one ftep further; or if ye will defift, ye shall have this advantage or the other; but a folidly convinced finner has two queftions that are e nough for ever to confound and filence fuch propofals. The (1.) is this, Ye tell me, That if f hold on,, I fhall meet with fuch a hazard; I mult be undervalued, reproached, oppofed, and, in fine, meet with all the ill treatment that the devil, the world, and fin can give me: but now, Satan, I have one queftion to propofe to you here, Are all thefe, taken together, as ill as damnation if not, then I will hold on. But whereas, O tempter, (2.) Ye fay, That I hall get this pleafure or the other, if I defift and quite the way that I have efpoufed, I afk you, Is that pleasure as good as eternal falvation? Or will it make damnation tolerable? These two queftions make a foul, that is really concerned about falvation, hold on in the diligent ufe of means. A man if-ever he run, will then run, when he has happiness in his eye, and mifery pursuing him;. and thus it is with eve

ry finner that is throughly awakened, and lays falvation to heart; therefore it is no wonder fuch an one refufe to be difcouraged, or give over, whatever he meets with in the way; but now, are there not among you, not a few who will be ftartled at the leaft difficulty, and quite thoughts of the means of falvation, for very trifles? This is a fad evidence, that ye are not indeed folidly convinced of fin.

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Now I have shortly run through thefe particu Vt lars; and, in the conclufion, I enquire of every one of you

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1. Have ye applied thefe marks to your own confciences, as we went through them er, have ye carelefly heard them, as if ye had no concern

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Part II. ment in them? To fuch of you as have not appli ed them, I fay only in fo many words. (1) If ye will not judge yourselves, ye fhall furely be condemned of the Lord. When perfons will not try their cafe, it is a fure fign that matters are not right with them. (2.) We may safely enough determine, that ye are unconcerned about falvation and faft afleep in your fins, nay, dead in them. (3) Ye will come to fuch a fenfible determination of your estate ere it be long, as will force you to think upon these things with seriousness, but not with fatisfaction. But to fuch as have been apply. ing these marks as we went along, in the

2. Place, I propofe this question, Do ye find upon trial that ye have indeed been laying falvation to heart above all things, or that yet ye are not in earnest about it? I beg it of you, nay, I obteft you, to deal impartially with your own fouls, and I am fure ye may come to understand how it is with you. This queftion, if fairly appli ed, will divide you into two forts.

1. Such as are not laying falvation to heart, and fo have not been convinced of fin.

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2. Such as are really concerned about falvati on, and are with the jaylor, faying, What must 1 do to be faved?

I fhall conclude this doctrine in a short address to these two forts of perfons, and then proceed to the apoftles anfwer to the jaylor's question.

I begin with the first, fuch of you as are not convinced of fin, and therefore do not lay falva tion to heart. Are there any fuch miferable wretches here, after all that has been faid? No doubt there are; and I fear that the most part are fuch. To you I fay,

1. Whence is it that ye are not convinced of

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your fin and mifery, which has been fo plainly, and at fo great length inculcate upon you? Surely it must be upon one of three accounts; either, firft, Ye have not heeded what has been faid; or, fecondly, Ye have not believed it; or, thirdly, Ye have fome one falfe defence or other, unto which ye lean. Now because this is a matter of no fmall moment both to you and us, we shall here difcourfe a little of thefe three. It is of great moment to you to be undeceived here, because a deceit here will ruin you eternally; and it is of great moment to us, because unless we get you undeceived in this matter, we lose all our pains in holding forth Chrift and the way of falvation by him. Perfons who are not convinced of fin, will, paft all peradventure, make light of Christ, and

refuse him.

(L.) Then, I fhall speak a word to fuch as have not taken heed to, or regarded what has been faid for their conviction. I make no doubt but there are fome fuch here, whose hearts have been with the fool's eyes, in the corners of the earth, and who have scarce been thinking all the while what they were hearing. Your confciences can tell you whether this has been your practice; and if it has, then I fay, (1.) It is indeed no wonder that ye do not lay falvation to heart, that ye are not convinced of fin; fince ye will not hear what will ferve for conviction, and is defigned that way. (2.) Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish and unwife? Has God condefcended fo far to you, that he has fent his fervants to you, and will ye not be at the pains to give them a hearing? How do ye think would your mafter or your ruler take it, should ye deal thus by him? If when he were speaking to you, either himself or by his fervants, ye were

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turning away your ear from him; would be not refent it highly? And has God any reafon to bear with an indignity at your hand, that your master would not fuffer? (3.) Ye have reafon to admire that he has not turned you before now into hell. This would effectually have convinced you, and repaired the lefed honour, the injured glory of God. (4) I fay to you, ye have loft an opportu nity; and none can affure you that ever ye shall have the like again. God may give over ftriving with you, and never more attempt your conviEtion: and wo to you when he departs from you. (5) fay, ye have flighted God's command, which enjoins you to take heed how ye bear, and what I ye bear, Mark iv. 24. Luke viii, 18. It is not for nothing that our Lord enjoins both to obferve the matter and manner of hearing: as he gave thofe commands, fo he will take care that they be not flighted. He will avenge himfelf of thefe who defpife his authority in them. And therefore I fay, (6.) If ye refufe a little longer to hear, then it is like, nay, it is certain, he will fpeak to you himfelf, and make you take heed, if not to what ye hear, yet to what ye fhall feel, to your eternal difquictment. He will fpeak to you in wrath and vex you in his hot difpleafure. A remarkable fcripture to this purpofe we have, Ezek. xiv. 7. For every one of the houfe of Ifrael, or of the ftranger that fojourn eth in Ifrael, which feparateth himself from me, and fets up his idols in his heart, and putteth the ftumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me. I the Lord will answer him by myself! A fet of people there was in this prophet's days, who were his hearers; and they came under pretence of hearing or enquiring into the mind of God;

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but they were but mocking God, as ye have done, and did not regard what was fail to them by the prophet, Well, the Lord will no more deal with them, by the prophet, but will take them into his own immediate hand, and deal with them by himself, The words in the first language, run thus, the Lord, it shall be aufwered to him in me, Irwill not let any anfver him but myself. As if he had faid, My fervants are too mild to deal with fuch wretches as mock me; I will not answer them any more with words; I will give over speaking to them, and will answer them by deeds, and that not of mercy, but of judgment. Now think on it in time, how terrible your condition is like to be, if God fhall fay to you, I have fpoken to thefe wretches, and laid their fin before them by my fervants; but their hearts, have been fo taken up with their idols, that they have not heeded them: I will therefore fpeak to them by terrible deeds, I will fet my face against them, and will make them 4 fign and a proverb; and I will cut them off from the midst of my people, and ye shall know that I am the Lord, as it follows in the 8 verfe of that forecited chapter, leave you to think upon thefe things, and proceed

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(2.) To fpeak to fuch as therefore are not cons vinced, becaufe they did not believe what they have heard upon this head. I make no doubt that there are not a few fuch here; nay, I may fay, that all who are not convinced and awakened to a ferious confideration of their state and condition owe their fecurity and unconcernednefs to this wo ful unbelief, that is a fin pregnant with all other fins, that alone has in it whatever is hateful to God, or deftructive to the foul of man. To fuck as bare heard but do not believe, wey, NS