of thyself, and be driven to Christ, and fly for refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before thee.

V. Thy raging lusts do miserably enslave thee.While unconverted, thou art a very servant to sin, it reigns over thee, and holds thee under its dominion, till thou art brought within the bonds of God's cove

nant.

What a woeful spectacle was the poor wretch that was possessed with the legion! Would it not have grieved thy heart to have seen him among the tombs cutting and wounding himself? This is thy case, such is thy work, every stroke is a thrust at thy heart. Conscience indeed is now asleep; but when death and judgment shall bring thee to thy senses, then wilt thou feel the raging smart and anguish of every wound.

VI. The furnace of eternal vengeance is heated ready for thee. Hell and destruction open their mouths upon thee, they gape for thee, they groan for thee, waiting as it were with a greedy eye, as thou standest upon the brink, when thou wilt drop in. If the wrath of men be as the roaring of a lion, more heavy than the sand, what is the wrath of the infinite God! If the burning furnace heated in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery rage, when he commanded it to be made yet seven times hotter, was so fierce as to burn up even those that drew near to it to throw the three children in, how hot is that burning oven of the Almighty's fury! Surely this is seventy times seven more fierce! What thinkest thou, O man, of being a faggot in hell to all eternity? Can thy heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the day that I shall deal with thee, saith the Lord of hosts? Canst thou abide the everlasting burnings? canst thou dwell with consuming fire? When thou shalt be as a glowing iron in hell, and thy whole body and soul shall be as perfectly possessed by God's burning vengeance as the fiery sparkling iron when heated in the fiercest forge! Thou canst not bear God's whip, how then wilt thou endure his scorpions? Thou art even crushed, and ready to wish thyself dead, under the weight of his finger, how then wilt thou bear the weight of his loins? How wilt

thou endure, when God shall pour out all his vials, and set himself against thee, to torment thee? When he shall make thy conscience the tunnel by which he will be pouring his burning wrath into thy soul for ever, and when he shall fill all thy pores as full of torment as they are now full of sin; when immortality shall be thy misery, and to die the death of a brute, and be swallowed in the gulph of annihilation, would be such a felicity, as a whole eternity of wishes and an ocean of tears shall never purchase? Now thou canst put off the evil day, and canst laugh and be merry, and forget the terror of the Lord; but how wilt thou hold out, or hold up, when God will cast thee into a bed of torments, and make thee to lie down in sorrow? When roarings and blasphemy shall be the only music, and the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, shall be thy only drink! When thou shalt draw in flames for thy breath, and the horrid stench of sulphur shall be thy only perfume! In a word, when the smoke of thy torment shall ascend for ever, and thou shalt have no rest night or day, no rest in thy conscience, no ease in thy bones, but thou shalt be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach, for evermore!

O sinner! stop and consider: if thou art a man, and not a senseless block, consider: bethink thyself where thou standeth; why, upon the very brink of this furnace. As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between thee and this. Thou knowest not, when thou liest down, but thou mayest be in before the morning; thou knowest not, when thou risest, but thou mayest drop in before night. Darest thou make light of this? Wilt thou go on in such a dreadful condition, as if nothing ailed thee? If thou puttest it off, and sayest, This doth not belong to thee, look again over the foregoing chapter, and tell me the truth: are none of these black marks found upon thee? Do not blind thine eyes, do not deceive thyself; see thy misery while thou mayest prevent it: think what

it is to be a vile cast-out, a damned reprobate, a vessel of wrath, into which the Lord will be pouring out his tormenting fury while he hath a being.

Divine wrath is a fierce (Deut. xxxii. 22.) devouring (Isa. xxxiii. 14.) everlasting (Matt. xxv. 41.) unquenchable fire, (Matt. iii. 12.) and thy soul and body must be the fuel upon which it must be feeding for ever, unless thou consider thy ways, and speedily turn to the Lord by a sound conversion.

And is this true indeed? Is this thy misery? Yea, it is as true as God is. Better open thine eyes, and see it now, while thou mayest remedy it; than blind and harden thyself, till (to thy eternal sorrow) thou shalt feel what thou wouldst not believe: and if it be true, what dost thou mean, to loiter and linger in such a case as this!

Alas for thee, poor man! how effectually hath sin undone thee, and deprived thee even of thy reason, to look after thine own everlasting good! O miserable caitiff! what stupidity hath surprised thee! O let me knock up and awake this sleeper. Who dwells within the walls of this flesh? Is there ever a soul here, a rational, understanding soul? Or art thou only a walking ghost, a senseless lump? Art thou a reasonable soul, and yet so far brutified, as to forget thyself immortal, and to think thyself to be as the beasts that perish? O unhappy soul, that wast the glory of man, the mate of angels, and the image of God! that wast God's representative in the world, and hast the supremacy amongst the creatures, and the dominion over thy Maker's works! art thou now become a slave to sense, a servant to so base an idol as thy belly, for no higher felicity than to heap together a little refined earth, no more suitable to thy spiritual, immortal nature, than the dirt and sticks? O why dost thou not bethink thee, where thou shalt be for ever? Death is at hand, the judge is even at the door. Yet a little while, and time shall be no longer. And wilt thou run the hazard of continuing in such a state, in which if thou be overtaken, thou art irrecoverably miserable?

Come then, arise, and attend thy nearest concernments: tell me whither art thou going? What! wilt thou live in such a course, wherein every act is a step to perdition; and thou dost not know but the next night thou mayest make thy bed in hell? O! if thou hast a spark of reason, consider and turn, and hearken to thy friend, who would show thee thy present misery, that thou mightest escape, and be eternally happy.

Hear what the Lord saith: Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? Will ye not tremble at my presence? Jer. v. 22. O sinners! do you inake light of the wrath to come? I am sure there is a time coming, when you will not make light of it. Why, the very devils believe and tremble. What! are you more hardened than they? Will you run upon the edge of the rock? Will you play at the hole of the asp? Will you put your hand upon the cockatrice-den? Will you dance upon the fire till you are burnt? Or dally with devouring wrath, as if you were at a point of indifference whether you did escape or endure it? There is nothing so distracted as the wilful sinner, that goeth on in his unconverted state, as if nothing ailed him. Is it wisdom to dally with the second death, or to venture into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, as if thou wert but going to wash thee, or to swim for thy recreation? Wilt thou, as it were, jump into eternal flames, as the children through the bonfire? What shall I say? I can find out no expression, no comparison, whereby to set forth the dreadful distraction of that soul that will go on in sin.

Awake, awake, O sinner! arise and take thy flight: there is but one door that thou mayest flee by, and that is the strait door of conversion. Unless thou turn unfeignedly from all thy sins, and come unto Jesus Christ, and take him for the Lord thy righteousness, and walk in him in holiness and newness of life,-as the Lord liveth, it is not more certain that thou art now out of hell, than that thou shalt without fail be in it but a few days or nights hence. O set thy heart to think of thy case. Is not thine everlasting misery or

welfare that which doth deserve a little consideration. Look again over the miseries of the unconverted. If the Lord hath not spoken by me, regard me not; but if it be the very word of God, that all this misery lies upon thee, what a case art thou in! Is it for one that hath his senses to live in such a condition, and not to make all possible expedition for preventing his utter ruin? O man! who hath bewitched thee, that in the matters of this present life thou shouldst be wise enough to forecast thy business, and foresee thy danger; but in matters of everlasting consequence should be careless, as if they little concerned thee? Why is it nothing to thee to have all the attributes of God engaged against thee? Canst thou do well without his favour? Canst thou escape his hands, or endure his vengeance? Dost thou hear the creation groaning under thee, and hell groaning for thee, and yet think thy case good enough? Art thou in the paw of the lion, under the power of corruption, in the dark noisome prison, working out thy own damnation, and is not this worth considering? Dost thou laugh at hell and destruction, or canst thou drink the envenomed cup of the Almighty's fury, as if it were but a common potion?

Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Art thou such a Leviathan, as that the scales of thy pride should keep thee from thy Maker's coming at thee? Wilt thou esteem his arrows as straw, and the instruments of death as rotten wood? Art thou the chief of all the children of pride, even that thou shouldst count his darts as stubble, and laugh at the shaking of his spear? Art thou made without fear, and contemnest his barbed irons? Art thou like the horse that paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength? Dost thou mock at fear, and art not affrighted, neither turnest back from God's sword, when his quiver rattleth against thee, the glittering spear and the shield? Well, if the threats of the word will not awaken thee, I am sure death and judgment will. O what wilt thou do, when the Lord cometh forth against thee, and in his