66

soul: : by this means, the wrath of God is felt before its danger is apprehended; a man is past all hope before he begins to have any fear; his eternal ruin, as a breach ready to fall, cometh suddenly at an instant,” Isa. xxx. 13.

3. Nothing more aggravates a man's damnation, than to sink suddenly into it from amidst so many hopes, and such high confidence of safety! For a man to find himself in hell when he thought himself within a step of heaven, oh, what a hell will it be! The higher vain hopes lift men up, the more dreadful must their fall be, Matt. vii. 22, 23.

4. This life of security and vain hope frustrates all the means of recovery and salvation in the only season in which they can be beneficial to us. By reason of these things the word has no power to convince men's consciences; nothing can bring them to a sense of their condition. Therefore Christ told the self-confident and blind Jews, that the publicans and harlots would go into the kingdom of God before them, Matt. xxi. 31. And the reason is, because their hearts lie more open to conviction and compunction for sin, than the hearts of those who are blinded by vain hope and confidence.

INFERENCE 1. Is this the life that the unregenerate world live? Then it is not to be wondered at that the preaching of the gospel has so little success: "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Isa. liii. 1. Ministers study for truths to awaken and convince the consciences of those that hear, but their words return again to them. They turn to God and mourn, "We have laboured in vain, and spent our strength for nought." And this security is the cause of all; vain hopes bar fast the doors of men's hearts against all the persuasions of the word. The greater cause have they to admire the grace of God, who have found the convictions of the word sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit; to whose hearts God brings home the commandment by an effectual application.

2. If this be the life of the unregenerate world, what deadly enemies are they that nourish and strengthen in men the vain hopes of salvation! This the Scripture calls healing the hurt of souls slightly, by crying, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace," Jer. vi. 14; the sewing of pillows under their arm-holes, Ezek. xiii. 18, that they may lie soft and

easy under the ministry. And this is the doctrine which the people love; but oh, what will the end of these things be! and what an account have those men to give God, for the blood of souls by them betrayed to the everlasting burnings! Such flattery is the greatest cruelty. Those whom you bless upon earth will curse you in hell, and curse the day in which they trusted their souls to your care!

3. How great a mercy is it to be awakened out of the general security which is fallen upon the world! You cannot estimate the value of this peculiar mercy. O! that the Spirit of the Lord should have touched thy soul under the ministry of the word, and roused thy conscience, whilst others were left in security round about thee; when the Lord dealt with thy soul much after the same manner he did with Paul in the way to Damascus, who not only saw a light shining from heaven, which those that travelled with him saw as well as he, but heard that voice from heaven which did the work upon his heart, though his companions heard it not. Besides, it is a mercy leading to all other spiritual mercies, that follow it to all eternity. If God had not done this for thee, thou hadst never been brought to faith, to Christ, or heaven. From this act of the Spirit all other saving acts take their rise; so that you can have cause for ever to admire the goodness of God in such a favour as this.

4. Hence it follows, that men generally are in the direct way to eternal ruin: whatever their vain confidences are, they cannot be saved. Narrow is the way, and strait is the gate, that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Hear me, all you that live this dangerous life of carnal security; whatever your persuasions and confidences are, except you give them up, and get better grounds for your hope, you cannot be saved. Such hopes are directly contradictory to the established order of the gospel, which requires repentance, Acts v. 31; faith, Acts xiii. 39; and regeneration, John iii. 3, in all that shall be saved. If such as you are saved, all the threatenings in Scripture must be reversed, which lie in full opposition to your vain hopes, Mark xvi. 16; John iii. 16; Rom. iii. 8, 9. New conditions must be set to all the promises; for there is no condition of any special promise found in any unregenerate person. Compare your hearts with these Scriptures: Matt. v. 3-6; Psa. xxiv. 4; Psa. lxxxiv. 11; Gen. xvii. 1. If such a hope

as yours bring you to heaven, the saving hope of God's elect is not rightly described to us in the Scriptures. Scripture hope is the effect of regeneration, 1 Pet. i. 3. And purity of heart is the effect of that hope, 1 John iii. 3. Nay, the very nature of heaven is mistaken in Scripture, if such as you are subjects qualified for its enjoyment; for assimilation, or the conformity of the soul to God in holiness, is, in the Scripture account, a principal ingredient of that blessedness. By all these things it appears, that the hopes of most men are vain, and will never bring them to heaven.

Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ..

SERMON XXI.

NECESSITY OF BEING SLAIN BY THE LAW-CONTINUED.

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Rom. vii. 9.

DOCT. 2.-That there is a mighty efficacy in the law of God to kill vain confidence, and quench carnal mirth, in the hearts of men, when God sets it home upon their consciences. THE weapons of the word "are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. In illustrating this point, I shall demonstrate the efficacy of the word or law of God; show wherein its efficacy lies; and inquire whence it has this mighty power and efficacy.

I. THE POWER AND EFFICACY OF THE WORD OR LAW OF GOD. This will appear,

The

1. From the various subjects upon whom it works. hearts and consciences of men, of all orders and qualities, have been reached and wounded to the quick by the twoedged sword of God's law. Some among the great and honourable of the earth have been made to stoop and tremble under the word, Acts xvii. 12; Mark vi. 20; 1 Sam. xv. 24. The wise and learned of the world have felt its power, and been brought to embrace the humbling and self-denying ways of Christ, Acts xvii. 34. Thus, Origen, Jerome, Tertullian, Bradwardine, and many more, came into Canaan laden with the Egyptian gold, as one speaks; that is, they came into the church of God furnished with the learned arts and sciences, devoting them all to the service of Christ. Yea, and which is as strange, the most simple, weak, and illiterate, have been wonderfully

changed and wrought upon by the power of the word: "The testimonies of the Lord maketh wise the simple." Men of weak understandings in other matters, have been made wise to salvation by the power of the word, Matt. xi. 25; 1 Cor. i. 27. Nay, the most malicious enemies of Christ have been converted by the word," 1 Tim. i. 13; Acts xvi. 25. Those that have been under the prejudice of the most idolatrous education, have been the subjects of its mighty power, Acts xix. 26; and men of the most profligate lives have been wonderfully changed by the power of the word, 1 Cor. vi. 10, 11.

2. The efficacy of the law of God appears in the manner of its operation. It works suddenly; strikes like a dart through the hearts and consciences of men, Acts ii. 37. A wonderful change is made in a short time, and as it works quickly and suddenly, so it works with an uncontrolled power upon the spirits of men, 1 Thess. i 5; Rom. i. 16. Let the soul be armed against conviction with the thickest ignorance, the strongest prejudice, or the most obstinate resolution, the word of God will wound the breast even of such a man, when God sends it forth in his authority and power.

3. The power of the law, or word of God, is seen in the strange effects produced by it in the hearts and lives of men. It changes the frame and temper of the mind; it moulds a man into a quite contrary temper: "He which persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed," Gal. i. 23. Thus a tiger is transformed into a lamb by the power of the word of God. It makes the soul forego the dearest interests it has in this world for Jesus Christ, Phil. iii. 7-9. Riches, honours, self-righteousness, relations, are forsaken. Reproach, poverty, and death itself, are embraced for Christ's sake, when once the efficacy of the word has wrought on the hearts of men, 1 Thess. i. 6. Companions in sin are renounced and cast off with abhorrence, 1 Pet. iv. 3, 4.

II. WHEREIN THE EFFICACY OF THE WORD UPON THE SOULS OF MEN CONSISTS. We find in Scripture that it exerts its power in five distinct acts upon the soul; by all which it strikes at the life, and kills the very heart of vain hopes.

1. It has an awakening efficacy upon secure and slumbering sinners. It rouses the conscience, and brings a man