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Matth. xxv. 41. they are likewife fent to everlasting burnings.

4thly, As both will come at once, fo they both will come Juddenly and furprisingly. This extremely increases your mifery. Sudden deftru&tion, and furprising deftruction, is, on that very account, double deftruation. It may be faid, that your damnation lingereth not, 2 Pet. ii. 4. As Chrift comes quickly, Rev. xxii. 20. fo he comes "in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel," 2 Thef. i. 8. It is fudden, because it comes at a time when it is not expected. Many of you poflibly may be putting the evil day far away; and yet ye cannot tell how near it may be to fome of you. Who can tell but fome who this day are here in God's prefence, may be in the pit before next Sabbath? But whether it be fo or not, we are fure it is not long to the time when all you who remain impenitent shall be fent down to the fides of the pit. It is fudden also, becaufe ufually this ruin comes when the quite contrary is expected; when they fay, peace, peace, then fudden deftruction," Thef. v. 3. When the fool was finging a requiem to his own foul for many years, then that very night all this mifery comes upon him, Luke xii. 20. And this was a great aggravation of his mifery. A blow given when the contrary is expected, is doubly stunning.

5thly, As all these things, all these loffes, all the torments we have been fpeaking of, come fuddenly and at once, fo they all are inevitable. Impenitent finners cannot by any means efcape them. For,

1. God has engaged that finners fhall be punished. He will not at all acquit the wicked. He has paffed his word upon it, he "fwears in his wrath, that impenient finners fhall not enter into his reft," Heb. iii. 18. Therefore they may expect that he will be as good as his word.

2. God cannot change: there is no "variableness nor fhadow of turning with him," Jam. i. 17. He continues unalterably the fame: "I am the Lord, I change not; therefore the fons of Jacob are not confumed," Mal. iii. 6. There is the clear fide of the cloud to his own people; and, upon the other hand, it may be inferred, "I am the Lord, I change not ;" therefore ye who have continued impenitent shall be turned into hell.

3. Ye are not able to ward off the blow. The apostle obferves, "That the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than man," 1 Cor. i. 25. The weakest effort of God against man is enough utterly to ruin him: "Lo, at the rebuke of his countenance we perifh," Pfal. lxxx. 16. He can look on one “that is proud, and abase him;" and his eye casts about rage and destruction, Job xl. 11.-13. If a look can ruin us, much more the breath of his noftrils: "By the breath of his noftrils we are confumed, and by the blast of him we perish," Job iv. 9. Now, if ye be not able to stand against his look, his breath, the blaft of his noftrils, far less against his finger, which ruined Egypt by divers plagues; and yet much less against his fift, Ezek. xxii. 13. Whofe heart can endure, whofe hands can be ftrong, in the day when thofe hands that measure the waters in the hollow of them, that span the heavens, comprehend the duft of the earth, and take up the ifles as a very little thing, fhall begin to crush, and squeeze, and grip him? far less is any able to withstand, when God lays on the weight of his wrath, which preffes them hard, as it did Heman; or when he runs upon them, like a mighty giant, with his full force, as a man doth upon his enemy, Job xvi. 14. In this cafe, neither ye yourselves nor any creature can help you; therefore your mifery is inevitable.

6thly, As your mifery is inevitable, fo it is eternal. It is not for a day, or a year, or a month, or an age, nay, nor for millions of ages; but for ever. It is everlasting destruction, everlasting burnings, ye are to dwell with; the worm dies not, the fire goeth not out; the fmoke of your torments fhall afcend for ever and ever. will not do it, ye fhall have more of them. is mifery, exquifite mifery; and you would do well to think on your escape.

If one ever Here indeed

We have now, for eight Lord's days, infifted upon this fubject; and may we not conclude with the prophet, "Who hath believed our report?" Who among you all, who have been our clofe hearers upon this fubject, are yet convinced of fin? I fear, very few, if any. If there be but one foul among you all, that is awakened to fee its fin and mifery, the news we are next to bring will be welcome

to

to fuch; and we hope the Lord will grant them that which they long for.

But to the generality, who are yet fait asleep, and who are as infenfible as ever, we fhall fay a few words. And, (1). We fay to you, Have ye not heard what we have charged you with? and what answer ye to all? I am fure ye can answer nothing that is of weight. And if ye be not able to answer a man like yourselves, think how mute ye will be, when ye come before our great Lord and Master, feated upon the great white throne. (2.) What mean ye, O fleepers? Is it now time to be fleeping, when ye cannot tell but the next moment ye fhall fink irrecoverably into the immenfe ocean of the eternal and intolerable wrath of

God? (3) We cannot tell but this your ftupidity may provoke God to that degree against you, that ye fall never have a warning more. How terrible will your cafe be, if he fall fay, Never fruit grow upon these barren and unfruitful finners any more; or if this day he fhall give death a commiffion, Go to yonder obftinate finners, whom I by my fervants have long been dealing with, in order to bring them to a conviction of their danger, arreft them, bring them immediately to me, and I shall awaken them, but not to their advantage. How will your hearts ache, your ears tingle, and your spirits fail, when ye hear the dreadful fentence pronounced! Matth. xxv. 41.Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Now, if ye would avoid this, awake in time, and flee to Jesus Christ: haften your efcape, before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you.

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THE END OF PART FIRST.

121

THE

GREAT CONCERN OF SALVATION.

PART II.

MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST; OR THE CONVINCED SINNER'S CASE AND CURE.

Acts xvi. 29, 30, 31.-Then he called for a light, and Sprang in, and fell down before Paul and Silas; and brought them out, and faid, Sirs, what must I do to be Saved? And they faid, Believe on the Lord Jefus Chrift, and thou shalt be faved, and thy house.

WHEN
HEN we began to difcourfe to you from Rom. iii.
WH15. We obferved, that there are three queftions in

which man is principally concerned, What have I done? What shall I do to be faved? What shall I render to the Lord? He who knows how to answer these fatisfyingly, cannot mifs happiness, if he practife according to knowledge.

To the first we have returned anfwer at fome length. We have fhewn you, what ye have done, and what are the confequents of it: "Ye have finned, and fo come fhort of the glory of God." Now we fhall proceed to the fecond queftion, What shall we do to be faved? And as the ground of what we are to say upon this head, we have chofen the words read, in which both the question and onfwer are diftinâly laid down.

In the text and context, we have the account of the converfion of the keeper of the prifon at Philippi, a city in Macedonia. In which there occur feveral things very confiderable.

L

I. The

4

1. The perfon who was converted deferves to have a Special mark put upon him. He is a heathen, one of the ruder fort, who was taught blindly to obey what he was put to, without ever inquiring whether right or wrong. He had, but the night before, put the apostle's feet in the stocks, and laid them in chains. When God defigns to erect trophies to his grace, he is not wont to fingle out the moral, the wife, and polished fort of finuers, least they fhould glory in themfelves; but he pitches upon a Mary Magdalen that has feven devils dwelling in her, a perfecuting Saul, a rude jailor," that no flesh may glory in his prefence,' 1 Cor. i. 26,-29.

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2. The place where he is converted, is a prifon, a place where minifters were not wont to come, but when they were brought there, that they might be kept from endeavouring the converfion of finners. When God has a mind to have a finner, he will not want means to accomplish Lis defign. He can make a place that is defigned to be a mean of fuppreffing the gospel, fubfervient to its propagation.

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3. The exercife of the apofties under their confinement deferves a remark. A prifon is not able to keep them from praifing God. Sometimes they have been made to fing in a prifon, who have been mourning when at liber-ty. God I difpenfes the largeft, the richest comforts, when his people need them most. He can fweeten a ftinking dungeon with the favour of his sweet ointments. He can foften hard chains, by lining them, as it were with rich fupplies of grace. He can relax the clofenefs of a prifon, with his free Spirit, who brings liberty wherever he is. Their hearts are thankful for mercies that they enjoy; and God chufes that time to give them new ones: a strong proof that it is indeed a good thing to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. Praife for old mercies brings new mercy with it. The liberal man lives by liberal devices.

4 The occafion of the jailor's converfion is an earthquake, which look the prifon, opened the doors, and made the chains to fall off. A strange fort of earthquake, indeed, that loofed the prifoner's bonds. When the Lord defigus to awaken a finner, if lefs will not do it, a miracle fhall be wrought.

5. It is worthy of our obfervation, that the first infu

ence

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