the gospel, which now ye enjoy and this will appear to be a vaft lofs then. The gospel has in it treatures for the poor, eyes for the blind, feet for the lame, understanding for the fimple, peace for rebels, pardons for condemned malefactors, a title to heaven for the heirs of hell, life for the dead, happiness for the miferable and to lose all these, what lofs can be comparable to this? This lofs, when it is now fpoken of, may appear fmall to you: but the day is coming, when ye will learn to put a high value upon it, after ye have lost it.

3. Ye will fuftain a vaft lofs; for infallibly ye lose heaven, if ye continue in your fins and who can tell what a lofs this is? Who can found the depth of thefe" rivers of pleasure that are at God's right-hand for evermore." Who can weigh that "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory?" Who can take the dimensions of that vaft" inheritance of the faints in light?" Who can declare the sweetness of the fruits of that paradife of pleafure? What eye can difcern or let in juft apprehenfions of that blifs-giving fight, which the faints enjoy above, where there are no clouds to obfcure the face of their fky? Well, whatever there is of these things, all these ye lofe. O immenfe lofs indeed!

We only name thefe things, defigning now to turn to another fubject. Would ye know how great a lofs ye fuftain in the first inftance mentioned? We may fend you to those who are wallowing in the delights of the fons of men, and who are glutting theinfelves with a prefent world. They will tell you ftrange things of your lofs by the removal of worldly comforts. If ye would understand how great your lofs is by the removal of the gospel, go to those who have got a heart to embrace it, and they will give you a furprising account of their enjoyments by it. But who can tell what heaven is they only who have been there; and even fcarce they; for furely they feel, they enjoy more than what can be expreffed. Now, all these things ye lofe. But need I fay more? Ye lofe God; ye lofe your own fouls; and if ye lofe your own fouls, and gain the world, what profit have ye? yea, ye fuftain a vaft lofs: what must then your lofs be, when ye not only lofe your own fouls, but lofe with them all that is

in this world, all that is good and comfortable in that which is to come?

2dly, As ye fuftain a great lofs, fo ye must suffer a vast torment. The former particular, viz. the punishment of lofs, I did only touch at, because I had occafion, in the doctrinal part, to difcourfe a little of it: but here, when I come to speak of the punishment of fenfe, I fhall be a little more large, yet fo as not to exceed the bounds of this day's difcourfe. O finners! miferable are ye, if huge, vaft, and intolerable torment can make you fo. A view of your mifery upon this account, I fhall give you in a very few particulars.

1. If ye would underftand what your cafe is eternally to be, ye must confider what of you it is that is to be eternally tormented. Our Lord tells us of both foul and body as being diftroyed in hell, Matth. x. 28. Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the foul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both foul and body in hell." And this gives us to underftaad what is to be the fubject of these torments finners are to sustain. It is not a finger or a toe; it is not a tooth or a joint: no; but it is the whole man, foul and body, that are to be tormented. And how will ye be able to endure this? If a drop of fcalding water fall upon your hand, ye are ready to cry out of intolerable pain: but how will ye then bear it, when a full shower of brimstone, a deluge of burning wrath, will fall upon the whole man? Ye are not now able to hold your finger to the fire; how will you then endure, when foul and body shall be caft alive into devouring fire and everlasting burnings? If now the trouble of one part of the body occafion fo terrible diforder, what will your cafe be, when every faculty of your fouls, eve. ry member, every joint, finew, and artery of your body, fhall be brim-full of wrath?

2. Confider, who is the contriver of these torments. There have been fome very exquisite torments contrived by the wit of inen, the naming of which, if ye understood their nature, were enough to fill your hearts with horror: but all these fall as far fhort of the torments ye are to endure, as the wifdom of man falls fhort of that of God, who is "wife, and will bring evil," Ifa. xxxi. 2. Infinite wildom has contrived that evil, these torments, which

are

are to be the eternal portion of all impenitent finners. If man can find out a rack, a grid-iron, a furnace, heated feven times, for tormenting fuch as he has a mind to pun. ish; what fhall we conceive to be the inventions of infinite wifdom, when it is fet on work to contrive a punishment for finners? Wisdom, infinite wifdom, well knows the frame both of foul and body; it knows what faculty of the one or the other are of most exquisite fenfe, and what torments can work upon them. God thews himself wife, not only in bringing evil upon finners, but in contriving it, fo that it fhall furpass what creatures can inflict.

3. Confider, who is the inflicter of these torments; and this will give us a strange profpect of the mifery of those who fall under them. It is God, by his own immediate hand. And from this the apoftle represents the mifery of fuch, who fhall fall under this punishment: "For we know him that hath faid, Vengeance belongeth unto me, and I will recompenfe, faith the Lord: and again, The Lord fhall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," Heb. x. 30, 31. Should God but give a commiffion to fome creature to torment us, if it were but a flea to leap into the eye, and there to abide, how great would this torment be! But much more terrible would your cafe be, if God should set his wifdom a-work to find out and invent what mixture of torments from creatures would be most exquifite, and then inflict these upon you: this could not but make your case miserable; fince the nature of man is capable to receive comfort or difquietment from every creature; and God knows, not only our frame and make, but that of all the other creatures; and therefore understands what might contribute most to our difquiet and torment. Should God deal thus, it would make very exquifite torments indeed; but all this were nothing to his own immediate hand and power. His little finger is more terrible than the united power of all the creatures. As there is 110 fearching out of his understanding, fo there is no fearching out of his power who is the inflicter, the author of the eternal torments of finners, "who fhall be punished with everlasting deftruction from the prefence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power," 2 Theff. i. 9. But of this

more anon.

4. Confider,

4. Confider, what it is that engages infinite power, and fets on infinite wildom; and this will give you yet a more terrible reprefentation of your mifery. If it were only juftice, we might expect that there might poffibly be fome abatement made; but it is anger, fury, the height of fury, that fets wisdom a-work to contrive, and power on work to effect your mifery; and therefore miferable ye must of neceflity be, beyond thought or expreflion. A remarkable fcripture to this purpofe we have in Nahum i. 2.-6. God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revenpeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adverfaries, and he referveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is flow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind, and in the ftorm, and the clouds are the duft of his feet. He rebuketh the fea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers. Bahan languifheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languifheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his prefence; yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him." This is a scripture fo very remarkable, that we cannot pafs it, without offering you a few obfervations for clearing it a little. And, (1.) Here ye may fee the certainty of finners being punished. If ever ye efcape who continue in your fins, it must either be, because God will not, or becaufe he is not able to punish you: but here ye fee, that he is both able and willing, ver. 2. "The Lord is great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked." By no means will he let them go who continue in their impenitency. (2.) Ye fee what the punishment of the wicked is: "He will take vengeance on his adverfaries, and he referveth wrath for his enemies." It is expreffed by vengeance and by wrath. It is a punishment that is the effect of wrath and revenge, and is to be continued by wrath that is kept in reserve for that purpose. (3.) Ye have that which is the inflicter of this punishment; it is the great power of God. (4.) Here ye have that which fets this power on work to punith the wicked it is jealoufy;" Now, jealoufy is the rage of man," Prov. vi. 34. and jealoufy in God is the

rage

rage of God. (5.) Here you fee the awful effects of this rage of God: "The Lord revengeth, the Lord revengeth." The expreffions being doubled, intends the fignification, and fhows the certainty of it. (6.) To reprefent, if poflible, the terribleness of this revenge, in a yet more lively manner, it is added, "The Lord revengeth. and is furious." (7.) The terribleness of this appearance of God against finners, is further declared by a defcription of God's power, described in its effects upon the inanimate creatures; as if he had faid, look how terrible the cafe of finners is like to be, when God begins to take vengeance on them, and to revenge himself by that power, which by a rebuke drieth up the fea and the rivers, that makes Bathan and Carmel to languifli, that melts the hills, and makes the earth to quake. The power of God was put forth in a very remarkable manner, in creating the world, but is exerted in a more remarkable manner, in punishing the wicked herein is his power, even the glory of his power, manifested; for ye are to be punished" with everlasting deftruction from the glory of his power." The power of man produces greater effects, when anger and fury make him ftrain, as it were, every finew and nerve, than when he is cool, and in a fedate compofed frame: a Samfon in fuch a cafe pulled down the pillars of the house. What fhall we then conceive will be the effects of God's power, when the heat of anger and fierce indignation and fury excites and acts it? May I not conclude this confideration with that of the prophet in the 6th' verfe, "Who can ftand before his indignation, and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him."

3dly, As your lofs is great, and the punishment ye are to undergo great, so both these will come upon you in one day; and this is a terrible aggravation of your misery. In a moment all the enjoyments of earth, all the gospel-privileges, and all the hopes of future blifs, which impenitent finners have, will vanish; and then, even then, at that very inftant, will God appear, with his face full of frowns, his heart full of fury, his hand full of power, and all directed towards finners. It is remarkable, in the fentence at the last day, that with the fame breath, at the very fame inftant they are bid depart God's prefence,

Matth.