we believe not. God hath told thee, as plain as it can be spoken, that except thou be converted, thou fhalt in no wife enter into the kingdom of heaven; and he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himfelf: Beloved, as the immutable faithfulness of God in his promife affords believers ftrong confolation, fo it is to unbelievers for ftrong confternation and confufion. O finner, tell me, what fhift doft thou make to think of all the threatenings of God's word, that stand upon record against thee? Dost. thou believe they are true or not? If not, thou art a wretched infidel; And therefore give over the name and hopes of a Chriftian. But if thou doft believe them, O heart of steel that thou haft that canft walk up and down in quiet, when the truth and faithfulness of God is engaged to deftroy thee! that if the Almighty can do it, thou fhalt furely perifh and be damned. Why, man! the whole book of God doth testify against thee, while thou remaineft unfanctified: It condemns: thee in every leaf, and is to thee like Ezekiel's roll, written within and without, lamentation, and mourning, and woe. Now put all this together, and tell me if the cafe of the unconverted be not deplorably miferable; as we read of fome perfons that had bound themselves in an oath, and in a curfe, to kill Paul, so thou must know, O finner, to thy terror, that all the attributes of the infinite God are bound in an oath to destroy thee, Heb. iii. 18. Q man! What wilt thou do? Whither wilt thou flee? If God's omnifciency can find thee, thou fhalt not efcape: if the true and faithful God will fave his oath, perifh thou must, except thou believe and repent: if the Almighty hath power to tor ment thee, thou fhalt be perfectly miferable in foul and body to all eternity, unless it be prevented by fpeedy converfion. II. The whole Creation of God is against thee. The whole Creation (faith Paul,) groaneth and travaileth in pain, Rom, viii, 22," But what is it that the the Creation groaneth under? Why, the fearful abuse that it is fubject to, in ferving unfanctified men. And what is it that the creation groaneth for? Why, liberty, from this abufe; for the crea ture is unwillingly fubject to this bondage. If the unreasonable and inanimate creatures had speech and reason, they would cry out under it as a bondage unfufferable, to be abused by the ungodly, contrary to their natures and the ends which the great Creator made them for. It is a paffage of an eminent Divine, "There is never a creature, but if it had reason to know how it is abused till a man be converted, 'twould groan against him: the land would groan to bear him, the air would groan to give him breathing, their houfes would groan to lodge them, their beds would groan to ease them, their food to nourish them, their clothes to cover them, and the creature would groan to give them any help and comfort, fo long as they live in fin against God." Methinks this fhould be a terror to an unconverted foul; to think he is a burden to the crea tion; Luke xiii. 7, Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground? If the poor inanimate creatures could but fpeak, they would fay to the ungodly as Mofes to Ifrael, "Muft we fetch you water out of the rock, ye rebels?" Thy food would fay, "Lord, muft I nourish fuch a wretch as this, and yield forth my strength for him to dishonour.thee withal ? No, I will choak him rather, if thou wilt give me permiffion." The very air would fay, Lord, muft I give this man breath to fet his tongue against heaven, and fcorn thy people, and vent his pride, and wrath, and filthy communication, and oaths and blafphemy against thee? No, if thou but fay the word, he fhall be breathless for me. A wicked man, the earth groans under him, and hell groans for him, till death fatisfics both, and unburdens the earth, and ftops the mouth of hell with him. While the Lord of Hofts is against thee, be sure the Hoft of the Lord is against thee, and all the creatures creatures are, as it were, up in arms, till upon a man's converfion the controverfy being taken up between God and him, he makes a covenant of peace with the creature for him. III. The roaring Lion hath his full power upon thee. Thou art faft in the paw of that Lion that is greedy to devour; "In the fnare of the devil led captive by him at his will." You pity the poor Indians that worship the devil for their god, but little think 'tis your own cafe. Why 'tis the common mifery of all the unfanctified, that the devil is their god. Not that they intend to do him homage, they will be ready to defy him, and him that fhould fay fo of them; but all this while they ferve him, and come and go at his beck, and live under his government; his fervants you are to whom ye yield yourselves to obey. O how many then will be found the real fervants of the devil, that take themfelves for children of God! Doubtlefs the liar intends not a fervice to Satan, but his own advantage : yet 'tis he that ftands in the corner unobferved, and putteth the thing into his heart. Doft thou live in the practice of any known fin? know that thou art of the Devil. Doft thou live in ftrife, or envy, or malice? Verily he is thy father. O dreadful cafe! However Satan may provide his flaves with diverfe pleafures, yet it is but to roll them into endlels perdition. The Serpent comes with the apple in his mouth, but thou feeft not the deadly fting in his tail. He that is now thy tempter, will one day be thy tormentor. O that I could but give thee to fee, how merciless a tyrant thou gratifieft, all whofe pleasure is, to fet thee on work to make thy damnation fure, and to heat the furnace hotter and hotter, in which thou must burn for millions and millions of ages. IV. The guilt of all thy fins lies like a mountain upon thee. Poor foul! thou feeleft it not, but this is that which feals thy mifery upon thee. While unconverted, none of thy fins are blotted out. How How light foever you may make of it now, you will one day find the guilt of unpardoned fin to be a heavy burden. This is a millftone, which whofcever falleth upon, fhall be broken; but upon whomfoever it fhall fall, it fhall grind him to powder, Matt. xxi. 44. What work did it make with our bleffed Saviour ! It preffed the very blood out of his veins, and broke all his bones. And if it did this in the green tree, what will it do in the dry i O think of thy cafe in time. Canft thou think of that threat without trembling, Ye fhall die in your fins? John viii. 24. O better were it for thee to die in a goal, in a dungeon, than die in thy fins. If Death, as it will take away all thy other comforts, would take away thy fins too, it were fome mitigation; but thy fins will follow thee, when thy friends leave thee, and all worldly enjoyments fhake hands with thee; thy fins will not die with thee, as a prifoner's other debts will, but they will go to judgment with thee, there to be thy accufers! and they will go to hell with thee, there be thy tormentors. Better to have so many fiends about thee, than thy fins to fall upon thee and faften on thee. O the work that these will make O look over thy debts in time, how much thou art in the books of every one of God's laws; how is every one of God's commandments ready to arreft thee, and take thee by the throat, for the innumerable bonds it hath upon thee? wilt thou do then, when they fhall altogether lay in against thee? Hold open the eyes of confcience to confider this, that thou mayeft despair of thyfelf, and be driven to Chrift, and fly for refuge, to lay hold on the hope that is fet before thee. What V. Thy raging lufts do miferably enflave thee. While unconverted, thou art a very fervant to fin, it reigns over thee, and holds thee under its dominion, till thou art brought within the bonds of God's covenant. What ས་ What a woful fpectacle was the poor wretch that was poffeffed with the legion! Would it not have grieved thy heart to have feen him among the tombs cutting and wounding himself? This is thy cafe, fuch is thy work, every itroke is a thruft at thy heart. Confcience indeed is now afleep; but when death and judgment fhall bring thee to thy fenles, then wilt thou feel the raging fmart and anguifh of every wound. VI. The furnace of eternal vengeance is heated ready for thee. Hell and deftruction open their mouths upon thee, they gape for thee, they groan for thee, waiting as it were with a greedy eye, as thou ftandeft upon the brink, when thou wilt drop in. If the wrath of men be as the roaring of a lion, more heavy than the fand, what is the wrath of the infinite God! If the burning furnace heated in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery rage, when he commanded it to be made yet feven times hotter, was fo fierce as to burn up even thofe that drew near to it to throw the three children in, how hot is that burning oven of the Almighty's fury! Surely this is feventy times feven more fierce! What thinkeft thou, O man, of being a faggot in hell to all eternity? Can thy heart endure, or can thine hands be ftrong in the day that I shall deal with thee, faith the Lord of Hofts? Canft thou abide the everlasting burnings; canft thou dwell with confuming fire? When thou fhalt be as glowing iron in hell, and thy whole body and soul shall be as perfectly poffeffed by God's burning vengeance, as the fiery sparkling iron when heated in the fierceft forge? Thou canst not bear God's whip, how then wilt thou endure his scorpions ? Thou art even crushed, and ready to wish thyfelf dead, under the weight of his finger, how then wilt thou bear the weight of his loins? How wilt thou endure, when God fhall pour out all his vials, and fet himself against thee, to torment thee P When |