Section 6 The Marks of the Unconverted While we keep aloof in general statements there is little fruit to be expected it is the hand fighting that does the execution David is not awakened by the prophets hovering at a distance in parabolical insinuations Nathan is forced to close with him and to tell him plainly thou art the man if you will, in words, deny the necessity of the new birth but they have a self-deluding confidence that the work is not to be done now and because they know themselves to be free from that gross hypocrisy which takes religion merely for a colour to deceive others and for covering wicked designs they are confident of their sincerity and do not suspect that more close hypocrisy in which the greatest danger lies and by which a man deceives his own soul may be their case but man's deceitful heart is such a matchless cheat and self-delusion so reigning and so fatal a disease that I do not know which is the greater the difficulty or the necessity of the undeceiving work that I am now upon alas for the unconverted they must be undeceived or they will be undone but how shall it be effected help, O all-searching light, and let thy discerning eye disclose the rotten foundation of the self-deceiver. Lead me, O my God, as Thou didst the prophet, into the chambers of imagery, and dig through the wall of sinners' hearts, and reveal the hidden abominations that are lurking out of sight in the dark. O send thy angel before me to open the sundry wards of their hearts, as thou didst before Peter, and make even the iron gates fly open of their own accord. And as Jonathan no sooner tasted the honey, but his eyes were enlightened. So grant, O Lord, that when the poor deceived souls, with whom I have to do, shall cast their eyes upon these lines, their minds may be illuminated, and their consciences convinced and awakened, that they may see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and be converted, and thou mayest heal them. this must be premised before we proceed, that it is most certain that men may have a confident persuasion that their hearts and states are good, while yet they are unsound. hear the truth himself who shows in Laodicea's case that men may be wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and yet not know it yea they may be confident that they are rich and increased in grace Revelation chapter 3 verse 17 there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness Proverbs 30 verse 12 who bet persuaded of his state than Paul while he yet remained unconverted Romans chapter 7 verse 9 so that they are miserably deceived who take a strong confidence for their sufficient evidence they that have no better proof than barely a strong persuasion that they are converted are certainly as yet strangers to conversion but to come even closer As it was said to the adherents of Antichrist, so here, some of the unconverted carry their marks in their forehead most openly, and some in their hands more covertly. The Apostle reckons upon some whom he writes the sentence of death, as in these dreadful catalogues which I beseech you to attend with all diligence. for this you know that no whoremonger or unclean person or covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephesians chapter 5 verses 5 to 6 but the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Revelation 21 verse 8 know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 to 10 woe to them that have their names written in this catalogue such may know as certainly as if God told them it themselves from heaven they are unsanctified and under an impossibility of being saved in that condition there are then these several classes which past all dispute are unconverted they carry their marks in their foreheads 1. The unclean. These are ever reckoned among the goats and have their names, whatever else is left out, in the aforementioned catalogues. 2. The covetous. These are ever branded for idolaters, and the doors of the kingdom are shut against them by name. 3. Drunkards. not only such as drink away their reason but withal yea above all such as are too strong for strong drink the Lord fills his mouth with woes against these and declares them to have no inheritance in the kingdom of God Isaiah chapter 5 verses 11 12 and 22 Galatians chapter 5 verse 21 4 Liars the God that cannot lie has told them that there is no place for them in his kingdom no entrance into his hill but their portion is with the father of lies whose children they are in the lake of burnings Revelation chapter 21 verses 8 and 27 and John chapter 8 verse 44 Proverbs chapter 6 verse 17 5. Swearers. The end of these without deep and speedy repentance is swift destruction and most certain and unavoidable condemnation. James 5.12 Zechariah 5.1-3 6. Railers and backbiters that love to take up a reproach against their neighbour and fling all the dirt they can in his face or else wound him secretly behind his back Psalm 15 verses 1 and 3 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 11 7. Thieves, extortioners oppressors that grind the poor, or defraud their brethren when they have the opportunity. These must know that God is the avenger of all such. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 6 Hear, O you false and purloining and wasteful servants! Hear, O you deceitful tradesmen! Hear your sentence! God will certainly shut his door against you and turn your treasures of unrighteousness into the treasures of wrath and make your ill-gotten silver and gold to torment you like burning metal on your flesh James chapter 5 verses 2 to 3 8th all that do ordinarily live in the profane neglect of God's worship that do not hear his word that do not call on his name who restrain prayer before God that do not mind their own nor their family's souls but live without God in the world John 8.47 Job 15.4 Psalm 14.5 Psalm 79.6 Ephesians 2.12 and chapter 4.18 9 Frequenters and lovers of vain company God has declared that he will be the destroyer of all such and they shall never enter into the hill of his rest Proverbs chapter 9 verse 6 and chapter 13 verse 20 and 10 scoffers at religion that make a scorn of precise living and mock at the messengers and diligent servants of the Lord and at their holy profession and make themselves merry with the weaknesses and failings of professed Christians hear ye despisers hear your dreadful doom Proverbs chapter 19 verse 29 2nd Chronicles chapter 26 verse 16 sinner consider diligently whether you are not to be found in one of these ranks for if this is the case you are in the gall of bitterness and a bond of iniquity and all these do carry their marks in their foreheads and are undoubtedly the sons of death and if so the Lord pity our poor congregations oh how small a number will remain after these ten sorts are taken out Sirs, what efforts you make to keep your confidence of your good state when God from heaven declares against you and pronounces you in a state of condemnation. I would reason with you as God with them. How canst thou say, I am not polluted? See thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done. Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 23 Man is not your conscience aware of your tricks of deceit, of your secret sins of your way of living. Ye are not your friends, your family, your neighbours, witnesses to your profane neglect of God's worship, to your covetous practices, to your envious and malicious behaviour. May they not point to you as you go. There goes a gambling prodigal. There goes a drunken nabal, a companion of evil doers. There goes a railer, or a scoffer, or a loose liver. beloved God has written it with a sunbeam in the book by which you must be judged that these are not the marks of his children and that none such except renewed by converting grace shall ever escape the damnation of hell oh that you would now be persuaded to repent and turn from all your transgressions or else iniquity will be your ruin Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 30 Alas for poor hardened sinners! Must I leave you at last where you are? Must I leave the drinker still at his bar? Must I leave the malicious still in his venom? However, you must know that you have been warned, that I am clear of your blood. and whether men will hear or whether they will forbear I will leave these scriptures with them which will prove either as thunderbolts to awaken them or as searing irons to harden them God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goes on still in his trespasses he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy because I have called and you refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded I will laugh at your calamity when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind Psalm 68 verse 21 Proverbs 21 verse 1 Proverbs 1 verses 24 to 27 and now I imagine many will begin to bless themselves and think that all is well because they cannot be reproached with these grosser evils and I must tell you there is another sort of unsatisfied person who carries their mark in their foreheads but more secretly more covertly these frequently deceive themselves and others and pass for good Christians when they are all the while unsound at heart many pass undiscovered till death and judgment brings all to light these self-deceivers seem to come even to heaven's gate with confidence of their omission and yet are turned away at last Matthew chapter 7 verse 22 I beseech you deeply to lay to heart and firmly retain this awakening consideration that multitudes perish by the hand of some secret sin that is not only hidden from others but from want of observing of their own hearts is even hidden from themselves a man may be free from open pollutions and yet die at last by the hand of some unobserved iniquity and there are these 12 hidden sins through which souls go down by numbers into the chambers of eternal death these you must also search carefully for and take them as black marks wherever they are found revealing a graceless and unconverted state and as you love your lives read carefully with a holy jealousy of yourselves lest you should be the persons concerned one gross willful ignorance Hosea chapter 4 verse 6 Oh how many poor souls does this sin kill in the dark while they think verily they have good hearts are all set fair for heaven this is the murderer that dispatches thousands in a silent manner while they suspect nothing and do not see the hand that comes to destroy them you shall find whatever excuses you make for ignorance that it is a soul ruining evil Isaiah chapter 27 verse 11 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 8 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3 Oh, would it not have grieved a man's heart to see that dreadful spectacle, when the poor Protestants were shot up in a barn, and a butcher came with his hand warmed in human blood, and led them out one by one, blindfold to a block, where he slew them, one after another, by scores, in cold blood. But how much more should your hearts bleed to think of the hundreds that ignorance destroys in secret and leaves also blindfold to the block? Beware that this is not your case. Make no plea for ignorance. If you spare that sin, know that it will not spare you. And would a man keep a murderer in his bosom? 2. Secret reserves in closing with Christ. to forsake all for Christ, to hate father and mother, yea a man's own life for him this is a hard saying Luke chapter 14 verse 26 some will do much but they will not have the religion that will save them they never come to be entirely devoted to Christ nor to be fully resigned to him they must have this sweet sin they mean to do themselves no harm but they have secret exceptions for life, liberty or estate many take Christ thus and never consider his self-denying terms nor count the cost and this error is the foundation that mars all and ruins them forever Luke chapter 14 verses 28 to 33 formality in religion many rest in the outside of religion and the external performance of holy duties and very often this most effectually deceives them and more certainly undoes them than open profaneness as it was in the Pharisees case they hear they fast they pray they give alms and therefore will not believe that their case is not good whereas resting in the work done and coming short of the hard work and inward power and vitality of religion they fall at last into the burning from the flattering hope and confident persuasion of their being all set on the way to heaven oh dreadful case when a man's religion shall serve only to harden him and effectually to delude and to deceive his own soul for the prevalence of wrong motives in holy duties this was the bane of the Pharisees oh how many a poso is undone by this and drops into hell before he discerns his mistake he performs his good duties and so thinks all is well but does not perceive that he is actuated by carnal motives all the while It is too true that even with the really sanctified, many carnal ends will often creep in, but they are the matter of their hatred and humiliation, and never become to be habitually prevalent with them or bear the greatest sway. But when the main thing that ordinarily moves a man to religious duties is some carnal end, as to satisfy his conscience, to get the reputation of being religious, to be seen of men, to show his gifts and talents, to avoid the reproach of being a profane or irreligious person or the like, this reveals an unsound heart. O Christians, if you would avoid self-deceit, see that your mind and your actions be the same. 5. Trusting in their own righteousness. This is a soul-ruining mischief. When men trust in their own righteousness, they do indeed reject Christ's. Beloved, you need to be watchful on every hand, for not only your sins, but your duties may undo you. it may be you never thought of this but so it is that a man may as certainly perish by his seeming righteousness and supposed graces as by gross sins that is when a man trusts to these as his righteousness before God for satisfying his justice appeasing his wrath procuring his favor and obtaining his pardon this is to put Christ out of office and make us saviour of our own duties and graces Oh professing Christian you are much in duties but this one fly will spoil all of your ointment when you've done most and best be sure to go out of yourselves to Christ and reckon your own righteousness as filthy rags Philippians chapter 3 verse 9 Isaiah 64 verse 6 6. A secret enmity against the strictness of religion. Many moral persons, punctilious in their formal devotions, have yet a bitter enmity against strictness and zeal, and hate the life and the power of religion. They do not like this forwardness, nor that men should make such a stir about religion. they condemn the strictness of religion as singularity, indiscretion, intemperate zeal and with them a zealous preacher or a fervent Christian is but a wild enthusiast these men do not love holiness as holiness for then they would love the height of holiness and therefore are undoubtedly rotten at heart, whatever good opinion they may have of themselves. 7. The resting in a certain degree of religion. When they have so much as will save them, as they suppose, they look no farther, and so show themselves short of true grace, which always sets men aspiring onwards towards perfection. Philippians chapter 3 verse 13 Proverbs chapter 4 verse 18 8 the predominant love of the world this is a sure evidence of an unsanctified heart if any man loved the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 John chapter 2 verse 15 but how often does this sin lurk under the fair cover of forward profession yea such a power of deceit is there in this sin that many times when everybody else can see a man's worldliness and covetousness he cannot see it himself but has so many excuses and pretenses for his eagerness after the world that he blinds his own eyes and so perishes in self-deceit how many professing Christians are there with whom the world has more of their hearts and affections than has Christ who mind earthly things and thereby are evidently after the flesh and likely to end in destruction Romans chapter 8 verse 5 Philippians chapter 3 verse 19 sinner consider diligently whether you are not to be found in one of these ranks For if this is the case, you are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. For all these do carry their marks in their foreheads, and are undoubtedly the sons of death. And if so, the Lord pity our poor congregations. Oh, how small a number will remain if these ten sorts are taken out. says what effect 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 I would reason with you as God with them how canst thou say I am not polluted see thy way in the valley know what thou hast done Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 23 man is not your conscience aware of your tricks of deceit of your secret sins, of your way of lying? Ye are not your friends, your family, your neighbours, witnesses to your profane neglect of God's worship, to your covetous practices, to your envious and malicious behaviour? May they not point at you as they go? There goes a gaming prodigal, there goes a drunken nabal, a companion of evildoers, there goes a railer, or a scoffer, or a loose liver. Beloved, God has written it, as with a sunbeam in the book by which you must be judged, that these are not the marks of his children, and that none such, except they be renewed by converting grace, shall ever escape the damnation of hell. O that you would now be persuaded to repent and turn from all of your transgressions or else iniquity shall be your ruin! Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 30 Alas for poor hardened sinners! Must I leave you at last where I found you? Must I leave the drinker still at his bar? Must I leave the malicious still in his venom? However, you must know that you have been warned, that I am clear of your blood, and whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear, I will leave these scriptures with them, which will prove either as thunderbolts to awaken them, or as searing irons to harden them. God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy because I have called and you have refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded I will laugh at your calamity when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind Psalm 68 verse 21 Proverbs 29 verse 1 Proverbs chapter 1 verses 24 to 27 and now I imagine many will begin to bless themselves and think that all is well because they cannot be reproached with these grosser evils but I must tell you that there is another sort of unsanctified person who carried their mark not in their foreheads but more secretly and covertly these frequently deceive themselves and others and pass for good Christians when they are all the while unsound in heart many pass undiscovered till death and judgment bring it all to light these self-deceivers seem to come even to heaven's gate with confidence of their admission and yet are turned away at last Matthew chapter 7 verse 22 I beseech you deeply to lay to heart and firmly retain this awakening consideration that multitudes perish by the hand of some secret sin that is not only hidden from others but from want of observing their own hearts things which are hidden even from themselves A man may be free from open pollutions and yet die at last by the hand of some unobserved iniquity. and there are these twelve hidden things through which souls go down by numbers into the chambers of eternal death these you must carefully search for and take them as black marks against you wherever they are found revealing a graceless and unconverted state and as you love your lives read carefully with a holy jealousy of yourselves yes you should be the persons concerned one gross willful ignorance Hosea chapter 4 verse 6 O how many poor souls doth this sin kill in the dark while they think verily that they have good hearts and are all set for heaven? This is a murderer that dispatches thousands in a silent manner when they suspect nothing and do not see the hand that destroys them. You shall find, whatever excuses you make for ignorance, that it is a soul-ruining evil. Isaiah 27 verse 11, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 8, 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3. Ah, would it not have grieved a man's heart to see that dreadful spectacle when the poor Protestants were shot up in a barn and the butcher came with his hands warmed in human blood and led them out one by one blindfold to a block where he slew them one after another by scores in cold blood. How much more should your hearts bleed to think of the hundreds that ignorance destroys in secret and leads blindfold to the block? Beware that this is not your case. Make no plea for ignorance. If you spare this sin, know that it will not spare you. Would a man keep a murderer in his bosom? 2. Secret reserves in closing with Christ to forsake all for Christ, to hate father and mother, yea a man's own life for him this is a hard saying Luke chapter 14 verse 26 some will do much but they will not have the religion which is the only one that will save them they never come to be entirely devoted to Christ nor to be fully resigned to him they must have the sweet sin they mean to do themselves no harm they have secret exceptions for life liberty or state. Many take Christ thus and never consider his self-denying terms nor count the cost and this error is the foundation that mars all and ruins them forever. Luke chapter 14 verses 28 to 33. Three, formality in religion. Many rest in the outside of religion and an external performance of holy duties and this very often most effectively deceives men and more certainly undoes them than open profaneness. Thus it was in the Pharisees' case. They hear, they fast, they pray, they give alms, and therefore will not believe that their case is anything but good. Whereas resting in the work done, and coming short of the hard work and the inward power and vitality of religion, they fall at last into the burning from the flattering hope and confident persuasion as they are being all set on the way to heaven. O dreadful case, when a man's religion shall serve only to harden him, and effectually to delude and deceive his own soul! 4. The prevalence of wrong motives in holy duties. This was the bane of the Pharisees. O how many a poor soul is undone by this, and drops into hell before he discerns his mistake! He performs his good duties, and so thinks all is well, but does not perceive that he is actuated by carnal motives all the while. It is too true that even with the really sanctified many carnal ends will often creep in, but they are the matter of their hatred and humiliation, and never come to be habitually prevalent with them, or bear the greatest sway. But when the main thing that ordinarily moves a man to religious duties is some carnal end, as to satisfy his conscience, to get reputation of being religious, to be seen of men, to show his own gifts and talents, to avoid the reproach of being a profane or irreligious person or the like, this reveals an unsound heart. O Christian, If you would avoid self-deceit, see that you mind not only your actions, but your motives. 5. Trusting in their own righteousness. This is a soul-ruining mischief. When men trust in their own righteousness, they do indeed reject Christ's. Beloved, if you had need to be watchful in every hand, for not only your sins, but your duties may undo you, it may be you never thought of this but so it is that a man may have certainly perished by his seeming righteousness and supposed graces as by gross sins and that is when a man trusts to these as his righteousness before God for satisfying his justice appeasing his wrath procuring his favour and obtaining his pardon this is to put Christ out of office and to make us saviour of our own duties and graces beware of the so professing Christians you're much in duties but this one fly will spoil all the ointment when you've done most and best be sure to go out of yourselves to Christ reckon your own righteousness as filthy rags Philippians chapter 3 verse 9 Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6 a secret enmity against the strictness of religion. Many moral persons, punctilious in their formal devotions, yet have a bitter enmity against strictness and zeal, and hate the life and the power of religion. They do not like this forwardness. nor that men should make such a stare about religion. They condemn the strictness of religion as singularity, indiscretion, intemperate zeal, and with them a zealous preacher or a fervent Christian is but a wild enthusiast. These men do not love holiness as holiness, for then they would love the height of holiness, and therefore are undoubtedly rotten at heart whatever good opinion they have of themselves. the resting in a certain degree of religion when they have so much as will save them as they suppose they look no further and so show themselves short of true grace which always sets men aspiring to perfection Philippians 3 verse 13 Proverbs chapter 4 verse 18 8 the predominant love of the world This is the sure evidence of an unsanctified heart. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John chapter 2 verse 15. But how often does this sin lurk under the fair cover of outward formal profession? Ye, such a power of deceit is there in this sin that many times when everybody else can see the man's worldliness and covetousness, he cannot see it himself. but has so many excuses and pretenses for his eagerness after the world that he blinds his own eyes and perishes in self-deceit. How many professing Christians are there with whom the world has more of their hearts and affections than has Christ who mind earthly things and thereby are evidently after the flesh and likely to end in destruction. Romans chapter 8 verse 5 Philippians chapter 3 verse 19. Yet ask these men and they will tell you confidently they prize Christ above all for they do not see their own earthly mindedness for want of a strict observance of the working of their own hearts. Did they but carefully search they would quickly find that their greatest satisfaction is in the world and their greatest care and they maintain the greatest endeavour to get and to secure the things of this world. These are the certain signs of an unconverted sinner. May the professing part of the world take earnest heed lest they perish by the hand of this sin unobserved. Men may be and often are kept off from Christ as effectually by the inordinate love of lawful comforts as by the most unlawful courses. Nine, reigning malice and envy against those that disrespect them and are injurious to them. Oh how many that seem to be religious, remember injuries and carry grudges, rendering evil for evil, lying to take revenge, wishing evil on those that wrong them. This is directly against the rule of the gospel, the pattern of Christ, the nature of God. doubtless where this ego is kept boiling in the heart and is not hated, resisted and mortified but habitually prevails that person is in the very gall of bitterness and in a state of death Matthew chapter 18 verses 32 to 35 1 John chapter 3 verses 14 to 15 10 unmortified pride when men love the praise of men more than the praise of God and set their hearts upon men's esteem, applause and approbation it is most certain that they are yet in their sins and strangers to true conversion John chapter 12 verse 43 Galatians chapter 1 verse 10 when men do not see nor complain nor groan under the pride of their own hearts it is a sign that they are stark dead in sin Oh, how secretly does this lyrephone reign in many hearts, and they know it not, but are very strangers to themselves. John chapter 9 verse 40. 11. The prevailing love of pleasure. This is a black mark. where men give the flesh the liberty that it craves, and pamper and please it, and do not deny and restrain it, when their great delight is in gratifying their bellies and pleasing their senses, whatever appearance they may have of religion, all is unsound. A flesh-pleasing life cannot be pleasing to God. those that are Christ's have crucified the flesh and are careful to keep it under as their enemy Galatians chapter 5 verse 24 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 25 to 27 12 carnal security or a presumptuous confidence that their condition is already good many cry peace and safety when sudden destruction is coming upon them This was that which kept the foolish virgins sleeping when they should have been working, upon their beds when they should have been at the market. They did not perceive their lack of oil till the bridegroom had come, and while they went to buy, the door was shut. And oh, but these foolish virgins had no successors. Where is the place, yea, where is the house almost, where such do not dwell? Men are willing to cherish in themselves, upon ever so slight grounds, a hope that their condition is good, and so are not concerned about a change, and by these means perish in their sins. Are you at peace? Show me upon what grounds your peace is maintained. Is it scripture peace? Can you show the distinguishing marks of a sound believer? Can you evidence that you have something more than the hypocrite in the world ever had? If not, fear this peace more than any trouble and know that the carnal peace commonly proves the most mortal enemy of the soul and while it kisses and smiles and speaks firmly it fatally smites as it were under the fifth rib. By this time I would think that I hear my readers crying out with the disciples, who then can be saved! Set out from our congregation all these ten racks of the profane on the one hand, and then take out these twelve classes of self-deceiving hypocrites on the other hand, and tell me whether it is not a remnant that shall be saved. How few will be the sheep that are left, when all these have been separated and set aside among the goats. For my part, of all my numerous hearers, I have no hopes to see any of them in heaven that are to be found among these twenty-two classes that I have mentioned, except it be by sound conversion, so that they are brought into another condition. and now conscience do your work speak out and speak home to him that hears or reads these lines if you find any of these marks upon him you must pronounce him utterly unclean do not take a lie into your mouth do not speak peace to him whom God speaks no peace to do not let sense bribe you or self love or carnal prejudice blind you I summon you from the court of heaven to give your evidence If you will answer it at your peril, give a true report of the state and case of him that reads this book. Conscience, will you altogether hold your peace at such a time as this? I adjure you by the living God that you tell the truth. Is the man converted, or is he not? Does he allow himself in any way of wickedness, or does he not? Does he truly love and please and prize and delight in God above all things, or not? Come, conscience, give a definite answer. How long shall this soul live in uncertainty? O conscience, bring in your verdict! Is this man a new man, or is he not? How do you find him? Has there passed a thorough and mighty change upon him, or has there not? When was the time, or where was the place, or what was the means by which this thorough change of a new birth was wrought in his soul? Speak, conscience! Or if you cannot tell the time and place, can you show scripture evidence that the work he has done Has the man ever taken off from his false foundation from the false hopes and false peace in which he once trusted? Has he been deeply convicted of sin and of his lost and undone condition and brought out of himself and off from his sins to give himself up entirely to Jesus Christ? Or do you not find him to this day under the power of ignorance or in the mire of worldliness? Have you not found upon him the gain of unrighteousness? Do you not find him a stranger to prayer, a neglecter of the word, a lover of this present world? Do you not sometimes catch him in a lie? Do you not find his heart fermented with malice, or burning with lust, or going after his covetousness? Speak plainly to all the aforementioned particulars. Can you equate this man, this woman, from being in any one of the twenty-two classes here described? If he is found in any of them, set him aside. His portion is not with the saints. He must be converted and made a new creature, or he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Beloved, do not be your own betrayers. Do not deceive yourselves, nor set your hands to be your own ruin. by willfully blinding yourselves. Set up a tribunal in your own breasts. Bring the word and the conscience together to the law and to the testimony. Hear how the word concludes of your state. Oh follow the search till you know where your case stands. Make a mistake here and you perish. and such is the treachery of the heart, the subtlety of the temper and the deceitfulness of all sin all conspiring to flatter and to deceive the poor soul and so common and easy is it to make this mistake that it is a thousand to one that you will be deceived unless you are very careful and thorough and impartial in the inquiry into your spiritual condition Therefore, be diligent in your work, go to the bottom, search with candles, weigh yourself in the balance, come to the standard of the sanctuary, bring your coin to the touchstone. Satan is a master of deceit. He can draw to the life. He is perfect in the trade. There is nothing which he cannot imitate. You cannot wish for any grace, but he can fit you with a counterfeit. Be jealous? Trust not even your own heart. Go to God to search you and to try you, to examine you and to prove your reigns. If other help do not suffice to bring all to an issue, but just a little loss, consult some godly and faithful minister or Christian friend. Do not rest till you have put the business of your eternal welfare out of all doubt. O searcher of hearts, set this soul-searching, and help him in his search. 7. The miseries of the unconverted. So unspeakably dreadful is the case of every unconverted soul, that I have sometimes thought if I could only convince men that they are still unregenerate, the work were more than half done. I find, by sad experience, that such a spirit of sloth and slumber possesses the unsanctified that, though they are convicted, they are not yet converted, and often they carelessly sit still. Through the love of sensual pleasure, or the hurry of worldly business, or the noise and clamour of earthly cares and lusts and affections, the voice of conscience is drowned and men go no further than some cold wishes and general purpose of repenting and amending. It is therefore of high necessity that I not only convince men that they are unconverted but I also endeavour to bring them to a sense of the fearful misery of that state but here I find myself aground at first setting off for what tongue can tell the heirs of hell sufficiently of their misery unless it were that of divies in his flame Luke chapter 16 verse 24 Where is the ready writer whose pen can depict the misery of those who are without God in the world? This cannot be fully done unless we know the infinite ocean of bliss which is imperfection in God and from which a state of sin excludes men. Who knoweth, says Moses, the power of thine anger? Psalm 90 verse 11. And how shall I tell men? that which I do not know yet so much we do know that one would think it would shake the heart of that man that had the least degree of spiritual life or sense This is yet a more perplexing difficulty that I am to speak to them who are without spiritual sense. Alas, this is not the least part of man's misery that he is dead and dead in trespasses and sins. Could I bring paradise into view or represent the kingdom of heaven to as much advantage as the tempted did the kingdoms of the world and the glories thereof to our Saviour? Or could I uncover the face of the deep and the devouring gulf of Tophet with all its terrors and open the gates of the infernal furnace? Alas, he has no eyes to see it. Could I paint the beauties of holiness or the glories of the gospel? or could I expose to view the more than diabolical deformity and ugliness of sin? He can no more judge of the loveliness and the beauty of the one or the filthiness and the hatefulness of the other than a blind man can of colours He is alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in him because of the blindness of his heart Ephesians chapter 4 verse 18 He neither knows nor can know the things of God because they are spiritually discerned 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 his eyes cannot be savingly opened but by converting grace Acts chapter 26 verse 18 he is a child of darkness he walks in darkness yea the very light that is in him is darkness shall I wring his nail or read his sentence or sound in his ears the terrible trump of God's judgments that one would think should make both of his ears to tingle and strike into him at Belshazzar's fit, even to change his countenance, loosen his joints, make his knees to smite one against the other. Alas, he perceives me not. He has no ears to hear. Or shall I call up the daughters of music, and sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb? Yet he will not be stirred. Shall I allure him with the joyful sound, and the lovely song, and the glad tidings of the Gospel? with the most sweet and inviting calls, comforts and cordials of the divine promises, so exceeding great and precious. It will not affect him savingly, unless I could find him ears, as well as tell him the news. What then shall I do? Shall I show him the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone? Or shall I open the box of spikenard, very precious, that fills the whole house of the universe with its perfume? and hope that the savour of Christ's ointment and the smell of his garments will attract him. Alas, dead sinners are like the dumb idols. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses they have, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet they have, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. They are destitute of spiritual sense and motion. Let me try the sense that leaves us, and draw the sword of the word. yet though I choose mine arrows from God's quiver and direct them to his heart then nevertheless he does not feel it for how should he be in past feeling? Ephesians chapter 4 verse 19 so that though the wrath of God abide on him and the mountainous weight of so many sins yet he goes up and down as light as if nothing availed him in a word he carries a dead soul within a living body and his flesh is but the walking coffin of a corrupt mind that is twice dead. Jude chapter 12 which way then shall I come at the miserable object that I have to deal with who shall make the heart of stone relent or the lifeless carcass to feel and to move that God who is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham that raises the dead and melts the mountains and strikes water out of the flint that lust to work beyond the hopes and beliefs of man that peoples his churches with dry bones he is able to do this therefore I bow my knee to the Most High God and as our Saviour prayed at the sepulchre of Lazarus and the Shunammite ran to the man of God for her dead child so your mourning minister carries you in the arms of prayer to that God in whom your help is found O thou all-powerful Jehovah, who workest, and none can hinder thee, who has the keys of death and hell, pity thou the dead souls that lie here entombed, and roll away the gravestone, and say to the dead body of Lazarus, Come forth, lighten now this darkness, O inaccessible light, And let the day spring from on high, visit the dark regions of the dead to whom I speak. For thou canst open the eye that death hath closed, thou that formest the ear can restore the hearing. Saith thou to these ears, If, father, be thou opened, and I shall be opened, Givest thou eyes to see thine excellences, A taste that may relish thy sweetness, A scent that may savour thy ointment, A feeling that may discern the privileges of thy favour, the burden of thy wrath, the intolerable weight of unpardoned sin and give thy servant order to prophesy to dry bones and let the effect of this prophecy be as of thy prophet when he prophesied in the valley of dry bones into a living army exceeding great but I must proceed as I am able to unfold that misery which I confess no tongue can unfold no heart can sufficiently comprehend know therefore that while you are unconverted one the infinite love of God is engaged against you it is no small part of your misery that you are without God how does Micah run crying after the Danites you have taken away my gods and what have I more? Judges chapter 18 verse 24 oh what a mourning must then you lift up who are without God who can lay no claim to him without a dare in usurpation how piercing a moan is that of Saul in his last extremity the fully steins are upon me and God is departed from me 1st Samuel chapter 28 verse 15 sinners What will you do in the day of your visitation? Where will you flee for help? Where will you leave your glory? What will you do when the Philistines are upon you? When the world shall take its eternal leave of you? When you must bid your friends, houses, and lands farewell forever? What then, I say, will you do who have not God to go to? who will you call on him? will you cry to him for help? alas then he will not own you he will not take any notice of you but will send you away with I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity Matthew chapter 7 verse 23 they who know what it is to have a God to go to a God to live upon they know a little what a fearful misery it is to be without God this made a holy man cry out let me have God or nothing let me know him and his will and what will please him and how I may come to enjoy him or would I never have an understanding to know anything but you're not only without God God is against you oh if God would stand neutral though he did not own nor help the poor sinner his case were not so deeply miserable for God should give up the poor creature to the will of his enemies to do the worst with him though he should deliver him over to the tormentors the devil should tear and torture him with their utmost power and skill yet this will not half so fearful but God will set himself against the sinner and believe it, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Hebrews chapter 10 verse 31 there is no friend like him no enemy like him as much as heaven is above the earth omnipotence above impotence so much more terrible is it to fall into the hands of a living God than into the paws of bears or lions yea furies and devils God himself will be your tormentor your destruction shall come from the presence of the Lord 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 9 if God is against you who can be for you? if one man sinned against another the judge shall judge him but if a man sinned against the Lord who shall entreat for him? 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 25 thou even thou art to be feared and who shall stand in thy sight whence thou art angry? Psalm 76 verse 7 Who or what shall deliver you out of his hands? Can money, riches, profit not on the day of wrath? Proverbs chapter 11 verse 4 Can kings or warriors? No, they shall cry to the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Revelation chapter 6 verses 15 to 17 Sinner, I think this should go like a dagger to your heart to know that God is your enemy where will you go? where will you shelter yourself? there is no hope for you unless you lay down your weapons and sue out your pardon and get Christ to stand as your friend and make your peace if it were not for this you might go into some howling wilderness and there pine in sorrow and run mad for anguish of heart and horrible despair but in Christ there is a possibility of mercy for you yea an offer of mercy to you that you may have God more for you than he is now against you but if you will not forsake your sins nor turn thoroughly and purposefully to God by a sound conversion the wrath of God abides upon you and he proclaims himself to be against you as in the prophet therefore thus saith the Lord God behold I even I am against thee Ezekiel chapter 5 verse 8 his face is against you the face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them Psalm 34 verse 16 Woe to them whom God shall set his face against when he did but look on the host of the Egyptians how terrible was the consequence I will set my face against that man and will make him a sign and a proverb and will cut him off from the midst of my people and you shall know that I am the Lord Ezekiel chapter 14 verse 8 his heart is against him he hates all the workers of iniquity man does not your heart tremble to think of your being an object of God's hatred though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind could not be towards this people cast them out of my sight Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 1 my soul loathes them and their souls also abhorred me Zechariah chapter 11 verse 8 his attributes are against you his justice is like a flaming sword unsheathed against you if I wet my glittering sword and my hand take hold on judgment I will render vengeance to mine adversaries and will behold them that hate me I will make mine arrows drunk with blood Deuteronomy 32 verses 41 to 42 So exact is justice that it will by no means clear the guilty God will not discharge you He will not hold you guiltless but will require the whole debt in person from you unless you can make a scripture claim to Christ and His satisfaction when the enlightened sinner looks on justice and sees the balance in which he must be weighed and the sword by which he must be executed he feels an earthquake in his breast but Satan keeps this out of sight and persuades the soul while he can that the Lord is all made up of mercy and so lulls it to sleep in sin divine justice is exact it must have satisfaction to the uttermost farthing it denounces indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish to every soul that doeth evil Romans 2 verses 8 to 9 it curseth everyone that continues not in all the things written in the book of the law to do them Galatians chapter 3 verse 10 that justice of God to the unpardoned sinner who has a sense of his guilt is more terrible than the sight of the creditor to the bankrupt debtor or of the judge and bench to the robber or of the irons and gibbet to the guilty murderer when justice sits upon life and death what dreadful work does it make with the wretched sinner bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire Matthew chapter 22 verse 13 and 25 verse 41 this is the terrible sentence that justice pronounces sinner by this severe justice must you be tried and as God liveth this killing sentence must you hear unless you repent and be converted the holiness of God is against you he's not only angry with you so he may be with his children but he has a fixed habitual displeasure against you God's nature is infinitely contrary to sin and so he cannot delight in a sinner who is out of Christ Oh what a misery is this to be out of the favour, yea, unto the hatred of God that God who can as easily lay aside his nature and cease to be God as to be contrary to you and detest you except you be changed and renewed Oh sinner, how dare you think of the bright and radiant sun of purity or the beauties, the glory, the holiness of God the stars are not pure in his sight he humbles himself to behold things that are done in heaven Job 25 verse 5 Psalm 113 verse 6 O those all-searching eyes of his what do they spy in you? and have you no interest in Christ neither that he should plead for you? I think he should hear you crying out astonished with the Bethshemites who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? the power of God is mounted like a mounted cannon against you the glory of God's power is to be displayed in the amazing confusion and destruction of those that obey not the gospel He'll make His power known in them Romans chapter 9 verse 22 how mightily He can torment them for this end He raises them up that he might make his power known Romans chapter 9 verse 17 O man, are you able to contend with your maker? Sinner, the power of God's anger is against you and power and anger together make a fearful work it were better you had all the world in arms against you than to have the power of God against you there was no escaping his hand, no breaking his prison the thunder of his power who can understand? Job 26 verse 14 unhappy man that shall understand it by feeling it if you contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand he is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardened himself against him and prospered which removeth the mountains and they know it not which overturneth them in his anger which shaketh the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble, which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars. Who shall say unto him, What doest thou? If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop unto him. Job 9 And are you a fit match for such an antagonist? O consider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Psalm 50 verse 22 Submit yourself to mercy let not dust and stubble stand out against the Almighty set not briars and thorns against him in battle lest he go through them and consume them together but lay hold on his strength that you may make peace with him Isaiah chapter 27 verses 4 to 5 Woe to him that striveth with his maker Isaiah chapter 45 verse 9 the wisdom of God is set to ruin you he has ordained his arrows and prepared the instruments of death and made all things ready Psalm 7 verses 11 to 13 his counsels are against you to contrive your destruction Jeremiah chapter 18 verse 11 he laughs in himself to see how you will be taken away and ensnared in the evil day Psalm 37 verse 13 the Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming he sees how you will come down mightily in a moment how you will wring your hands and tear your hair and eat your flesh and gnash your teeth for anguish and astonishment of heart when you see you are fallen irredeemably into the pit of destruction the truth of God is sworn against you he is faithful and true you must perish if you go on unless he is false to his word you must die except you repent if we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 13 he is faithful to his threatenings as well as to his promises and will show his faithfulness in your destruction if we believe him not God has told you as plain as it can be spoken that if he wash you not you have no part in him if you live after the flesh you shall die but except you be converted you shall no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven and John chapter 13 verse 8 Romans chapter 8 verse 13 Matthew 18 verse 3 Beloved, as the immutable faithfulness of God in his promise and oath affords belief a strong consolation so it is to unbelievers for strong consternation and confusion. O sinner, tell me, what do you think of all the threatenings of God's Word that stand upon record against you? Do you believe that they are true or not? If not, you are a wretched infidel. But if you do believe them O heart of adamant that you have that you can walk up and down in quiet when the truth and faithfulness of God are already engaged to destroy you the whole book of God testifies against you while you remain unconverted it condemns you in every leaf it is to you like Ezekiel's row written within and without with lamentation and mourning and woe and all this shall surely come upon you except you repent heaven and earth shall pass away but one jot or tittle of this word shall never pass away Matthew chapter 5 verse 18 now put all this together and tell me if the case of the unconverted is not deplorably miserable as we read of some persons that have bound themselves with an oath and a curse to kill Paul So you must know, O sinner, that all the attributes of the infinite God are bound by an oath to punish you. O man, what will you do? Where will you flee? If God's omniscience can find you, you have no escape. if the true and faithful God will regard his oath perish you must except you believe and repent if the Almighty has power to torment you you must be perfectly miserable in soul and body to all eternity unless this be prevented by speedy conversion 2. the whole creation of God is against you the whole creation says Paul groans and travails in pain Romans 8.22 but what is it that the creation groans under? the fearful abuse it is subject to in serving the lusts of unsanctified men is what it groans under and what is it that the creation groans for? it's for freedom and liberty from this abuse for the creature is not willingly made subject to this bondage Romans 8.22 If the irrational and inanimate creatures held speech and reason, they would cry out under it, as a bondage insufferable, to be abused by the ungodly, contrary to their natures and the ends for which the great Creator made them. It is the saying of an eminent divine, the liquor that the drunkard drinks if it had reason like a man would know how shamefully it is abused would groan in the bowel against him it would groan in the cup against him groan in his throat groan in his stomach against him it would fly in his face if he could speak and if God should open the mouth of his creatures as he did the mouth of Balaam's ass the proud man's garment on his back would groan against him there's not a creature if it had to know how it is abused till a man be converted but would groan against him the land would groan to bear him the air would groan to give him breath the houses would groan to lodge them their beds would groan to ease them their food to nourish them, their clothes to cover them and a creature would groan to give them any help or comfort so long as they live in sin and rebellion against God I think this should be a terror to an unconverted soul to think that he is a burden on creation Cut it down! Why cumbereth it the ground? Luke 13 verse 7 If inanimate creatures could but speak your food would say Lord, must I nourish such a wretch as this, and hold forth my strength for him to dishonour thee? No, I would rather choke him, if thou wouldst give me the commission. The very air would say, Lord, must I give this man breath, to set his tongue against heaven, and scorn my people, and vent his pride and wrath in filthy talk, to belch out oaths, and blaspheme against thee? No, if that will say the word, he shall be breathless for me. The poor beast would say, Lord, must I carry him upon his wicked designs? No, I would rather break his bones, I would rather end his days, if I had but leave from thee. A wicked man, the earth groans under him, hell groans for him, till death satisfies both. while the Lord of hosts is against you be sure the host of the Lord is against you and all the creatures as it were in arms still until man's conversion and the controversy is settled between God and him and he makes a covenant of peace with the creatures for him Job chapter 5 verses 22 to 24 Hosea chapter 2 verses 18 to 20 3 Satan has full power over you you are fast in the paw of that roaring lion who is greedy to devour on Peter chapter 5 verse 8 in the snare of the devil held captive by him at his will 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 26 this is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Ephesians chapter 2 verse 2 his drudges they are and his lusts they do he is the ruler of the darkness of this world Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 that is of ignorant sinners who live in darkness you pity the poor Indians who worship the devil for their God but little think it is your own case it is the common misery of all the unsanctified that the devil is their God not that they intend to do him homage they will be ready to defy him and him that should say so of them but all this while they do serve him and live under his government his servants ye are whom ye obey Romans 6 verse 16 oh how many will then be found to be the real servants of the devil who take themselves now for no others than the children of God he can no sooner offer a sinful delight or opportunity for your unlawful advantage than you embrace it if he suggests a lie or prompts you to revenge you readily obey if he forbids you to read or to pray you hearken to him and therefore his servant you are indeed he stands behind the curtain he acts in the dark and sinners do not see who sets them working but all the while he leads them doubtless the liar does not intend to serve Satan but his own advantage yet it is he that stands unobserved and puts the thing into his heart undoubtedly Judas when he sold his master for money and the Chaldeans and Sabaeans when they plundered Job did not intend to do the devil a pleasure but to satisfy their own covetousness yet it was he that actuated them in their wickedness John chapter 13 verse 27 Job chapter 1 verses 12 15 and 17 men may be very slaves and common drudges for the devil and not know it nay they may please themselves in thoughts of liberty are you yet in ignorance and not turn from darkness to light I fear then that you are under the power of Satan do you live in the willful practice of any known sin know that you are of the devil. Do you live in strife, or envy, or malice? Verily he is your father. O dreadful case! However Satan may provide his slaves with various pleasures, yet it is but to draw them down to endless perdition. The serpent comes with a fruit in his mouth, but, as with Eve, you do not see the deadly sting. Here it is now your tempter, will one day be your tormentor. Oh, that I could but make you see how bad a master it is you serve, how merciless a tyrant you gratify, whose pleasure is to set you on to make your perdition and damnation sure, and heat the furnace hotter and hotter, in which you must burn for millions and millions of ages. the guilt of all your sins lies upon you like a mountain poor soul you don't feel it? but this is that which seals your misery while unconverted none of your sins are blotted out they are all upon record against you regeneration and remission are never separated the unsanctified are unjustified and unpardoned it is a fearful thing to be in debt but above all to be in God's debt for there is no arrest so formidable as this no prison so dreary as his look upon the enlightened sinner who feels the weight of his own guilt oh how frightful are his looks how fearful are his complaints his comforts are turned into wormwood and his moisture into drought and his sleep is departing from his eyes he is a terror to himself and all that are about him and he is ready to envy the very stones that lie in the street because they are without sense and do not feel his misery he wishes that he had been a dog rather than a man because then death would have put an end to his misery whereas now it is but the beginning of that which he will know no end however he may make light of it now you will one day find the guilt of unpardoned sin to be a heavy burden this is a millstone whosoever falls upon it shall be broken but upon whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder Matthew 21 verse 44 the guilt of our sins cause the agony and death of the blessed Savior and if it did this in the green tree what shall it do in the dry? oh think of your case in time can you think of that threat without trembling you shall die in your sins and John chapter 8 verse 24 oh better were it for you to die in jail in a ditch in a dungeon than to die in your sins if death as it would take away all your comforts would take away all your sins too it would be some mitigation but your sins will follow you where your friends cannot where all worldly enjoyments shake hands and part with you. Your sins will not die with you, as a prisoner's debts die with him, but they will go to judgment with you, there to be your accusers, and they will go to hell with you, there to be your tormentors. O the work that these will make you! O look over your God's commandments is ready to arrest you and take you by the throat for the innumerable bonds it has upon you. What will you do then when they shall all together come against you? Hold open the eyes of your conscience and consider this, that you may despair of yourself, that you may be driven to Christ and fly for refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before you. Your raging lusts miserably ensnare you. While unconverted, you are a very servant to sin. It reigns over you, it holds you under its dominion, till you are brought within the bonds of God's covenant. There is not such another tyrant as sin. Oh, the vile and fearful work that it engages its servants into! Would it not pierce your heart to see a company of poor creatures drudging and toiling to carry together faggots and fuel for their own burning? This is the employment of sin's drudges. Even while they bless themselves in their unrighteous gains, while they sing in their pleasures, they are but treasuring up vengeance for their own eternal burning. They are but adding to the pile of tofet and flinging in oil to make the flame rage the fiercer. Who would serve such a master, whose work is drudgery, and whose wage is his death? What a woeful spectacle was the poor wretch pressed with the legion! Will you not have grieved your hearts to see him among the tombs cutting and wounding himself? This is your case, such is your case. Every stroke is a thrust at your heart. conscience indeed is now asleep but when death and judgment shall bring you to your senses then you will feel the anguish in every wound the convinced sinner is an instance of the miserable bondage of sin conscience flies upon him he tells him that the end of these things is death and he is such a slave to his lust that on he goes so he sees it is to his perdition when the temptation comes lust breaks the chords of all his vows and promises and carries him on headlong to his own destruction 6. the furnace of eternal vengeance is heated ready for you hell and destruction open their mouths for you they gape for you they groan for you Isaiah 5 verse 14 waiting as it were with greedy eyes as you stand on the brink if the wrath of man be as the roaring of a lion Proverbs 19 verse 12 more heavy than sand Proverbs 27 verse 3 what is that to the wrath of infinite God? if the burning furnace heated in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery rage when he commanded it to be made seven times hotter was so fierce as to burn up even those who drew near to throw the three children in How hot is that burning of the Almighty's fury? Surely this is seventy times seven, Morpheus! What can you think, O man, of being a faggot in hell to all eternity? Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee? Ezekiel chapter 22 verse 14 Can you abide the everlasting burnings? Can you dwell with consuming fire? when you shall be as glowing iron in hell and your whole body and soul shall be perfectly possessed by God's burning vengeance as the sparkling iron with fire when heated in the fiercest furnace some of the choicest servants of God when under the hidings of his face and the dreadful effects of his displeasure have bewailed their condition with bitter lamentations How then will you endure when God shall pour out all his vials and set himself against you to torment you? When he shall make your conscience a tunnel by which he will be pouring his burning wrath into your soul forever? When he shall fill all your pores as full of torment as they are now full of sin when immortality shall be your misery and to die the death of a brute and to be swallowed up in the gulf of annihilation would be such a felicity as the whole eternity of wishes and an ocean of tears could never purchase now you can put off the evil day and laugh and be merry and forget the terrors of the Lord but how will you hold out or hold up when God casts you into that bed of torments Revelation chapter 2 verse 22 or makes you to lie down in sorrows Isaiah chapter 40 verse 11 when roarings and blasphemies shall be your only music and the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation shall be your only drink Revelation 14 verse 10 in a word when the smoke of your torment shall ascend forever and ever and you shall have no rest day or night no rest in your conscience, no ease in your bones but shall be an execration and astonishment and a curse and a reproach forevermore Jeremiah 42 verse 18 O sinner stop here and consider if you are a man and not a senseless block consider think where you are standing upon the very brink of destruction as the Lord liveth and as your soul liveth there is but a step between you and this do you not know when you lie down but you may be in hell before you rise in the morning do you not know when you rise that you may drop into hell before night dare you make light of this will you go on in such a dreadful condition as if nothing availed you if you put it off and say it does not belong to you look again over the previous chapter and tell me the truth are none of those black marks found against you? do not blind your eyes do not deceive yourself see your misery while you may prevent it think what it is to be a vile outcast a lost reprobate a vessel of wrath into which the Lord will be pouring out his tormenting fury while he has a being Divine wrath is a fierce, devouring, everlasting, unquenchable fire, and this must be your portion unless you consider your ways and speedily turn to the Lord by a sound conversion. Sinner, it is in vain to flatter you. This would be but to draw you into that unquenchable fire. Know from the living God that here you must lie with these burnings you must dwell till immortality die and immutability change till eternity run out and omnipotence is no longer able to punish except you be in good earnest renewed by sanctifying grace 7. The law discharges all its threats and curses at you Oh how dreadfully does it ponder! It flashes devouring fire in your face, its words are as drawn swords and as sharp arrows of the mighty. It demands satisfaction to the utmost and cries justice, justice. It speaks blood and war and wounds and death against you. Oh man, away to your stronghold, away from your sins, haste to the sanctuary, the city of refuge, even the Lord Jesus Christ. hide in him or else you are lost without any hope of recovery. 8. The Gospel itself binds the sentence of eternal damnation upon you. If you continue in your impenitent, unconverted state, know that the Gospel denounces a much sorer condemnation than ever would have been for the transgression only of the first government. is it not a dreadful case to have the gospel itself fill its mouth with threats? to have the Lord to roar from Mount Zion against you? Joel chapter 3 verse 16 hear the terror of the Lord he that believeth not shall be damned except you repent you shall all perish this is condemnation that the light is coming to the world and men loved darkness rather than light He that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on him. If the words spoken by angels were steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense and reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? He that despised Moses' law died without mercy, of how much sore a punishment shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God? Matthew chapter 16 verse 16 Luke chapter 13 verse 3 John chapter 3 verse 19 and verse 36 Hebrews chapter 2 verses 2 and 3 Hebrews chapter 10 verses 28 to 29 and is this true indeed? is this your misery? yea, it is as true as God is better open your eyes and see now while you may remedy it than blind and harden yourself till to your eternal sorrow you will feel what you would not believe and if it is true what do you mean by lingering and loitering in such a state as this? Alas for you poor man how effectively sin has undone you depraved you and despoiled you of even your reason to look after your own everlasting good? O wretched man, what stupidity and senselessness has surprised you? O let me knock and awake this sleeper! Who dwells within the walls of this flesh? Is there a soul in there, a rational, understanding soul, or are you only a senseless lump? Are you a rational soul and yet so far brutified as to forget that you are immortal and to think yourself to be as the beasts that perish?