scenes, in which we are all concerned,-the day of judgment; that glorious, awful day, which will complete the happiness of the just, and the destruction of the wicked. This day "will come as a thief in the night; for when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." It seems, then, wicked men will be eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, as in the days of Lot, when the trump of God shall announce the coming of the Judge of quick and dead; when all the dead, and all the living, must stand before him. What a sight! "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." Then they who, having been often reproved, have hardened their necks, shall suddenly be destroyed indeed, and that without remedy. But have we not long warning? Yes; all of us so long, that too many wicked men allow themselves in scoffing, walking after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? for, since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." But, notwithstanding their scoffs, vengeance, though slow, is sure; and when it does come, it will come suddenly. In the mean time, God exercises great long-suffering, not willing that

any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But come it will. "The day of

the Lord will come, as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up." (2 Pet. iii.)

O that we might dwell upon this scene, my brethren! view it as real, as all-important, as that to which we all are hastening; and ask, What security have we against the sudden destruction then to overtake the wicked? Know you, that all will then be found wicked who reject the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, preached among you? Understand you this Gospel? Has it yet found a place in your hearts? Ah me, my people! I fear indeed it is far otherwise with too, too many of you. I wish indeed the number of you that have received the Gospel might be found large; but I fear it is exceedingly small. You have been often reproved, and have hardened your necks. If it be not so, if Christ Jesus be indeed believed on, and generally loved and regarded, in this town, how comes it that you bring forth no Christian fruit? Look at the practice of Christians as set forth in the New Testament. Is this your practice? is it not quite contrary? Who among you have yet introduced family prayer into your households? Who exhort their children and servants to fear God? Who of you have

any pleasure in conversing with one another concerning Jesus Christ and his salvation? What experience have you had of it in your souls? Mere moral civility, which even heathens may attain to, seems the utmost indeed aim at. Too many, you I fear, have not even this; but if you had this, it will save no man. Long and loudly have I preached among you, "Ye must be born again :" and how many have never yet in serious thought weighed what the new birth is! nay, are quite at ease, though they cannot give one scriptural mark that this change has passed upon them! And yet you have seen, or might see, living instances on whom this change has been wrought; what they were before conversion, and what they are now. One might think you should be stirred up to emulation. Ah! how dangerous the state of those who for some years have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ unmoved, unaffected; remaining just as they were before they heard a word of it! To be sermon-proof may be to them matter of boasting; but what so dreadful! Let us, however, behold the awful day. If God's word be true, and you be unconverted, it will then appear that I have spoken the truth of God, and you would not hear it. Whither will you then flee? How can you bear the face of the terrible Judge-once the bleeding Redeemer!

I mention these things, in hopes it may please God still to give the Spirit of repentance

Indeed,

among you whose hearts the Gospel hitherto has not reached. It is not too late. when you turn to God in self-condemnation, and are humbled to beg and long for the mercy of Jesus's Cross, you will be heard, and the kind Father of the returning prodigal will be your Father and your God.

Knowing, then, the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men. And let us mention some instances of condemnation at the last day. What will those persons say who have affected to despise the thoughts of Jesus's coming, and to treat it as a fable-who were prophesied of in Peter's Second Epistle-when suddenly they shall see Him come whom they have pierced, and looked on in a mean light, perhaps as a man only? When they shall see the glory of the Godhead upon him; when their own hearts, being laid open, shall shew that they stubbornly stifled their convictions, and sinned away the best means of grace, how will they look? Who will appear wise men then? No mercy now! but wrath unmixed, from the Lord of the earth, whose atoning blood they would not flee to when they might, though called and entreated over and over to flee to it as the only shelter from the wrath of God. viewed as a slight thing. Deists, Socinians, formalists, sanctified orthodoxy, are all

No: sin they Yes, mark it: and men of unof one religion :

they have slight views of sin. If it was not so, if sin appeared to them as it should do, as

rebellion against Infinite Goodness and Greatness, they would groan for a justification all by faith, since their works are all condemned; they would long for the new birth unto righteousness, since their natural state would appear to them evil altogether.

And now recollect, I pray you, the points which I have constantly inculcated on your minds. I have told you all along the necessity of being justified by faith in Christ. You would not be obliged to him for all your justification; what, then, will you do, when at the judgment day he will treat you as despisers of the Gospel? I have cried aloud, Except ye be converted ye cannot enter into heaven; what will ye do who sneer at the very idea of conversion? What if the Judge come and see you unconverted? Will you not fear now, while fear may do you good? I have set forth the necessity of being renewed in practice, in order for persons to evidence conversion to God; and, therefore, that no whoremonger, no drunkard, no covetous person, no lover of this world, has the love of the Father in him, or will be owned by Jesus when he comes to judgment: Depart, ye cursed," will be the doom of them all.

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I see one great hindrance which prevents the conversion of many who are not without serious moments," the fear of man bringeth a snare" (Prov. xxix. 25), and in that snare they are taken. They see at times something of the