lerable: and therefore the case of all who go there is terrible. But, (2.) Your condition, Ŏ miferable finners, will be more terrible than that of many who shall be there. Chrift fays, Wo unto thee Chorazin, wo unto thee Bethfuida; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in fackcloth and afhes: but I fay unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, fhalt be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day: but I fay unto you, it fhall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee, Matth. xi. 21, 24. In which remarkable denunciation of wrath against thofe finners whom our Lord had endeavoured to convince, and yet were not awakened, it is plain, Firft, That fome shall have hoter and more intolerable places in hell than others. Secondly, That they on whom most pains has been bestowed will have the hoteft place. According to this rule of the divine procedure with finners, I fhall now proceed, and lay before your cafe. I fay unto you, O unconvinced finners in the congregation of Ceres, before whom your fin and mifery has fo fully of late been laid open, your hell will be hoter than that of many others. Wo unto you, for it will be more intolerable than that of Sodoin and Gomorrha. They never finned against the means of grace, as ye have done. Upon this very account, when our Lord fends forth his difciples. Matth. x. he tells them, That it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of Judgment, than for fuch fuch as fhould refufe them. See verfe the 14, 15. Now this is the cafe with you: the heathen world's hell will be hot indeed; but your furnace will be heated seven times more. Again, Wo unto you, for your hell will be more intolerable than that of Capernaum, Bethfaida or Chorazin; nay, than that of the foldiers that crucified Chrift, and of the Jews that condemned him, for they only finned against Christ in his eftate of humiliation; but ye have rejected him, now when he is exalted upon high, and feated at the right hand of God. Wo unto you, it will be more intolerable for you, than for those who live in many other churches, where the gospel is corrupted with a perverse addition of human inventions and doctrines, that are alien from it for ye fin against the clear light of the gofpel, not darkened by the clouds of falfe do&trines. Once more, Wo unto you of this congregation, if ye be found rejecters of the gospel, as certainly ye will if ye continue unconvinced; for your hell will be more intolerable than that of many others in Scotland, who have not had that pains taken upon them which ye have had, who have not thefe frequent and clear difcoveries of fin and duty, which ye have had by one of Chrift's fervants after another. Now tell me, O wretches, can ye think upon your own cafe without horror? Sure, if ye understood it, ye would not, ye could not do it. But, 5. I fay further to you, who fhut your eyes upon your fin and mifery, notwithstanding all that has been faid for your awakening, If ye perish, and perish ye fhall if ye be not convinced, then your deftruction is intirely of yourselves. And O how galling, how cutting will this be to you eternally! That it is, I make appear against you thus. Where Where can ye lay the blame of it? (1.) Dare ye fay that ye wanted the means of falvation? No, this ye cannot, ye dare not fay; for if ye fhall fo do, we are all here witneffes for God against you; nay, your own confciences fhall arife and fly in your faces, and force you, though unwilling, to own that ye have had the means. (2.) Dare ye fay that the means are not fufficient to the end for which they are offered? No, I am fure there fhall not be one that ever had them, who shall dare to charge them with infufficiency. And if any of you should arrive at that height of intolerable infolence and impudence as to do it, it were eafy to stop their mouths: For God might ask you, when standing at his tribunal, Firft, How do ye know them to be infufficient, fince ye were never at the pains to try them? Next, He might stop your mouth thus, Behold here upon my right hand that innumerable company out of all kindreds, tongues and nations: and how were they fav ed? If ye fhould go to them all, and ask them one by one, would they not all with one voice anfwer to your eternal fhame and confufion, that by the use of these very means you had, but neglected, they were faved? (3.) If yet ye will not fee that all the blame of your destruction will come only to your own door, then I ask you, on whom will ye lay the blame? Dare ye lay it upon any other but yourselves, with any tolerable fhadow of ground? I know ye dare not. To blame the devil, or the world, is downright nonfenfe; for it is falvation from them that ye was to feek; and to tell that these are the cause of your ruin, when ye had relief against them offered, is vain; for it may eafily be afked at a perfon who has lived under the gofpel, and gives Satan or the world the blame of his ruin, Was there not deliverance from Satan and the world offered to you? Were not the means mentioned fufficient? This will eternally acquit them as to your deftruction, and lodge it upon your as the principal caufe of it, which is all we plead; for we do not exeme them from a fhare in the guilt of it. Now, this being incontestably evident, it remains that either Chrift, or his minifters are chargeable with your damnation, or that ye yourfelves only are fo. As for our bleffed Lord and mafter, we offer now to undertake his vindication against any that fhall dare to accufe him. We have abundance to speak in his behalf; and are refolved to afcribe righteousness to our Maker. In his vindication, I appeal to your own confciences in a few particu lars. (1.) Is he not indeed a fufficient Saviour, one able to fave to the uttermost all that come unto God through him? Deny it you dare not; for this is the atteftation of the glorious cloud of witneffes, who all have, by faith in his name, got above the reach of fin, death and hell. (2.) Did ever any of you come to him, and get a refufal? Produce your inftances of this fort, if ye can. We dare boldly, in our Lord's name, give a defiance to earth or hell, to produce one inftance of this fort. (3) Has he not allowed, nay, invited, intreated, nay, commanded you to come unto him that ye might be faved? If ye shall deny this, the word of God, the fervants of God are witnesses against you. Has he not waited long upon you? Has he not given you precept upon precept, and line upon. line? And now, to conclude, I pofe you on it, what could he have done more to you that he has not done? But it may be ye will lay it to our door, and fay, though Chrift did his part, yet his fervants 0 2 have have not done theirs; they have not given you fair warning. As for their vindication I anfwer a few things, and I fay, (1.) Though they may be guilty, and conceal, or at least fail of faithfulnefs in their duty, yet your damnation is of yourfelves for ye have the word of God that is plain, that is full, in its reprefentation of your fin and mifery; and had you paid a due regard to that, ye could not have milled of falvation: therefore, yet your deftruction is of yourselves. But, (2.) We refufe the charge of your blood, and tell you that ye have destroyed yourselves, if ye fleep on in your fins. And for our own vindication, I put a few things home to you: Have we not plainly told you your fin and danger? Have we not done it frequently? Have we not been particular in dealing with young and old of you? Have we not been preffing, in order to your conviction? We have told you with earneftnefs, both your fin and danger. We have looked from our watchtower through the profpect of the word of God, and have feen the wrath of God ready to feize you; and we have not concealed his righteoufirefs within us. And now, the Lord, the righteous judge, be witness betwixt you and us, for we have done as much as will free us of your blood. Indeed we cannot deny ourfelves to be finners; and muft own that we have finned, even with refpect to you: but this will not make your blood to be charged upon us; fince, in order to our exoneration as to that, it is only required we give you warning of your danger; and if ye be flain fleeping, ye are to blame. There is one word more I have to fay to you in the ONLY 6th Place; and then I fhall leave you. What have we to do more with you? If ye comply not |