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your fin and mifery, which has been so 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 small moment both to you and us, we shall here difcourfe a little of these 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 lofe all our pains in holding forth Christ and the way of falvation by him. Perfons who are not convinced of fin, will, past all peradventure, make light of Chrift, and refufe him.

(1.) Then, I fhall fpeak 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, whofe 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 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 master or your ruler take it, should deal thus by him? If when he were speaking to you, either himfelf or by his fervants, ye were

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turning away your ear from him; would he not 'refent it highly? And has God any reafon to bear with an indignity at your hand, that your mafter would not fuffer? (3.) Ye have reason 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 lost an opportunity; and none can affure you that ever ye fhall have the like again... God may give over ftriving with you, and never more attempt your conviction: and wo to you when he departs from you. (5.) I fay, ye have flighted God's command, which enjoins you to take, heed how ye hear, and what ye hear, 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 himself of thefe who defpife his authority in them. And therefore I fay, (6.) If ye refuse 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 difquietment. He will fpeak to you in wrath and vex you in his hot difpleasure. A remarkable fcripture to this purpose we have, Ezek. xiv. 7. For every one of the houfe of Ifrael, or of the stranger that fojourneth in Ifrael, which feparateth himself from me, and fets up his idols in his heart, and putteth the Stumbling-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:

but

but they were but mocking God, as ye have done, and did not regard what was faid 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 firft language run thus, Ithe Lord, it fhall be anfwered to him in me. I will not let any anfwer 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 fpeaking 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 spoken to these 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 speak to them by terrible deeds, I will fet my face against them, and will make them a fign and a proverb; and I will cut them off from the midft of my people, and ye shall know that I am the Lord, as it follows in the 8 verfe of that forecited chapter. I leave you to think upon these things, and proceed

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(2.) To fpeak to fuch as therefore are not convinced, because 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 ftate and condition, owe their fecurity and unconcernedness to this woful 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. as have heard but do not believe, we say,

To fuch

(1.) Ye

have not refused our teftimony, but the teftimo

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of God, who cannot lie: and he that believ eth not the record of God, hath made him a liar; than which none can charge a greater impiety upon the holy God, who values himself upon this, that he cannot lie, which is peculiar to God only; for however there be of the creatures that do not lie, yet of none of them can it be faid, that they cannot lie; this is God's fole prerogative. (2.) Ye have shut your eyes upon clear light. Your fin and mifery have been fet before you in the cleareft light, the light of God's word. The matter has not been minced, but ye have been plainly and freely dealt with upon this head: therefore ye need to look well to yourselves, that God ftrike you not judicially blind. This he is frequently wont to do to thofe who refift clear light; he leaves them to Satan, the God of this world, to blind their eyes, and gives them up to ftrong delufions to believe lies, that they may all be damned that believe not. (3.) We did call in heaven and hell, the creator and the whole creation, as witnesses of that certain and fad truth, that man has finned and come fhort of the glory of God. I know not one witness more but fenfe, and fince no lefs is like to do, take care that fenfe of mifery do not convince you of its truth. Hell will make you, even the most incredulous of you, believe, and tremble too, as the devils and damned do.

(3.) I come now to discourse those who therefore are not convinced of fin, or induced to lay falvation to heart, notwithstanding the pains taken on them, because they have defended themselves against the force of the truths propofed, by fome fhifts, which upon occafion they ufe for quieting or keeping quiet their confciences. Of this fort I

fear

fear there are many, too many here prefent; and therefore I fhall deal more particularly and closely with fuch. We have laid before you all your fin and misery; but few are yet awakened; few say with the jaylor in the text, What must I do to be faved? Whence is it fo? Has not fin been laid open to your view? Has not the fad but certain truth, That all have finned and come fhort of the glory of God, been plainly demonftrate from many inconteftable evidences? Nay more, has not the particular concernment of every one of us in this truth, been plainly unfolded? Yes, no doubt: but whence is it then, that the most part are so secure? that there is fo little fear of hell, wrath and damnation amongst us? Are there none here who have reafon to fear it? No doubt, there are many,、 too many fuch amongst us: but here it lies; when the truth is pressed home upon the conscience, we have a strange way of putting divine truths away from us. Now, I fhall lay open the nakedness of these fences, behind which most of us fcreen ourfelves from convictions.

1. When fin and mifery are difcovered, fome there are amongst the hearers of the gospel, who take with the charge. If we fay to them, as Nathan did to David, in the application of the parable, Thou art the man, thou art the woman that has finned, that art in danger of the eternal wrath of God: O then, anfwers the finner, it is very true what ye tell, I have finned; and God be merciful to us, we are all finners; I hope God will be merciful to me. And there the wound is fkinned over, as foon as made, and the perfon is heal. This is the refuge to which many of you betake of-you yourselves: but we shall purfue you to the horns of God's altar, and fetch you down thence.

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