His coun

“ prepared inftruments of death, and made all

things ready,” Psalm vii 12. 13. sels are against thee, to contrive thy destruction, Jer. xviii. 11. He laughs to see how thou wilt be taken and ensnared in the evil day, Palm xxxvii. 13. “ The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth

that the day is coming.” He sees how thou wilt come down mightily in a moment; how thou wilt wring thy hands, tear thy hair, eat thy flesh, and gnash thy teeth for anguish and astonishment of heart, when thou seeft thou art fallen remedilessly into the pit of destruction.

Fifthly, “'The truth of God is sworn against “ thee,” Psal. xcv. 11. If he be true and faithful, thou must perish if thou goeft on, Luke xiii. 3. Unless he be false to his word, thou must die, except thou repent, Ezek. xxxiii. 11. " If we be“ Jieve not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny « himself,” 2 Tim. ii. 13. that is, he is faithful to his threatenings as well as promises, and will thew his faithfulness in our confufion, if we believe not. God hath told thee, as plain as it can be spoken, that w if he wash thee not, thou haft no

part in him," John xiii. 8.; that “ if thou livelt sc after the flesh thou shalt die,” Rom. viii. 13.; that « except thou be converted thou shalt in no “ wise enter into the kingdom of heaven," Mart. xviii. 3.; and he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. Beloved as the iinmutable faithfulness of God in his promise and oath affords believers Itrong consolation, Heb. vi. 18. so they are to unbelievers for strong confternation and confusion. O linner, tell me, what shift dost thou make to think of all the thre.tenings of God's word, that stand upon record against thee? Doft thou believe

they are truth or not? If not, thou art a wretched infidel, and not a Christian; and therefore give over the nanie and hopes of a Christian. But if thou doft believe them, O heart of steel that thou haft, that canst walk up and down in quiet, when the truth and faithfulness of God is engaged to destroy thee! So that if the Almighty can do it, thou shalt surely perish and be damned. Why, man! the whole book of God doth testify against thee, while thou remainest unsanétified : It condemns thee in every leaf, and is to thee like Ezekiel's roll, " written within and without with " lamentation, and mourning, and wo," Ezck. ii. 10.; and all this Thall surely come upon thee, and overtake thee (Deut. xxviii. 15.) except thou repent : “ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but “ one jot or title of this word shall never pass

away,” Matt. y. 18. Now

put all this together, and tell me if the case of the Unconverted be not deplorably miserable: As we read of some persons ihat had bound themselves in an oath, and in a curse, to kill Paul; so thou must know, O fioner, to thy error, that all the attributes of the infinite God are bound in an oath to destroy thee, Hib. iii. 18. O man! What wilt thou do? Whither wilt thou flee? If God's omnisciency can find thee, thou shalt not escape : If the true and faithful God will save his oath, perith thou muft, except thou believe and repent : If the Almighty hath power to torment thee, thou shalt be perfectly miserable in foul and body to all eternity, unless it be prevented by speedy conversion.

II. '“ The whole creation of God is againft “ thee." - The whole creation (faith Paul) groan.

1

a

“ eth and travaileth in pain,” Rom. viii. 22. But what is it the creation groaneth under ? Why, the fearful abuse that it is subject to, in serving the lust of unsanctified men. And what is it that the creation groaneth for? Why, for freedom and liberty from this abuse ; for the « creature is very “ unwillingly subject to this bondage,” Rom. viii. 19,

-21. If the unreasonable and inanimate creatures had speech and reason, they would cry out under it as a bondage unsufferable to be abused by the ungodly, contrary to their natures and the ends that the great Creatcr made them for. While the Lord of hosts is against thee, be sure the host of the Lord is agaiuft thee, and all the creatures as it were up in arms, till upon a man's conversion the controversy being taken up between God and him, he makes a convenant of peace with the crea, tures for him, Fol xxii. 213-24. Hof. ii. 18.-20.

III. “The roaring lion hath his full power upon (o thee,” i Pet. v. 8. Thou art fast in the paw of that lion that is greedy to devour; in the snare

; of the devil, led captive by him at his will, 2 Tim. ü. 26. This is the fpirit that worketh in the children of disobedience, Eph. ii. 2.; his drudges they are, and his luft they do. He is ruler of the darkness of this world, Eph. vi. 12. that is, of ignorant finners that live in darkness. You pity the

poor Indians that worship the devil for their god, but little think it is your own case. Why it is the common misery of all the unfànctified, that the devil is their god, 2 Cor. iv. 4. Not that they do intend to do him homage and worfhip, they will be ready to defy him, and him that should say so by them ; but all this while they serve him, and come and go at his beck, and live

.

under his government : “ His servants ye are to " whom you yield yourselves to obey,” Rom. vi. 16. Doubtless the liar intends not a service to Satan, but his own advantage; yet it is he that ftands in the corner unobserved, and putteth the things into his heart, Aets v. 3. John viii. 44. Questionless, Judas, when he fold his master for money, and the Chaldeans and Sabeans, when they plundered Job, intended not to do the devil á pleasure, but to satisfy their own covetous thirst; yet it was he that actuated them in their wickedness, Job xiii. 27. Job. i. 12. 15. 17. Men may be very slaves and drudges for the devil, and never know it; nay, they may please themselves in the thoughts of happy liberty, 2 Pet. ii. 19.

Art thou yet in ignorance, and not turned from darkness to light? Why, thou art under the power of Satan, Azs xvi. :8. Doft thou live in the ordinary and wilful practice of any known fin; know that thou art of the devil, 1 John iii. 8. Doft thoa live in ftrife, or 'envy, or malice? Verily he is thy father, John viii. 40, 41. Odreadful case! However Satan may provide his flaves with divers pleafures, Tatus iii. 3.; yet it is but to draw them into endless perdition. The serpent comes with the apple in his mouth, O! but (with Eve) thou seeft not the deadly sting in his tail. He that is now thy tempter, will one day be thy tormentor. O, that I could but give thee to see how black'a mafter thou serveft, how filthy a drudgery thou doft, how merciless-a tyrant thou gratifeft, all whose pleasure is to set thee on works to make thy perdition and damnation sure, and to hear the furnace hotter and hotter, in which thou must burn for millions and millions of ages.

i Pet.

IV. “ The guilt of all thy sins lies like a moun, “ tain upon thee.” Poor foul! thou feelest it not, but 'this is that which seals thy misery upon thee. While unconverted none of thy fins can be blotted cut, A&ts iii. 19.; they are all upon the score against thee. Regeneration and remission are never separated; the unsanctified are unquestionably unjuftified and unpardoned, I Cor. vi. II. i. 2. Heb. ix. 4. Beloved, it is a fearful thing to be in debt, but above all'in God's debt; for there is no arrest so formidable as his, no prison so horrible as his. Look upon an enlightened sinner, who feels the weight of his own guilt, О how frightful are his looks, how fearful are his com, plaints ! his comforts are turned into wormwood, and his moisture into drought, and his sleep is departed from his eyes.

How light soever you may make of it now, you will one day find the guilt of unpardoned sin to be a heavy burden : It is a mill-stone, “ whoever “ falleth upon it shall be broken; but upon whom“ soever it shall fall, it shall grind him to pow“ der,” Matt. xxi. 44. What work did it make with our blessed Saviour! It pressed the very blood out of his veins, and broke all his bones : And if it did this in the green tree, what will it do in the

O think of thy case in time ! Canst thou think of that threat without trembling, “ Ye shall die “ in your fins?” John vii. 24. o better were it for thee to die in a gaol, in a ditch, in a dungeon, than to die in thy sins. If death, as it will take away all thy other comforts, would take away thy fins too, it were some mitigation; but thy firs will follow thee when thy friends leave thee, and all

dry?