it, and the fun

of profperity fhines upon thee; fo that thou can't say with Efau, Gen. xxxiii. 9. "I have enough." But know, thou haft more than all that, an, inheritance thou dost not confider of; thou art a child of wrath, an heir of hell, That is an heritage which will abide with thee, amidst all the changes in the world, as long as thou continueft in an unre generate ftate. When thou shalt leave thy fubftance to others, this fhall go along with thyfelf into another world. It is no wonder a flaughter-ox be fed to the full, and is not toiled as others are, Job xxi. 30." The wicked is referved to the day of deftruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." Well then, rejoice, let thine heart chear thee; walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the fight of thine eyes: live above reproofs and warnings from the word of God; fhew thyfelf a man of a fine fpirit, by cafting off all fear of God; mock at feriousness; live like thyself, a child of wrath, an heir of hell; "But know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment," Ecclef. xi. 9. Affure thyself, thy breaking shall come fuddenly, at an inftant, Ifa. xxx. 13. "For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, fo is the laughter of a fool," Ecclef. vii. 6. The fair blaze and great noife they make, is quickly gone; fo fhall thy mirth be. And then that wrath that is now filently linking into thy foul, fhall make a fearful biffing.

5. "Wo to him that (like Moab) hath been at eafe from his youth," Jer. xlviii, 11. and never faw the black cloud of wrath hanging over his head. There are many who "have no changes, therefore they fear not God," Pfal. Iv. 19. . They have lived in a good belief (as they call it) all their days; that is, they never had power to believe an ill report of their fouls ftate. Many have come by their religion too eafily; and as it came lightly to them, fo it will go from them, when their trial comes. Do ye think men flee from wrath in a morning dream? Or will they flee from the wrath they never faw pursuing them?

6. Think it not ftrange, if ye fee one in great diftrefs about his foul's condition, who was wont to be as jovial, and as little concerned about falvation as any of his neighbours. Can one get a right view of himself, as in a state of wrath, and not be pierced with forrows, terrors, anxiety? When a weight, quite above one's ftrength, lies upon him, and he is alone, he can neither ftir hand nor foot; but when one comes to lift it off him, he'll struggle to get from under it. Thunder-claps of wrath from the word of God conveyed to the foul by the fpirit of the Lord, will furely keep a man awake.

LASTLY

LASTLY, It is no wonder wrath come upon churches and nations, and upon us in this land; and that infants and children yet unborn fmart under it. Most of the fociety are yet children of wrath; few are fleeing from it, or taking the way to prevent it; but people of all ranks are helping it on. The Jews rejected Chrift; and their children have been Imarting under wrath thefe fixteen hundred years. God grant that the bad entertainment given to Chrift and his gofpel, by this generation,. be not purfued with wrath on the fucceeding one.

USE (2.) Of EXHORTATION. And here, 1. I fhall drops a word to thefe who are yet in an unregenerate ftate. 2. To thofe that are brought out of it. 3. To all indifferently.

I. To you that are yet in an unregenerate ftate, I would found the alarm, and warn you to fee to yourselves, while yet there is hope. O ye children of wrath, take no reft in this difmal ftate; but flee to Jefus Chrift the only refuge. Haste and make your escape thither. The ftate of wrath is too hot.

a climate for you to live in, Micah ii. 10. "Arife ye and depart,. for this is not your reft." O finner, knowest thou where thou art? Doft thou not fee thy danger? The curfe has entered into thy foul wrath is thy covering, the heavens are growing blacker and blacker above thy head: the earth is weary of thee, the pit is opening her mouth for thee; and fhould the thread of thy life be cut this moment, thou art henceforth past: all hopes for ever. Sirs, if we faw you putting a cup of poifon to your mouth, we would fly to you, and fnatch it out of your hands: If we faw the houfe on fire about you, while ye were faft afleep in it, we would run to you, and drag you out of it :: But, alas! ye are in ten thousand times greater hazard; yet we can do no more but tell you of your danger; invite, exhort, befeech, and obteft you, to look to yourselves; and lamene your ftupidity and obftinacy, when we cannot prevail with you to take warning. If there were no hope of your recovery, we fhould be filent, and would not torment you before the time but tho' ye be loft and undone, there is hope in Ifrael concern ing this thing. Wherefore, I cry unto you in the name of the Lord, and in the words of the Prophet, Zech. ix. 12. “ Tonn ye to the ftrong hold, ye prifoners of hope." Flee to Jefus Chrift out of this your natural ftate,

MOTIVE While ye are in this flate, ye muft ftand or fall according to the Law, or Covenant of Works. If ye underflood! this aright, it would ftrike through your hearts as a thousand darts.. One had better be a lave to the Turks, condemned to

the

the galleys, or under Egyption bondage, than be under the covenant of works now. All mankind were brought under it in Adam, as we heard before: and thou in thy unregenerate ftate, art still where Adam left thee. It is true, there is another covenant brought in: but what is that to thee, who art not brought into it? Thou must needs be under one of the two Covenants; either under the Law, or under Crace. That thou art not under Grace, the dominion of fin over thee, manifeftly evinceth; therefore thou art under the Law, Rom. vi. 14. Do not think God has laid afide the first covenant, Mat. v. 17, 18. Gal. iii. 10. No, "He will magnify the Law and make it honourable." It is broken indeed on thy part: but it is abfurd to think, that therefore your obligation is diffolved. Nay, thou muft ftand and fall by it, till thou canft' produce thy discharge from God himself, who is thy party in that covenant; and this thou canst not pretend to, feeing thou art not in Christ.

Naw, to give you a view of your mifery, in this refpect, confider thefe following things, (1.) Hereby ye are bound over to death, in virtue of the threatning of death in that covenant, Gen, ii. 17. The condition being broken, ye fall under the penalty. So it concludes you. under wrath. (2.) There is no falvation for you under this covenant, but on a condition impoffible to be performed by you. The juftice of God muft be fatisfied for the wrong you have done already. God hath written this truth in characters of the blood of his own Son. Yea, and you must perfectly obey the Law for the time to come. So faith the Law, Gal. iii. 12. "The man that doth them, shall live in them," Come then, O finner, fee if thou canst make a ladder, whereby thou mayft reach the throne of God; ftretch forth thine arms, and try if thou canst fly on the wings of the wind, catch hold of the clouds, and pierce through these visible heavens; and then either climb over, or break through the jafper walls of the city above. Thefe things fhalt thou do, as foon as thou thalt reach heaven in thy natural state, or under this Covenant. (3.) There is no pardon under this Covenant ; Pardon is the benefit of another covenant, with which thou haft nothing to do, Acts xiii. 9. “And, by him, all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Mofes." As for thee, thou art in the hand of a mercilets creditor, who will take thee by the throat, saying, "Pay what thou oweft :" and caft thee into prison, there to res main till thou haft paid the utmost farthing; unless thou beest fo wife as to get a futhcient cautioner for yourself in time, who is

able

1

able to answer for all thy debt, and get up thy difcharge. This Jefus Chrift alone can do. Thou abidet under this Covenant, and pleadeft mercy: But what is thy plea founded on? There is not one promife of mercy or pardon in that Covenant. Doft thou plead mercy for mercy's fake? Juftice will step in betwixt it and thee; and plead God's Covenantthreatning, which he cannot deny. (4.) There's no place for repentance in this Covenant, fo as the finner can be helped by it. For as foon as ever thou finneft, the Law lays its Curfe on thee, which is a dead weight thou canst by no means throw off; no, not tho' thine head were waters, and thine eyes a fountain of tears, to weep day and night for thy fin. That is what the law cannot do, in that it is weak through the flesh, Rom. viii. 3. Now thou art another profane Efau, that hath fold the bleffing; and there is no place for repentance, tho thou feekeft it carefully with tears, while under that Covenant. (5.) There is no accepting of the will for the deed, under this Covenant, which was not made for good will, but good works. The mistake in this point ruins many. They are not in Christ but ftand under the first covenant; and yet they will plead this privilege. This is just as if one having made a feaft for thofe of his own family, when they fit down at table, another man's fervant that has run away from his mafter, should prefumptuously come forward and fit down amongst them: would not the mafter of the feaft give fuch a stranger that check, "Friend, how camelt thou in hither?" And fince he is none of his family, command him to be gone quickly. Though a mafter accept the good will of his own child for the deed, can a hired fervant expect that privilege? (6.) Ye have nothing to do with Chrift, while under this Covenant. By the Law of God, a woman cannot be married to two husbands at once : either death or divorce muft diffolve the first marriage, ere she can marry another. So we must first be dead to the Law, ere we can be married to Chrift, Rom. vii. 4. The Law is the first hufband; Jefus Chrift who raifeth the dead, marries the widow that was heart-broken and flain by the first husband. Bat while the foul is in the houfe with the first husband, it cannot plead a marriage-relation to Chrift; nor the benefits of a marriage-covenant, which is not yet, entered into, Gal. v. 4. "Chrift is become of no effect to you, whofoever of you are juftified by the law, ye are fallen from Grace." Peace, pardon, and fuch like benefits, are all benefits of the covenant of grace. And ye must not think to stand off from Chrift, and the mar

riage-covenant with him, and yet plead thefe benefits; more than one man's wife can plead the benefit of a contract of marriage paft betwixt another man and his own wife. Lafly, See the bill of exclufion, paft in the court of heaven, against all under the covenant of works, Gal. iv. 30. "The fon of the bond-women fhall not be heir." Compare ver. 24. Heirs of wrath must not be heirs of glory. Whom the first covenant hath power to exclude out of heaven, the fecond covenant can. not bring into it.

Objection. Then it is impoffible for us to be faved. Answer, It is fo, while you are in that flate. But if you would be out of that dreadful condition, haften out of that state. If a mur derer be under sentence of death; fo long as he lives within the kingdom, the laws will reach his life: but if he can make his efcape, and get over the fea, into the dominions of another prince; our laws cannot reach him there. This is what we would have you to do: flee out of the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of God's dear Son; out of the dominion of the Law, into the dominion of grace; then all the curfes of the Law, or covenant of Works, thall never be able to reach you.

MOTIVE 2. O ye children of wrath, your state is wretched, for ye have loft God; and that is an unípeakable lofs, "Ye are without God in the world," Eph. ii. 12. Whatever you may call yours, you cannot call God yours. If we look to the earth, perhaps you can tell us, that land, that houfe, or that herd of cattle, is yours. But let us look upward to heaven, is that God, that grace, that glory yours? Truly, you have neither part nor lot in that matter. When Nebuchadnezzar talks of cities and kingdoms, O how big does he fpeak! "Great Babylon that I have built,my power,my majesty" but he tells a poor tale when he comes to fpeak of God, faying, "Your 'God," Dan. ii. 47. and iv. 30. Alas! finner whatever thou haft, God is gone from thee. O the mifery of a godless foul! Haft thou loft God? Then, (1.) The fap and fubftance of all that thou haft in the world, is gone. The godless man, have what he will, is one that hath not, Matth. xxv. 29. I defy the unregenerate man to attain to foul fatisfaction, whatever he poffeffeth, fince God is not his God. All his days he eateth in darkness in every condition, there is a fecret diffatisfaction haunts his heart like a ghoft: the foul wants fomething, tho' perhaps it knoweth not what it is and fo it will be always, till the foul return. to God, the fountain of fatisfaction. (3.) Thou can't do nothing to purpose for thyself; for God is

gone