cries out with anguish, he is so cruel that he will not stay his hand, but goes on to thrust it in further, till he comes to the core of the wound. Such a compassionate physician, who as soon as his patient began to flinch, should withdraw his hand, and go about immediately to apply a plaster, to skin over the wound, and leave the core untouched, would be one that would heal the hurt slightly, crying Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

Indeed something else besides terror is to be preached to them, whose consciences are awakened. The gospel is to be preached to them: they are to be told that there is a Savior provided, that is excellent and glorious, who has shed his precious blood for sinners, and is every way sufficient to save them, that stands ready to receive them, if they will heartily embrace him; for this is also the truth, as well as that they now are in an infinitely dreadful condition: this is the word of God. Sinners at the same time that they are told how miserable their case is, should be earnestly invited to come and accept of a Savior, and yield their hearts unto him, with all the winning, encouraging arguments, for them so to do, that the gospel affords: but this is to induce them to escape from the misery of the condition that they are now in but not to make them think their present condition less miserable than it is, or at all to abate their uneasiness and distress, while they are in it: that would be the way to quiet them, and fasten them in it, and not to excite them to fly from it. Comfort, in one sense, is to be held forth, to sinners under awakenings of conscience, i. e. comfort is to be offered to them in Christ, on condition of their flying from their present miserable state, to him: but comfort is not to be administered to them, in their present state, as any thing that they. have now any title to, or while out of Christ. No comfort is to be administered to them; from any thing in them, any of their qualifications, prayers, or other performances, past, present, or future; but ministers should, in such cases, strive to their utmost to take all such comforts from them, though it

greatly increases their terror. A person that sees himself ready to sink into hell, is ready to strive, some way or other, to lay God under some obligation to him; but he is to be beat off from every thing of that nature, though it greatly increases his terror to see himself wholly destitute, on every side, of any refuge, or any thing of his own to lay hold of; as a man that sees himself in danger of drowning, is in terror, and endeavors to catch hold on every twig within his reach, and he that pulls away those twigs from him, increases his terror; yet if they are insufficient to save him, and by being in his way, prevent his looking to that which will save him, to pull them away is necessary to save his life.

If sinners are in any distress, from any error that they embrace, or mistake they are under, that is to be removed: for instance, if they are in terror from an apprehension that they have committed the unpardonable sin, or that those things have happened to them that are certain signs of reprobation, or any other delusion, such terrors have no tendency to do them any good; for these terrors are from temptation, and not from conviction: but that terror which arises from conviction, or a sight of truth, is to be increased; for those that are most awakened, have great remaining stupidity, they have a sense of but little of that which is; and it is from remaining blindness and darkness, that they see no more; and that remaining blindness is a disease, that we ought to endeavor to remove. I am not afraid to tell sinners, that are most sensible of their misery, that their case is indeed as miserable as they think it to be, and a thousand times more so ; for this is the truth. Some may be ready to say that though it be the truth, yet the truth is not to be spoken at all times, and seems not to be seasonable then: but it seems to me, such truth is never more seasonable than at such a time, when Christ is beginning to open the eyes of conscience. Ministers ought to act as co-workers with him; to take that opportunity, and to the utmost to improve that advantage, and strike while the iron is hot, and when the light has be

gun to shine, then to remove all obstacles, and use all proper means, that it may come in more fully, and the work be done thoroughly then. And experience abundantly shows, that to take this course, is not of a hurtful tendency, but very much the contrary: I have seen, in very many instances, the happy effects of it, and oftentimes a very speedy happy issue, and never knew any ill consequence, in case of real conviction, and when distress has been only from thence.

I know of but one case, wherein the truth ought to be withheld from sinners in distress of conscience, and that is the case of melancholy and it is not to be withheld from then then, because the truth tends to do them hurt, but because if we speak the truth to them, sometimes they will be deceived, and led into error by it, through that strange disposition there is in them, to take things wrong. So that that which, as it is spoken, is truth; as it is heard and received, and applied by them, is falsehood; as it will be, unless the truth be spoken with abundance of caution and prudence, and consideration of their disposition and circumstances. But the most awful truths of God's word ought not to be withheld from public congregations, because it may happen that some such melancholic persons may be in it; any more than the Bible is to be withheld from the Christian world, because it is manifest that there are a great many melancholic persons in Christendom, that exceedingly abuse the awful things contained in the scripture, to their own wounding. Nor do I think that to be of weight, which is made use of by some, as a great and dreadful objection against the terrifying preaching that has of late been in New England, viz. that there have been some instances of melancholic persons that have so abused it, that the issue has been the murder of themselves. The objection from hence is no stronger against awakening preaching, than it is against the Bible itself. There are hundreds, and probably thousands of instances, might be produced, of persons that have murdered themselves, under religious melancholy: these murders probably

never would have been, if it had not been for the Bible, or if the world had remained in a state of heathenish darkness. The Bible has not only been the occasion of these sad effects, but of thousands, and I suppose millions, of other cruel murders, that have been committed, in the persecutions that have been raised, that never would have been, if it had not been for the Bible. Many whole countries have been, as it were, deluged with innocent blood, which would not have been, if the gospel never had been preached in the world. It is not a good objection against any kind of preaching, that some men abuse it greatly to their hurt. It has been acknowledged by all divines, as a thing common in all ages, and all Christian countries, that a very great part of those that sit under the gospel, do so abuse it, that it only proves an occasion of their far more aggravated damnation, and so of men's eternally murdering their souls; which is an effect infinitely more terrible than the murder of their bodies. It is as unjust to lay the blame of these self-murders to those ministers who have declared the awful truths of God's word, in the most lively and affecting manner they were capable of, as it would be to lay the blame of hardening men's hearts, and blinding their eyes, and their more dreadful eternal damnation, to the prophet Isaiah, or Jesus Christ, because this was the consequence of their preaching, with respect to many of their hearers. Isa. vi. 10. John ix. 39. Mat. xiii. 14. Though a very few have abused the awakening preaching that has lately been, to so sad an effect as to be the cause of their own temporal death; yet it may be, to one such instance, there have been hundreds, yea, thousands, that have been saved, by this means, from eternal death.

What has more especially given offense to many, and raised a loud cry against some preachers, as though their conduct were intolerable, is their frighting poor innocent children, with talk of hell-fire, and eternal damnation. But if those that complain so loudly of this, really believe, what is the general profession of the country, viz. that all

are by nature the children of wrath, and heirs of hell; and that every one that has not been born again, whether he be young or old, is exposed every moment to eternal destruction, under the wrath of Almighty God: I say, if they really believe this, then such a complaint and cry as this betrays a great deal of weakness and inconsideration. As innocent as children seem to be to us, yet, if they are out of Christ, they are not so in God's sight, but are young vipers, and are infinitely more hateful than vipers, and are in a most miserable condition, as well as grown persons; and they are naturally very senseless and stupid, being born as the wild ass's colt, and need much to awaken them. Wy should we conceal the truth from them? Will those children that have been dealt tenderly with, in this respect, and lived and died insensible of their misery, till they come to feel it in hell, ever thank parents, and others, for their tenderness, in not letting them know what they were in danger of? If parents' love towards their children was not blind, it would affect them much more, to see their children every day exposed to eternal burnings, and yet senseless, than to see them suffer the distress of that awakening, that is necessary in order to their escape from them, and that tends to their being eternally happy, as the children of God. A child that has a dangerous wound, may need the painful lance, as well as grown persons; and that would be a foolish pity, in such a case, that should hold back the lance, and throw away the life. I have seen the happy effects of dealing plainly and thoroughly with children, in the concerns of their souls, without sparing them at all, in many instances; and never knew any ill consequence of it, in any one instance.