heaven againft fin. They will ferve as loud warnings to all worlds, to deter them from that deftructive evil. And thus they will anfwer a valuable, and even a benevolent end in the creation, and contribute to the public good; as the execution of criminals tend to guard the laws from violation, and fo promote the good of fociety. They will ferve, as my text informs you, "to fhew the wrath and make known the power" of God: Their deftruction will illuftriously display the glory of thefe perfecti ons. The flames of hell will burn dreadfully bright, to reflect a terrible and yet amiable fplendor upon them: And it is for this terrible but righteous end, among others, that God now endures them with fo much long-fuffering; that his perfections and the honour of his government may be the more illustrioufly difplayed in the execution of deferved punifhment upon them.

But the veffels of mercy are intended and prepared for nobler ufes. On them God intends to dif play the glory, the riches of the glory of his more gentle attributes, his love and grace. With them he intends to furnifh out the many manfions of his heavenly houfe. By them he intends to let all worlds fee what glorious veffels he can form, not only of the duft, but of the fhattered and polluted fragments of human nature, broken and polluted by the fall of Adam, and by their own.

The view in which I now confider my text, leads me to confine myself to this practical inquiry,

Wherein does preparation for glory, and wherein does fitnefs for deftruction confift?

Some of you, perhaps, when you heard the text, were ftruck with horror, and ready to blefs yourfelves at the found: For "now, you thought within yourselves, we fhall have a fermon upon the horrible doctrine of predeftination." But fee I propofe to confider the text intirely in a practical view; and therefore your fears are imaginary. Nor do I

you

chufe

i

chufe to confider it in this view, to let you fee with what dexterity I can evade the genuine fenfe of it, and make a mental refervation of a doctrine fo unpopular; but because, whatever elfe the text in its connection may mean, it does naturally lead me to this grand inquiry; and because my present defign is to fpeak to your hearts, about an affair which you are all concerned and capable to know, and not to perplex your minds with a controverfy, of which not many of you are competent judges. I muft own, indeed, I am not altogether a fceptic in that doctrine. It is not an entire blank in my creed; nor am I at all afhamed to declare my fentiments in a proper time and place. At prefent I fhall only tell you, that I cannot be perfuaded God has made fuch a world as this, without firft drawing the plan of it in his own omnifcient mind. I cannot think He would produce fuch a numerous race of reafonable and immortal creatures, without firft determining what to do with them. I cannot think the events of time, or the judicial process of the last day, will furnish Him with any new intelligence to enable Him to determine the final ftates of men more juftly than He could from eternity.-But away with all controverfial thoughts at prefent; and let an object of more importance engrofs all your attention: For you will find, I am not now going to plunge and drown you in this unfathomable depth. This you may be fure of, that, if you have not made yourfelves fit for deftruction, and fit for nothing elfe, by your own wilful fin, you fhall never be doomed to it by virtue of any decree of God. And, on the other hand, you may be equally fure, that he never decreed to admit you into heaven, unless you are prepared for it; nor to exclude you, if you are fo. I now proceed to the grand inquiry,

Wherein does preparation for glory, and wherein does fitnefs for deftruction confift? This will naturally lead me to inquire into your habitual disposi

tions and behaviour: For it is by comparing these to the nature and quality of the regions of heaven and hell, that you can discover which you are fit for. If your temper and difpofitions be heavenly and di vine, you may be fure that you fhall be admitted into those bleffed manfions. But if, on the other hand, your temper and difpofitions be infernal and diabolical; if they be fuch as are prevalent and univerfal in hell, you may be equally fure, that, unless they are changed, you will be doomed for ever to that dismal region. This muft, methinks, appear quite evident to common fenfe. The righteous Judge of all the earth will always invariably do that which is fit. If you are fit for the enjoyments and fervices of heaven, you need not fear but he will admit you; never yet has fuch a foul been excluded. And what can you reasonably defire more? Would you have heaven encumbered with fuch as could not be happy, even in the very regions of happiness, for want of a proper relish for the enjoyments there? But, if you are fit only for the infernal prifon, is there not a propriety, as well as juftice, in your be ng confined there? The fame propriety, as that madmen fhould be shut up in bedlam, or notorious criminals in a dungeon. Therefore,

1. Are you fit for heaven? Do you love and delight in God-in a God of infinite purity? If not, the enjoyment of his prefence, and the beatific vifion of his face, which is the principal ingredient of heavenly happiness, could afford no happiness to you. Do you delight in the fervice of God, in contemplating his glories, in celebrating his praises, and in the humble forms of worfhip in his church on earth? Do thefe afford you the moft exalted pleafure? If not, heaven is no place for you; for thefe are the eternal exercifes there: And to fuch of you as have no pleasure in them, the heavenly ftate would be an eternal drudgery. Do you delight in holinefs? If not, what would you do in the region of holiness?

Alas!

Alas! to you it would be an unnatural element. Are the faints, those whom the world perhaps calls fo with a fneer, because they make it their great bufinefs to be holy in all manner of conversation, are these your favourite companions? Is their fociety peculiarly delightful to you? And are they the more agreeable to you, by how much the more holy they are? If not, what would you do among the holy inhabitants of heaven? With what pleasure could you mingle in fociety with them, while your temper and theirs are fo directly contrary? Are your hearts full of ardent love and benevolence to mankind? If not, how would you breathe in the pure element of perfect love?-Without fuch difpofitions as thefe, you are no more fit for heaven than a fick man for a feast, a fwine for a palace, or a blind man to view the fplendors of the fun; and, therefore, you may be certain, that God, who will never do any thing that is unfit, will not admit you there, while you continue fuch as you now are.

You must alfo confider, that if you are fit for those pure and bleffed regions, it is God that has made you fo, by his own almighty power; He that hath wrought you for this felf-fame thing is God, 2 Cor. v. 5. and you have been deeply fenfible that the work was indeed his, was divine and godlike, and beyond the utmost efforts of your degenerate nature. You are

able indeed to fit yourselves for deftruction; that you can eafily do; and that, I am afraid, fome of you have effectually done already. But it is God' alone that can make you fit for the inheritance of the faints in light. And have you ever been the fubjects of this divine operation? Have you ever felt the power of almighty grace opening your blinded minds -breaking your ftony hearts, and melting them into ficods of ingenuous forrow, under the warm beams of a Saviour's love, like fnow before the fun? Have you ever felt it fubduing your favourite fins, and making them more bitter to you than death, and implanting

implanting and cherishing every grace and virtue in your fouls? Has the Holy Spirit turned the prevailing bent of your fouls towards holiness, fo that you efteem it the principal ornament of your nature, and make it the object of your eager defires, and most vigorous purfuit? Does holiness appear to you amiable in itself, and not only a pre-requifite to your happinefs, but the principal ingredient of it? And is heaven itself the more endeared to you by this confideration, that it is the region of pure, unmingled holinefs, that no unclean thing can enter there, and that even the way that leads to it is holy? If these things are not matters of experience with you, you may be fure you are not afore prepared for glory.

Let us now take a view of the oppofite difpofitions and we fhall make the fame difcovery :-Suppose your hearts are fet upon the enjoyments of this life, as your principal happiness; fuppofe you are chiefly folicitous and laborious to heap up riches, or to indulge your fenfual lufts and appetites; fuppofing this be the ruling paffion of your fouls, are you fit for heaven? In heaven there are none of these low and fordid enjoyments: And what pleasure would you have there, who have a tafte only for these things? You are indeed fit to dig in the earth, like moles, and fteal the ferpent's food: You are fit to fcrape up riches; fit to wallow in the mire of guilty and debauched pleasures; fit to live in this world, could you always make your refidence in it: This grofs, impure, earthly element fuits your depraved conftitutions. But can you once imagine you are fit for heaven; fit to breathe in that pure falubrious air; fit to fhare in those refined and fpiritual enjoyments; fit to join in the exalted employments of feraphs, while this is your prevailing temper? Surely, no. And what then will become of you? The impure and grofs region of this world, fo agreeable to you, will not always laft, and you will not probably live in it as long as it does laft; but death, ere long, will tear

you