your understandings have been inftructed, but your confciences to this day were never thoroughly convinced. "We have "mourned unto you, but ye have not lamented," Mat, xi, 17. "Who hath believed our report? And unto whom is the arm " of the Lord revealed?" Alas! we have laboured in vain, we have spent our strength for nought, our word return unto us empty but O what a ftupendous judgment is here! Heb. vi. 7, 8." The earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon ❝it, and bringth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dref "fed, receiveth bleffing from God; but that which beareth "thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto curfing, whose "end is to be burned." What fore judgment, and fign of God's displeasure would you account it, if your fields were curfed; if you should manure, drefs, plough, and fow them; but never reap the fruit of your labour; the increase being ftill blasted? And yet this were nothing, compared with the blafting of the word to your fouls: that which is a favour of life unto life, unto fome, becomes the favour of death unto death, to others, 2 Cor. ii. 16. The Lord affect our hearts with the terrible strokes of God upon the fouls of men!

Second use of exhortation,

I shall conclude this point with a few words of exhortation to three forts of men, viz.

1. To those that never felt the power of the word,

2. To those that have only felt fome flight and common effects thereof,

3. To thofe unto whofe very hearts the commandment is come, in its effectual aud faving power,

First, You that never felt any power in the word at all, I beg you in the name of him that made you, and by all the regard and value you have for those precious fouls within you, that now at Jaft fuch confiderations as thefe may find place in your fouls, and that you will bethink yourselves.

Confideration I

Whose word is that which cannot gain entrance into your hearts? Is it not the ward of God which you defpife and flight? "Thou castest my word behind thy back," Pfal. 1. 17. O what an affront and provocation to God is this! You despise not man, but God; the great and terrible God, in whafe hand your breath and foul is; this contempt runs higher than you imagine, Confideration 2.

Confider, that however the word hath no power upon you, the commandment cannot come home to your hearts; yet it doth. work, and comes home with power to the hearts of others a

413. whilst you are hardned, others are melted under it; whilft you Дeep, others tremble; whilft your hearts are faft locked up, others are opened., How can you choose but reflect with fear and trembling upon thefe contrary effects of the word; especially when you confider that the eternal decrees, both of election and reprobation are now executed upon the fouls men, by the preaching of the word? Some believe, and others are hardned. Confideration 3.

That no judgment of God, on this fide hell, is greater than a hard heart, and ftupid confcience under the word: it were much better that the providence of God fhould blast thy estate, take away thy children, or destroy thy health, than harden thy heart, and fear thy confcience under the word: fo much as thy foul is better than thy body, fo much as eternity is more valuable than time, fo much is this fpiritual judgment more dreadful than all temporal ones. God doth not inflict a more terrible ftroke than this upon any man in this world.

O therefore as you love your own fouls, and are loth to ruin them to all eternity, attend upon every opportunity that God affords you; for you know not in which of them the Lord may work upon your hearts. Lay afide your prejudices against the word or the weakneffes and infirmities of them that preach it; for the word works not as it is the word of man, as it is thus neat and elegant, but as it is the word of God. Pray for the bluffing of God upon the word; for except his word of bleffing go forth with it, it can never come home to thy foul. Meditate upon what you hear; for, without meditation, it is not like to have any effectual operation upon you. Search your fouls by it, and confider whether that be not your very cafe and state. which it describes: your very danger whereof it gives warning. Take heed left after you have heard it, the cares of the world choke what you have heard, and cause those budding convictions. which begin to put forth, to blast and wither. Carefully attend to all thofe items, and memorandums your confciences give you under the word, and conclude that the Lord is then come nigh unto you,

Secondly, Let this be matter of serious confideration, and caution to all fuch as have only felt fome flight, tranfient, and ineffectual operations of the gofpel upon their fouls: The Lord hath come nigh to fome of our fouls; we have felt a strange power in the ordinances, fometimes terrifying, and fometimes tranfporting our hearts; but, alas it proves but a morningdew, or an early cloud, Hof. vi. 4. We rejoice in the word, but it is but for a season, John iii. 25. Gal. iv. 14, 15. They

are vanithing motions, and come to nothing.

Look, as in na

ture there are many abortives, as well as perfect children, fo it is in religion; yea, where the new creature is perfectly formed in one foul, there be many abortives and miscarriages in others and there may be three reafons affigned for it, viz.

First, The fubtilty and deep policy of Satan, who never more effectually deceives and deftroys the fouls of men, than in fuch a method, and by fuch an artifice as this: for when men have once felt their confciences terrified under the word, and their hearts at other times ravished with the joys and comforts of it, they now feem to have attained all that is neceffary to converfion, and conftitutive of the new creature: these things look fo well like the regenerating effects of the Spirit, that many are easily deceived by them. The devil beguiles the hearts of the unwary by fuch falfe appearances; for it is not every man that can diftinguish betwixt the natural, and spiritual motions of the affections under the word: it is very frequently feen that even carnal, and unrenewed hearts have their meltings and transports, as well as fpiritual hearts. The fubject-matter upon which the word treats, are the weighty things of the world to come: heaven and hell are very awful and affecting things, and an unrenewed heart is apt to thaw and melt at them: now here is the cheat of Satan, to perfuade a man that these must needs be spiritual affections, because the objects about which they are converfant are fpiritual whereas it is certain, the object of the affections may be very fpiritual and heavenly, and yet the workings of a man's affections about them, may be in a mere natural way.

Secondly, The dampening efficacy of the world is a true and proper caufe of thefe abortions and mifcarriages under the word, Luke viii. 12, 13, 14. There are hopeful and promifing beginnings and buddings of affections in fome perfons, especially in their youth; but when once they come to be engaged in the world, how foon are they damp'd and quenched! As the cares of a family grow on, fo does the care of falvation wear off. 'Tis not as it was wont to be, what shall I do to be faved? How fhall I get interest in Chrift? But what fhall I eat, and drink, and wherewithai fhall I, and mine, be maintained? Thus earth juftles out heaven, and the prefent world drowns all thoughts of that to come. Good had it been for many men, they had never been engaged fo deep in the world as they are; their life is but a conftant hurry of bufinefs, and a perpetual diverfion from Chrift, and things that are eternal,

Thirdly, and laftly, The deceitfulness, and treachery of the heart, which too easily gives way to the defigns of Satan, fuffers

itself to be impofed upon by him, is not the least cause why so many hopeful beginnings come to nothing, and the effects of the word vanish. Pride, and felf-love are very apt to over-rule every little good, and flight, or under-value every evil that is in us; and fo quickly choke those convictions that begin to work in our fouls.

But oh! that fuch men would confider that the dying away of their convictions, is that which threatens the life of their fouls for ever; now is the bud withered, the bloffom blafted: and what expectation is there of fruit after this, except the Lord revive them again? The Lord open men's eyes, to difcern the danger of fuch things as thefe are! Jude 12. Heb. x. 58. Yet I deny not, but there are many ftands, and paufes in the work of converfion; it feems to die away, and then revives again; and revive it must, or we are loft. But how many are there who never recover it more! This is a fore judgment of a most terrible confequence to the fouls of men.

Thirdly, In the last place, let it be a word of counsel, and advice to them, upon whom the word works effectually, and powerfully; to whofe hearts the commandment is come home, to revive fin, and kill their vain hopes; and these are of two forts. 1. Embryo's, under the first workings of the spirit. 2. Compleat births of the spirit, regenerated fouls.

First, Embryo's that are under the first workings of the fpirit in the word. O let it not feem a mifery, or unhappiness to you, that the commandment is come, and fin revived, and your former hopes overthrown. It must be thus, if ever God intend mercy for you. Had you gone on in that dangerous fecurity you were in before, you had certainly been loft for ever: God hath flopt you in that path that leads down to hell, and none that go in there do ever return again, or take hold of the paths of life. O it is better to weep, tremble, and be diftreffed now, than to mourn without hope for ever. Let it not trouble you that fin hath found you out; you could never have found out the remedy in Chrift, if you had not found out the disease and danger, by the coming of the commandment. And I beseech you carefully to obferve, whether the effects, and operations of the word upon your hearts be deeper, and more powerful, than they are found to be in fuch fouls as mifcarry under it: the commandment comes to them, and shews them this or that more gross and startling fin. Doth it come to you, and fhew you not only this, or that particular fin, but all the evils of your heart and life; the corruption of your natures, as well as the tranfgreffions of your lives? If fo, it promifes

well, and looks hopefully, and comfortably to you. The commandment comes to others, and startles them with the fears of damnation for their fin: it puts them into a grievous fright at hell, and the everlasting burnings: but doth it come to thee and discover the infinite evil that is in thy fin, as it is committed against the great, holy, righteous, and good God, and fo melts thy heart into tears for the wrong that thou hast done him, as well as the danger into which thou haft brought thyself? This is a hopeful work, and may encourage thee. It comes to others, and greatly shakes, but never deftroys and razes the foundation of their vain hopes: if it fo revive fin, as to kill all vain hopes in thee, and fend thee to Christ alone, as thy only door of hope, fear not; thefe troubles will prove the greatest mercies that ever befel thee in this world, if thus they work, and continue to work upon thy foul.

Secondly, Others there are upon whom the word hath had its full effect as to converfion. O blefs God for ever for this mercy; you cannot fufficiently value it! God hath not only made it a convincing, and wounding, but a converting, and healing word to your fouls; he hath not only revived your fins, and killed your vain hopes, but begotten you again to a lively hope; fee that you be thankful for this mercy. How many have fate under the fame word, but never felt fuch effects of it? As Chrift faid in another cafe, there were many widows in Ifrael in the time of Elijah, but unto none of them was the prophet fent, fave unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, to a certain widow there, Luke iv. 46. So I may fay, in this cafe, there were many fouls in the fame congregation, at the fame time; but unto none of them was the word fent with a commiffion to convince and fave, but fuch a one as thyfelf; one as improbable to be wrought upon as any foul there. O let this beget thankfulness in your fouls; and let it make you love the word as long as you live: "I will never forget thy precepts, for by them "thou haft quickened me," Pfal. cxix. 93.

But above all I beseech you make it appear that the commandment hath come home to your hearts, with power to convince you of the evil of fin, by your tenderness and care to fhun it as long as you live. If ever you have feen the face of fin, in the glafs of the law of God; if your hearts have been humbled and broken for it in the days of your trouble and diftrefs, certainly you will choofe the worst affliction rather than fin: It would be the greatest folly in the world to return again to iniquity, Pfal. lxxxv. 8. You that have feen fo much of the evil that is in it, and the danger that follows it; you that have had