their foreheads.

1. The Unclean. These are ever reckoned among the goats, and have their names in all the beforementioned catalogues.

2. The Covetous. Thefe are ever branded for idolaters, and the doors of the kingdom are shut against them by name.

3. Drunkards. Not only fuch as drink away their reafon, but fuch as are ftrong for ftrong drink. The Lord fills his mouth with woes against these, and declares them to have no inheritance in the kingdom of God.

4. Liars. The Lord that cannot lie has told them, that there is no place for them in his king

dom.

5. Swearers. The end of these without deep and Ipeedy repentance, is fwift deltruction.

6. Railers and Backbiters, that take up a reproach against their neighbour, or wound him behind his back.

7.Thieves,

7. Thieves, Extortioners, oppreffors, that over-reach their brethren, when they have them at an advantage thefe muft know that God is the avenger of all fuch, 1 Thelf. iv. 6. Hear, O ye falfe and purloining and wasteful fervants; hear, O ye deceit. ful tradesmen, hear your fentence: God will cer tainly hold his door against you, and turn your treafures of unrighteousness into the treasures of wrath, and make your ill-gotten filver and gold to torment you like burning metal in your bowels.

8. All that live in the neglect of God's worship, that hear not his word, that call not on his name, that reftrain prayer before God, that mind not their own or their family's fouls.

Sinner, confider diligently whether thou art not to be found in one of these ranks; for if this be thy cafe, thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity; for all thefe carry their marks in their foreheads, and are undoubtedly the fons of death.

And if fo, the Lord pity our poor congregations. O how fmall a number will be left, when thefe are out! Alas, on how many doors, on how many faces must we write, Lord have mercy upon us! Sirs, what fhift do you make to keep up your confidence of your good state, when God from heaven declares against you, and pronounces you in a state of damnation ? Beloved, God hath written it as with a Sun-beam in the book by which you must be judged, that none fuch (except renewed by converting grace) shall escape the damnation of hell.

And now I imagine many will begin to blefs themselves, and think all is well, because they cannot be spotted with grofs evils; but I must tell you, that there are another fort of unfan&tified perfons that carry not their marks in their foreheads, but more fecretly in their hands; these frequently deceive themselves and others, and pafs for good Chriftians. Many pafs undiscovered till death and judgment bring all to light. Brethren, I

befeech