you, stand off, I will have nothing to do with such as you: Pray not to me, for I will not hear you: If you repent never so much, and cry for mercy never so much, I will not regard you. If GOD had left you nothing to trust to but desperation, then you had had. a fair excuse. You might have said, To what end should I repent and turn, when it will do no good. But this was not your case. You might have had Christ to be your Lord and Saviour, as well as others, and you would not; because you felt not yourselves sick enough for the Physician, and because you could not spare your disease: In your hearts you said as those rebels, Luke xix. 14. We will not have this man to reign over us. Christ would have gathered you under the wings of his salvation and you would not, Matt. xxiii. 37. What desires of your welfare did the Lord express in his holy word? With what compassion did he stand over you, and say, 'O that my people had hearkened unto me, and that they had walked in my ways! Psal. lxxxi. 13. O that there were such a heart in this people, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children for ever! Deut. v. 20. 'O that they were wise, that they understood this! and that they would consider there latter end!' Deut. xxxii. 29. He would have been your GOD, and done all for you that your souls could well desire; but you loved the world and your flesh above him, and therefore you' would not hearken to him, though you complimented with him, and gave him high titles, yet when it came to

the closing, you would have none of him, Ps. Ixxxi. 11, 12. No marvel then, if he gave you up to your own lusts, and you walked in your own counsels. He condescends to reason, and pleads the case with you, and asks you, "What is there in me or my service, that you should be so much against me! What harm have I done thee, sinner! Have I deserved this unkind dealing at thy hand? Many mercies have I shewed thee; for which of them dost thou thus despise me? Is it I, or is it Satan that is thy enemy? Is it I, or is it thy carnal self, that would undo thee? Is it an holy life, or a life of sin, that thou hast cause to fly from? if thou be undone, thou procurest this to thyself, by forsaking me the Lord that would have saved,' Jer. ii. 17. 'Doth not thy own wickedness correct thee, and thy sin reprove tace, that thou mayest see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken me?' Jer. ii. 5, 6. He calleth out as it were to the brutes, to hear the controversy he hath against you, Micah ii, 3, 4, 5, 'Hear, Oye mountains the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth; for the Lord hath a controtroversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me, for I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee, &c. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken it. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider !

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Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers,' &c. Isaiah i. 2, 3, 4. 'Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that bought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee? Deut. xxxii. 6. When he saw that you forsook him even for nothing, and turned away from your Lord and life, to hunt after the chaff and feathers of the world, he told you of your folly, and called you to a more profitable employment, Isaiah Iv. 1, 2, 3. 'Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found: call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our GOD, for he will abundantly pardon,' ver. 6, 7, and so Isaiah i. 16, 17, 18. And when you would not hear, what complaints have you put him to, charging it on you as your wilfulness and stubbornness? Jor.

. 12, 13. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid-For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”—Many a time hath Christ proclaimed that free invitation to you, Rev. xxii, 17. 'Let

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inm that is athirst come,and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. But you put him to complain after all his offers: They will not come to me that they may have life, John v. 40. He hath invited you to feast with him in the kingdom of his grace, and you have had excuses from your grounds, and your cattle, and your worldly business, and when you would not come, you have said you could not; and provoked him to resolve that you should never taste of his supper, Luke xiv. 15, 24. And who is it owing to now but yourselves? and what can you say is the chief cause of your damnation, but your own wills? You would be damned.' whole case is laid open by Christ himself, Prov. i. from the 20th to the end, 'Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets, she crieth in the chief place of concourse: How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn ye at my reproof; behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you, and I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called and ye refused, I have stretched out my hands, and no man regarded, but ye have set at nought all my counsels, and would none of my reproofs; I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirl. wind. When distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find. For that they hated knowledge, and did not chuse the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel;

they despised all my reproof: Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth to me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from the fear of evil.'--I thought . best to recite the whole text at large to you, because it doth so fully shew the cause of the destruction of the wicked. It is not because GOD would not teach them, but because they would not learn. It is not because GOD would not call them, but because they would not turn at his reproof. Their wilfulness is their undoing.

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From what hath been said you may further learn these following things.

1. From hence you may see, not only what blasphemy and impiety it is, to lay the blame of men's destruction upon GOD; but also how unfit these wicked wretches are to bring in such a charge against their Maker. They cry out upon GOD, and say, He gives them not grace, and his threatenings are severe, and GOD forbid that all should be damned that be not converted and sanctified: and they think it hard measure that a short sin should have an endless suffering; and if they be damned they say they cannot help it; when in the mean time they are busy about their own destruction, even cutting the throat of their own souls, and will not be persuaded to hold their own hands.