Thy bed, when thou liest down in it, preacheth to thee thy grave;
thy sleep, thy death; and thy rising in the morning, thy
resurrection to judgment.
Wouldst thou know, sinner, what thou art? look up to the cross, and
behold a weeping, bleeding, dying Jesus; nothing could do but that,
nothing could save thee but his blood: angels could not, saints
could not, God could not, because he could not lie, because he could
not deny himself.
What a thing is sin, that it should sink all that bear its burden;
yea, it sunk the Son of God himself into death and the grave, and
had also sunk him into hell-fire for ever, had he not teen the Son
of God, had he not been able to take it on his hack and bear it
away.
O this Lamh of God! Sinners were going to hell; Christ was the
delight of his Father, and had a whole heaven to himself; hut that
did not content him, heaven could not hold him, he must come into
the world to save sinners.
Aye, and had he not come thy sins had sunk thee, thy sins had
provoked the wrath of God against thee to thy destruction for ever.
There is no man hut is a sinner; there is no sin hut would damn an
angel, should God lay it to his charge.
Sinner, the doctrine of Christ crucified cries therefore aloud unto
thee, that sin has made thy condition dreadful. See yourselves, your
sins, and consequently the condition that your souls are in by the
death and blood of Christ Christ's death gives us the most clear
discovery of the dreadful nature of our sins.
I say again, if sin he so dreadful a thing as to break the heart of
the Son of God, how shall a poor, wretched, impenitent, damned
sinner wrestle with the wrath of God?
Awake, sinners; you are lost, you are undone, you perish, you are
damned; hell-fire is your portion for ever, if you abide in your
sins, and be found without a Saviour in the dreadful day of
judgment.
Sinner, doth not all this discourse make thy heart twitter after the
mercy that is with God, and after the way that is made by this
plenteous redemption thereto? Methinks it should; yea, thou couldest
not do otherwise, didst thou but see thy condition. Look behind
thee, take a view of the path thou hast trodden these many years.
Dost thou think that the way that thou art in will lead thee to the
strait gate, sinner? Ponder the path of thy feet with the greatest
seriousness; thy life lies upon it; what thinkest thou? But make no
answer till in the night, till thou art in the night-watches;
commune with thine own heart upon thy hed, and there say what thou
thinkest of whither thou art going.
Oh that thou wert serious! Is not it a thing to be lamented, that
madness and folly should be in thy heart while thou livest, and
after that to go to the dead; when so much life stands before thee,
and light to see the way to it? Surely men void of grace and
possessed of carnal minds must either think that sin is nothing,
that hell is easy, and that eternity is short; or else that whatever
God has said about the punishing of sinners, he will never do as he
has said; or that there is no sin, no God, no heaven, no hell, and
so no good or bad hereafter; or else they could not live as they do.
But perhaps thou presumest upon it, and sayest, I shall have peace,
though I live so sinful a life. Sinner, if this wicked thought be in
thy heart, tell me again, dost thou thus think in earnest? Canst
thou imagine thou shalt at the day of account outface God, or make
him believe thou wast what thou wast not; or that when the gate is
shut up in wrath, he will at thy pleasure and to the reversing of
his own counsel, open it again to thee? Why shall thy deceived heart
turn thee aside, that thou canst not deliver thy soul, nor say, Is
there not a lie in my right hand?
Friend, because it is a dangerous thing to be walking towards the
place of darkness and anguish, and because notwithstanding, it is
the journey that most of the poor souls in the world are taking, I
have thought it my duty for preventing thee, to tell thee what sad
success those souls have had that have persevered therein. Why,
friend, it may be--nay, twenty to one, thou hast had thy back to
heaven and thy face towards hell ever since thou didst come into the
world. Why, I beseech thee, put a little stop to thy earnest race,
and take a view of what entertainment thou art like to have, if thou
do in deed and in truth persist in thy course. "Thy ways lead down
to death, and thy steps to hell." It may he, indeed, the path is
pleasant to the flesh, but the end thereof will he bitter to thy
soul. Hark! dost thou not hear the bitter cries of them that are
newly gone before thee, saying, "Let him dip the tip of his finger
in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame!"
Dost thou not hear them say, "Send one from the dead, to prevent my
father, my brother, my father's house, from coming to this place of
torment!" Shall not these mournful groans pierce thy flinty heart?
Wilt thou stop thine ears and shut thine eyes? And wilt thou NOT
regard? Take warning, and stop thy journey before it be too late.
Wilt thou he like the silly fly, that is not quiet unless she be
either entangled in the spider's web or burnt in the candle? O
sinner, sinner, there are better things than HELL to be had! There
is heaven, there is God, there is Christ, there is communion with an
innumerable assembly of saints and angels!
The poor, carnal, ignorant world miss of heaven, even because they
love their sins and cannot part with them John 3:9, 20.
The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they stop their ears
against convictions, and refuse to come when God calls. Prov. 1:
24-29.
The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because the god of this
world hath blinded their eyes, that they can neither see the evil
and damnable state they are in at present, nor the way to get out of
it; neither do they see the beauty of Jesus Christ, nor how willing
he is to save poor sinners. 2 Cor. 4: 2, 3.
The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they defer coming to
Christ until the time of God's patience and grace is over. Some
indeed are resolved never to come; but some again say, "We will come
hereafter;" and so it comes to pass, that because God called and
they did not hear, so "they shall cry and I will not hear," saith
the Lord. Zech. 7: 11-13.
The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they have false
apprehensions of God's mercy. They say in their hearts, "We shall
have peace, though we walk in the imagination of our heart." Deut.
29: 19-21.
The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they make light of
the gospel that offers mercy to them freely, and because they lean
upon their own good meanings and thinkings and doings. Matt. 22:
1-5; Rom. 9: 30, 31.
The poor carnal world miss of heaven, because by unbelief, which
reigns in them, they are kept for ever from being clothed with
Christ's righteousness, and from washing in his blood, without which
there is no remission of sin nor justification.
Blush, sinner, blush! Ah, that thou hadst grace to blush.
My first word shall be to the openly profane. Poor sinner, thou
readest that many that expect heaven will go without heaven. What
sayest thou to this, poor sinner? If judgment begins at the house of
God, what will be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?
This is Peter's question: canst thou answer it, sinner? Yea, I say
again, if judgment must begin at them, will it not make thee think,
What shall become of me? And I add, when thou shalt see the stars of
heaven tumble down to hell, canst thou think that such a muck-heap
of sin as thou art shall be lifted up to heaven? Peter asks thee
another question: "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall
the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Canst thou answer this question,
sinner? Stand among the righteous thou mayst not: "The ungodly shall
not stand in the judgment." Stand among the wicked thou then wilt
not dare to do: where wilt thou appear, sinner? To stand among the
hypocrites will avail thee nothing: "The hypocrite shall not come
before him," that is, with acceptance, "but shall perish."
Because it concerns thee much, let me over with it again. When thou
shalt see less sinners than thou art bound up by angels in bundles
to burn them, where wilt thou appear, sinner? Thou mayst wish
thyself another man, but that will not help thee, sinner. Thou mayst
wish, "Would I had been converted in time;" but that will not help
thee neither. And if, like the wife of Jeroboam, thou shouldst feign
thyself to be another, the prophet, the Lord Jesus, would soon find
thee out. What wilt thou do, poor sinner? Heavy tidings, heavy
tidings will attend thee, except thou repent, poor sinner!
Sluggard, art thou asleep still? art thou resolved to sleep the
sleep of death? Will neither tidings from heaven nor hell awake
thee? Wilt thou say still, "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a
little folding of the arms to sleep?"
O that I was one that was skilful in lamentation, and had but a
yearning heart towards thee, how would I pity thee; how would I
bemoan thee! Poor soul, lost soul, dying soul, what a hard heart
have I that I cannot mourn for thee! If thou shouldst lose but a
limb, a child, or a friend, it would not be so much; but, poor man,
it is thy soul: if it was to lie in hell but for a day, but for a
year, nay, ten thousand years, it would in comparison be nothing;
but O it is for ever! O this cutting EVER!
Sinner, awake; yea, I say unto thee, awake! Sin lieth at thy door,
and God's axe lieth at thy root, and hell-fire is right underneath
thee. I say again, awake. Every tree that bringeth not forth good
fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Poor sinner, awake: Eternity is coming, and his Son; they are both
coming to judge the world: awake; art yet asleep, poor sinner? let
me set the trumpet to thine ear once again. The heavens will he
shortly on a burning flame; the earth and the works thereof shall be
burned up, and then wicked men shall go into perdition: dost thou
hear this, sinner?
Hark again: the sweet morsels of sin will then be fled and gone, and
the bitter, burning fruits of them only left. What sayst thou now,
sinner? canst thou drink hell-fire? will the wrath of God be a
pleasant dish to thy taste? This must be thine every day's meat and
drink in hell, sinner.
I will yet propound to thee God's ponderous question, and then for
this time leave thee: "Can thine heart endure, or can thy hands be
strong in the day that I shall deal with thee, saith the Lord?" What
sayst thou? Wilt thou answer this question now; or wilt thou take
time to do it; or wilt thou be desperate and venture all? And let me
put this text in thine ear to keep it open, and so the Lord have
mercy upon thee: "Upon the wicked shall the Lord rain snares, fire,
and brimstone, and a horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of
their cup." Repent, sinners.