condemned men and women. That is a fad complaint of the prophet, Ifa. liii. 1. "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is "the arm of the Lord revealed?" Many there be that talk of faith, and many that profefs faith; but they only talk of, and profefs it: There are but few in the world unto whom the arm of the Lord hath been revealed, in the work of faith with power. It is put among the great myfteries and wonders of the world, 1 Tim iii. 16. That Chrift is believed on in the world. O what a great and terrible day will the day of Chrift's coming to judgment be, when fo many millions of unbelievers fhall be brought to his tribunal to be folemnly fentenced! They are (as my text fpeaks) condemned already; but then that dreadful fentence will be folemnly pronounced by Jefus Chrift, whom they have defpifed and rejected: Then fhall that fcripture be fulfilled, Luke xix. 27. "Thefe "mine enemies that would not that I fhould reign over them, "bring them hither, and flay them before me."

Inf. 2. Hence be informed how great a mercy the least measure of faving faith is; for the least measure of true faith unites the foul to Jefus Chrift; and then "there is no condemnation to them that "are in Chrift Jefus," Rom. viii. 1. Not one fentence of God against them. So Acts xiii. 39. "By him all that believe are juf"tified from all things." The weakest believer is as free from condemnation as the ftrongeft; the righteoufnefs of Christ comes upon all believers without any difference. Rom. iii. 22. "Even the " righteousness of God, which is by faith of Chrift Jefus unto all, "and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference." It is not imputed, as it is in inherent righteoufnefs; one man hath more holiness than another: The faith that receives the righteoufness of Christ may be different in degrees of ftrength; but the received righteousness is equal upon all believers: A piece of gold is as much worth in the hand of a child, as it is in the hand of a O the exceeding precioufnefs of faving faith!

man.

Inf. 3. How dreadful a fin is the fin of unbelief, which brings men under the condemnation of the great God. No fin ftartles lefs, or damns furer: It is a fin that doth not affright the conscience as fome other fins do, but it kills the foul more certainly than any of those fins could do: For, indeed, other fins could not damn us, were it not for unbelief, which fixes the guilt of them all upon our persons. This is the condemnation. Unbelief is the fin of fins; and when the Spirit comes to convince men of fin, he begins with this as the capital fin, John xvi. 9. But more particularly,

First, Eftimate the evil of unbelief from its object. It is the flighting and refusing of the moft excellent and wonderful perfon in heaven or earth: the vifion of Chrift by faith is the joy of faints upon

SERM. XXXIÍ earth: the vifion of Christ above is the happiness of faints in hea yen. It is a defpifing of him who is altogether lovely in himself, who hath loved us and given himself for us.

It is a rejecting of the only Mediator betwixt God and man; after the rejecting of whom there remains no facrifice for fin.

Secondly, Let the evil of unbelief be valued by the offer of Chrift to our fouls in the gofpel: It is one part of the great mystery of godliness that Chrift fhould be preached to the Gentiles, 1 Tim. iii. 16. That the word of this falvation should be fent to us, Acts xiii. 26. A mercy denied to the fallen angels, and the greatest part of mankind which aggravates the evil of this fin beyond all imagination. So that in refufing or neglecting Jefus Chrift are found vile ingratitude, higheft contempt of the grace and wisdom of God; and in the event, the lofs of the only feafon and opportunity of falvation, which is never more to be recovered to all eternity.

Inf. 4. If this be the cafe of all unbelievers, it is not to be admired, that fouls under the first convictions of their miferable condition, are plunged into fuch deep diftreffes of fpirit. It is faid of them, Acts ii. 27. "That they were pricked at the heart, and "cried out, men and brethre, what shall we do?" And fo the jailor, "He came in trembling and aftonished, and faid, Sirs, what "muft I do to be faved ?" Certainly, if fouls apprehend themselves under the condemnation and sentence of the great God all in tears and trembling, their weary days and reftless nights are not without juft caufe and reafon. Thofe that never faw their own miferable condition by the light of a clear and full conviction, may wonder to fee others fo deeply diftreffed in fpirit. They may mif-judge the cafe, and call it melancholy or madness; but fpiritual troubles do not exceed the cause and ground of them, let them be as deep and as great as they will: And, indeed, it is one of the great mysteries of grace and providence; a thing much unknown to men, how fuch poor fouls are fupported from day to day under fuch fears and forrows as are able, in a few hours, to break the ftouteft fpirit in the world. Luther was a man of great natural courage; and yet, when God let in fpiritual troubles upon his foul, it is noted of him, ut nec vox, nec calor, nec fanguis fupereffet; he had neither voice, nor heat, nor blood appearing in him.

Inf. 5. How groundless and irrational is the mirth and jollity of all carnal and unregenerate men? They feaft in their prison, and dance in their fetters. O the madness that is in the hearts of men! If men did but fee their mittimus made for hellyer believe they are condemned already, it were impoffible for them to live at that rate of vanity they do: And is their condition lefs dangerous because it is not understood? Surely no; but much more dangerous for that.

O poor finners, you have found out an effectual way to prevent your present troubles; it were well if you could find out a way to prevent your eternal mifery: But it is easier for a man to stifle conviction, than prevent damnation. Your mirth hath a two-fold mifchief in it; it prevents repentance, and increaseth your future torment. O what an hell will your hell be, who drop into it out of all the fenfitive and finful pleasures of this world! If ever man may fay of mirth, that it is mad; and of laughter, what doth it! He may fay fo in this cafe.

Inf. 6. Laftly, what caufe have they to rejoice, admire, and praise the Lord to eternity, who have a well-grounded confidence that they are freed from God's condemnation? "O give thanks "to the Father, who hath delivered you from the power of dark"ness, and tranflated you into the kingdom of his dear Son," Col. i. 13. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for if you be freed from condemnation, you are cut of Satan's power, he hath no more any dominion over you. The power of Satan over men comes in by virtue of their condemnation, as the power of the jailor, or executioner, over the bodies of condemned prifoners doth, Heb. ii. 14. If you be freed from condemnation, the fting of death fhall never touch you; for the sting of death fmites the fouls of men with a deadly stroke, only by virtue of God's condemnatory fentence. I Cor. xv. 55, 56. " The fting of death is fin, and the "ftrength of fin is the law." If you be freed from condemnation now, you fhall ftand with comfort and boldnefs at the judgmentfeat of Chrift in the great-day; and verily in this thing is the love of God perfected, 1 John iv. 17. O it is a privilege in which the grace, mercy, and love of God fhine forth as clearly as the fun when it shineth in its full ftrength. And certainly you will find caufe to lie at the feet of God, aftonifhed and overwhelmed with the sense of this mercy, when you shall find yourselves free from the condemnation of God, whilft many others, as good as you were, are still under condemnation. Yea, yourfelves freed, and many of your fuperiors in the world ftill under the curfe, 1 Cor. i. 26. Yea, yourfelves freed and others that fat under the fame. means of grace, and had the fame external advantages you had, ftill in chains, 2 Cor. ii. 16. O brethren! This is a marvellous deliverance; look on it which way you will, your ranfom is paid, and not a penny of it by you; it coft you nothing to procure your pardon; your pardon is full, and not one fin excepted out of it that you ever committed. You are freed, and Jefus Chrift condemned in your ftead to procure your difcharge; your pardon is fealed in his blood, and that for ever; fo that you fhall never any more come into condemnation. "He that heareth my word, and VOL. II.

3 K

"believeth on him that fent me, hath everlasting life, and fhall "not come into condemnation, but is paffed from death to life,” John v. 24.

Let them that are fo delivered, fpend their days on earth in (praise and cheerful obedience; and, when they die, let them not fhrink away from death, nor be afraid to take it by the cold hand, it can do them no harm. Yea, let them close their dying lips with-Thanks be to God for Jefus Chrift.

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SERMON XXXIII.

Of the Aggravation of the Sin, and Punishment of Unbelief under the light of the Gospel.

JOHN iii. 19.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

UT of the foregoing verfe it was fully proved in our last fermon, that all Chriftlefs and unregenerate men are no better than dead men, being condemned already. Our Saviour proceeds in this verse to aggravate the mifery of thofe that refuse and defpife him; yet farther, and to let them know, that thofe who remain in unbelief and the state of unregeneracy, must expect fome greater and forer wrath than other men; not only a fimple condemnation, but an aggravated and peculiar condemnation. « This "is the condemnation, that light is come," &c.

In the words we find these three parts.

"Light

1. The aggravation of fin by the abuse of gospel-light, " "is come," &c.

2. The aggravation of mifery, in proportion to that abuse of light, "This is the condemnation."

3. The caufe and occafion, drawing men into this fin and mifery, "Because their deeds were evil.”

First, We have here the aggravation of fin by the abuse of gofpel-light, "Light is come." By light we are to understand the knowledge, difcovery, and manifeftation of Chrift, and redemption by him in the gospel. He is the Sun of righteousness that arifes in the gofpel upon the nations, Mal. iv. 1. When he came in the flesh, then did "the day-fpring from on high vifit us," "Luke i. 78. And the light may be faid to come two ways; either, First, In the means by which it is conveyed to us; or, Secondly,

in the efficacy of it upon our minds, when it actually fhines in our fouls. Light may come among a people in the means, and yet they actually remain in darkness all the while. As it is in nature; the fun may be up and a very glorious morning far advanced, whilft many thoufands are drowzing upon their beds with their curtains drawn about them. Light in the means, we may call po tential light. Light in the mind, we may call actual light. It is but feldom that light comes in the means, and continues long among men, but fome light muft needs actually fhine into their fouls alfo; but this actual light is twofold.

1. Common, and intellectual only, to conviction; or,

2. Special and efficacious light, bringing the foul to Chrift by real converfion, called, in 1 Cor. iv. 6.——God " shining into the "heart."

Wherever light comes, in this laft fenfe, it is impoffible that fuch men fhould prefer darkness before it: But it may come in the means, yea, it may actually fhine into the consciences of men by thofe means and convince them of their fins, and yet men may hate it, and chufe darknefs rather than light. And this is the fenfe of this place; light was come in the gofpel-difpenfation among them, yea, it had fhined into many of their confciences, galled and reproved them for fin, but they hated it, and had rather be without fuch a troublefome inmate. In a word, by the coming of light, we are here to understand a more clear and open manifeftation of Chrift by the gospel than ever was made to the world before: For we are not to think that there was no light in the world till Christ came, and the gofpel was published in the world by the apostles miniftry. For Abraham faw Chrift's day, John viii. 56. and all the faithful before Chrift faw the promises, i. e. their accomplishment in Chrift, afar off, Heb. xi. 13. For it was with Chrift, the Sun of righteousness, as it is with the natural fun, which illuminates the hemifphere before it actually rifes or "fhews its body above the horizon*;" but when it rifes and fhews itself, the light is much clearer; fo it was in this cafe. The greater therefore was their fin that rebelled against it, and preferred darkness to light; this was their fin, with its fearful aggra

vation.

Secondly, In a most just proportion to this fin, we have here the aggravated condemnation of them who finned against such clear gofpel-light: "This is the condemnation," this is the judgment of all judgments, the greatest and most intolerable judgment; a leverer fentence of condemnation than ever did pafs against any others that finned in the times of ignorance and darkuefs; they

* Sol nondum confpectus, illuminat orbem.