and which is just ready to swallow you up in everlasting woe; do you enter into the design of participating the felicity of God?

Let us not deceive ourselves, my brethren! We cannot share the second transformation, unless we partake of the first; if we would be like God in heaven, we must resemble him here in his church below. A soul, having these first features, experiencing this first transformation, is prepared for eternity; when it enters heaven, it will not alter its condition, it will only perfect it. The most beautiful object that can present itself to the eyes of such a soul, is the divine Redeemer, the model of its virtues, the original of its ideas. Hast thou experienced the first transformation? Hast thou already these features? Dost thou ardently desire the appearance of the Son of God; and, should God present himself to thee as he is, couldst thou bear the sight without trembling and horror? Ah, my brethren! how miserable is a mind, when it considers him as an object of horror, whom it ought to consider as an object of its desire and love! How miserable is a soul, which, instead of loving the appearing of the Lord, the righteous judge, as St. Paul expresscth it, 2 Tim. iv. 8. hath just reasons to dread it! How wretched is the case of the man, who, instead of crying, Come Lord Jesus! come quickly! Rev. xxii. 20. cries, Put off thy coming; defer a period, the approach of which I cannot bear; thy coming will be the time of my destruction; thine appearing will discover my shame; thy glory will be my despair; thy voice will be the sentence of my eternal misery; instead of hastening to meet thee, I will avoid thy presence; I will strive to flee from thy Spirit, Psal. cxxxix. 7. I will call to my relief the mountains and the rocks, Rev. vi. 16, and, provided they can conceal me from thy terrible presence, it will signify nothing, should they crush me by their fall, and bury me for ever in their ruins.

Let not such frightful sentiments ever revolve in our minds, christians. Let us now begin the great work of our transformation. Let us commune with God. Let us apply all our efforts to obtain the knowledge of him. Let us kindle in our souls the fire of his love. Let us propose his holiness. for our example. Let us anticipate the felicity of heaven. Indeed, we shall often be interrupted in this great work. We shall often find reason to deplore the darkness, that obscures our ideas, the chilling damps, which cool our love, and the vices that mix with our virtues; for the grief, which

these

these imperfections will cause, will frequently lower our felicity. But hope will supply the place of full fruition. Our souls will be all involved in evangelical consolations, and all our bitternesses will be sweetened with these thoughts of our apostle, Behold! what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know, that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. To him be honour and glory for ever. Amen.

SERMON

SERMON XIII.

HELL.

REVELATIONS xiv. 11.

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.

VIOLEN

VIOLENT diseases require violent remedies. This is an incontestible maxim in the science of the human body, and it is equally true in religion, the science, that regards the soul. If a wound be deep, it is in vain to heal the surface, the malady would become the more dangerous, because it would spread inwardly, gain the noble parts, consume the vitals, and so become incurable. Such a wound must be cleansed, probed, cut, and cauterized; and, softening the most terrible pains by exciting in the patient a hope of being healed, he must be persuaded to endure a momentary pain in order to obtain a future firm established health. Thus in religion; when vice hath gained the heart, and subdued all the faculties of the soul, in vain do we place before the sinner a few ideas of equity; in vain do we display the magnificience of the heavens, the beauties of the church, and the charms of virtue; the arrows of the Almighty must be fastened in him, Job vi. 4. terrors, as in a solemn day, must be called round about him, Lam. ii. 22. and knowing the terrors of the Lord, we must persuade the man, as the holy scriptures express it.

My brethrren, let us not waste our time in declaiming against the manners of the times. Let us not exaggerate the depravity of christian societies, and pass encomiums on former ages by too censoriously condemning our own. Mankind have always been bad enough, and good people

have

have always been too scarce. There are, however we must allow, some times, and some places, in which Satan hath employed more means, and hath striven with more success to execute his fatal design of destroying mankind than in others. Observe this reflection. A violent malady must have a violent remedy; and this, which we bring you today, certainly excels in its kind. The holy Spirit conducts us to-day in a road different from that, in which he formerly led the Hebrews; and, to address you properly, we must change the order of St. Paul's words, and say, Ye are not come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem: but ye are .... come unto a burning fire, unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, chap. xii. 22. We are going to place before eyes eternity with its abysses, the fiery lake with its flames, devils with their rage, and hell with its horrors.

your

Great God! suspend for a few moments the small still voice of thy gospel! 1 Kings xix. 12. For a few moments let not this auditory hear the church shouting, Grace, grace unto it! Zech. iv. 7. Let the blessed angels, that assist in our assemblies, for a while leave us to attend to the miseries of the damned! I speak literally; I wish these miserable beings could shew you for a moment the weight of their chains, the voracity of their flames, the stench of their smoke. Happy! if struck with these frightful objects, we imbibe a holy horror, and henceforth oppose against all our temptations the words of our text, the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever !

I have borrowed these words of St. John. In the preceding verses he had been speaking of apostates and idolaters, and them he had particularly in view in this; If any man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment, adds the apostle in the text, ascendeth up for ever and ever.

But do not think, this sentence must be restrained to these sorts of sinners. It is denounced against other kinds of sinners in other passages of scripture. His fan is in his hand, said the forerunner of Jesus Christ, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner:

but

but he will burn up the chaff with an unquenchable fire, Matt. iii. 12.

It shall not be, then, to apostates, and idolaters only, that we will preach to-day; although, alas! was it ever more necessary to speak to them than now? Did any age of christianity ever see so many apostates as this, for which providence hath reserved us? O! could I transport myself to the ruins of our churches! I would thunder in the ears of our brethren, who have denied their faith and religion, the words of our apostle; If any man worship the beast, and his image, he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, and the smoke of his torment shall ascend up for ever and ever!

We will consider our text in a more general view, and we divide our discourse into three parts.

I. We will prove, that the doctrine of eternal punishment is clearly revealed.

II. We will examine the objections, which reason opposes against it; and we will shew, that there is nothing in it incompatible with the perfections of God, or the nature of

man.

III. We will address the subject to such as admit the truth of the doctrine of eternal punishments: but live in indolence, and unaffected with it. This is the whole plan of this discourse.

I. We affirm, there is a hell, punishments finite in degree: but infinite in duration. We do not intend to establish here in a vague manner, that there is a state of future rewards and punishments, by laying before you the many weighty arguments taken from the sentiments of conscience, the de clarations of scripture, the confusions of society, the unanimous consent of mankind, and the attributes of God himself; arguments, which placing in the clearest light the truth of a judgment to come, and a future state, ought for ever to confound those unbelievers and libertines, who glory in doubting both. We are going to address ourselves more immediately to another sort of people, who do not deny the truth of future punishments: but who diminish the duration of them; who, either in regard to the attributes of God, or in favour of their own indolence, endeavour to persuade themselves, that, if there be any punishments after death, they VOL. III.

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