changes of mifery, if all collected together, and appointed to befall thy wretched self in one moment of time, would not furnish thee with an adequate idea of that future and everlasting ruin, in which (if thy fpeedy repentance prevent not) thou must, ere long, lift up thy ghaftly eyes, begging in vain for a drop of water to cool thy tongue, because thou wilt be tormented in that flame.—And then, Eternity Eternity! ah, to spend a never-ending eternity in fuch anguifh! To be "ages and ages, and fucceeding ftill new ages," in that lake of fire, burning with brimftone, and after millions of ages are paft and gone, ftill to have the wretched confolation of knowing that thy mifery is no nearer an end, but all, as it were, to begin again! Ah! who can bear even to think of this! The very thought of fuch woe is enough to make one's blood run chill, and fill one's foul with horror! It is enough to make one's head giddy with fear, to look down that dark and fiery pit into which poor finners are perpetually plunging, blinded and infenfible, till the penetrating fire makes them feel, and the glaring flames of tophet open their eyes to behold themselves undone for ever!

4. Ah! flee, finner! flee from this wrath to come!--But ftay, and first falling down on thy knees, folemnly praife God, that it is not yet too late. Thank him from thy inmoft foul, that he has not yet cut thee down, and affigned thee thy portion in this place of torment! But oh! dare not, at the peril of thy foul, tempt his long-fuffering any longer!-Do not perfift to provoke that fierce and almighty wrath which thy fins have already kindled against thee, and which (had not the precious blood of Chritt been poured upon the flame) would long, ere now, have utterly confumed thy unholy foul, and made thee a monument of vengeance to others! Do not, I fay,

perfift

perfift to provoke an holy God, left Chrift should ceafe to interpofe, and fiery indignation fhould, in an instant, blaft all thy hopes, and devour thee as his adverfary! Confider how many years he has already interceded for thy barren foul, "Let him alone this year alfo." But alas! hitherto he has prevailed in vain for thy reprieve, for to this day thou hast borne no good fruit. Still, ftill thou art only a cumberer of the ground! And who knows whether he has not already put up the laft prayer for thee, and commiffioned me, by these terrors of the almighty, to dig for the last time about thy roots!If thou bear fruit, it is well, but if not, if even this earthquake of God's judgments do not shake thee; if after this Chrift come feeking fruit on thee and find none, what remains, but that he fay, "Let no fruit grow on thee from henceforth and for ever," or, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?"

5. Therefore, delay no longer, but while thy glafs of time is not yet run out; while the fun of divine Love is not yet gone down upon thee; while the long-fuffering of God the Father ftill waits to be gracious; while the compaffionate friend of finners ftill intercedes for thee; while the ever-bleffed Spirit is not yet provoked to bid thee an eternal adieu, but still continues to strive with thee;-in short, while there is yet any hope concerning thee among the bleffed inhabitants of Heaven, that thou mayeft, after all, be faved; or any fear concerning thee, among the fiends of Hell, left after all thou shouldest escape that place of torment; before the door of falvation is for ever shut against thee, before yawning Tophet has devoured, and closed its mouth upon thee.-Flee, finner; flee; at the peril of thy foul, flee !-But whence and whither fhalt thou flee ?-Flee from thy fins, thy lukewarmness, thy unbelief; flee to Calvary, to the Crofs, to Jefus, to the Fountain

G 6

opened

opened in his fide, to the Blood and Water which iffue thence," and arife, wash away thy fins, calling on the name of the Lord." Apply by faith his blood, his merits, to thy guilty confcience; receive by faith the fanctifying graecs of his Spirit. Embrace and ever hold fast the bleffed hope of everlasting life. Let thy converfation be as becometh the Gofpel of Chrift. Thus believe and fhew thy faith by thy works, and as fure as he is the refurrection and the life, fo fure, tho' thou wert dead, yet fhalt thou live, and living and believing in him, fhalt not die eternally.

SERMON

SERMON VIII.

ON

THE WISDOM OF WINNING SOULS,

PREACHED AT THE

CONFERENCE HELD AT LEEDS, JULY 1793,

And published at the defire of the PREACHERS.

1.TH

PROV. XI. 30.

He that winneth Souls is Wife."

HIS is a book of Proverbs, or of wife and weighty Sayings, many of which, altho' containing felf-evident truths, and fuch as only need to be known, that they may be approved, are nevertheless as furprizing as they are inftructive and important. Altho' fome of them might have been in ufe among the more wife and civilized parts of mankind for many generations, even from the time that men began to multiply upon the face of the earth, yet it is evident that most of them were first fpoken by Solomon. For God had given him, "Wifdom and understanding exceeding much, and largenefs of heart, even as the fand that is on the fea-fhore and his wifdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East, and all the wisdom of Egypt:" infomuch that "all the earth fought unto him to hear his wifdom; for his fame was in all nations."

nations. *" Now, it feems, he expreffed his wif dom chiefly in uttering Apophthegms or Proverbs; for, according to the facred hiftorian, he fpake three thoufand Proverbs: Thefe, fome have thought, were collected and committed to writing by his Servants who attended him and heard his wisdom. But thofe contained in this book, which are, I believe, not quite a thousand, and might probably be a felection from the reft, were undoubtedly written by Solomon himself, and that, at the motion and under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

2. Indeed they are worthy of him, the Spirit of Truth, of Wisdom, and of Grace, as their Author, and are all of the nature of the fountain from whence they flow; nor can we eafily drink of these pure and transparent ftreams, without being at once enlightened and refreshed. Thefe Proverbs of Solomon contain the water of life, as well as other parts of the facred Volume; and with one peculiar advantage; we need not dig deep to arrive at it. Their fenfe is, in general, obvious to the meanest capacity, and that at the first fight, and yet is not the lefs useful and important for being fo easily apprehended. Add to this, that they have a commanding influence over the mind and heart; and while they challenge the affent of the Understanding, fubdue the will, and win the affections. This perhaps may be intimated in the original term here tranflated Proverbs: For it is derived from a word that fignifies to rule, or have dominion.

3. The world, indeed, as a pious and judicious Writer obferves, is governed by Proverbs, " As faith the Proverb of the Ancients,t" or, in the language of the Vulgar, "As the old faying is," has much influence with most people. But there are

* Kings iv. 29, and x. 24 + Sam. xxxiv. 13.

Proverbs