This might be sufficiently argued, from the express and emphatical words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the text. For he bore his Father's commission to preach the gospel of the kingdom, to publish the good news of its erection and success, and likewise to declare its nature, and the method of admittance into it. And he is himself the great Sovereign of that kingdom; and consequently cannot but perfectly, and beyond all comparison with any other, know the whole of its constitution. But God has repeated the declaration by him, and by his other messengers to the children of men, in different ages, and under different dispensations, in such a manner as suited its infinite importance. And, therefore, for the further illustration of the argument, I shall enumerate a great variety of scriptures that speak the same language; not so much aiming thereia at the speculative proof of the point, as attempting to impress the consciences of my hearers with a sense of its certainty; and humbly hoping that some of those sharp-pointed arrows, which I am now drawing out of the quiver of God, may, by the direction of his Spirit, enter the reins of some against whom they are bevelled (1), and convince them of the absolute necessity of an entire change in their hearts, as well as their lives, or of the vanity of all those hopes which they entertain, while that change is wanting. And let me bespeak your attention, not to the conjectures or reasoning of a frail mortal man, but to the solemn admonitions and declarations of the eternal God; and be assured that in one sense or anoth (1) Lam. iii. 3, er, his word shall take hold on you, as it has done on sinners of former generations, either for conviction, or condemnation.... That I may not be confounded in the multiplici ty of my proofs, I shall range them under these three distinct heads. The prophets of the Old Testament were commissioned to make this declaration :-it was renewed by the preaching of Christ ;—and was supported by the testimony of the Apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 1. The prophets of the Old Testament were com- missioned in effect to make this declaration, that no unregenerate sinner should enter the kingdom of God. Well might our Lord say to Nicodemus, art thou a teacher in Israel, and knowest not these things? For to this in effect all the prophets bear witness, and it might be learned from almost every page of their writings. It is true the particular phrase of being born again, or regenerated, does not occur there; nor is it expressly said, that an unregenerate man shall not be admitted into God's kingdom. But then the prophets every where assert, what is in effect the same, that no wicked man, who does not heartily repent of his sins, and turn from them to God, must expect the Divine favor. Now if you consider what we mean by an unregenerate man, according to the description I have given before, you will find it is just the same as an impenitent sinner; and if it be declared that such are not to expect the Divine favor, nay, that they must certainly prove the object of his displeasure, this must certainly imply an exclusion from his kingdom, and aust intend a great deal more than being deprived of everlasting happiness. And thus you see that all those Scriptures, which speak of the irreconciteable hatred of God against sin, and against all impenitent sinners, come in to do service here, and are equivalent to the declaration in the text. And I may hereafter shew you, "that there are many Scriptures in the Old Testament which lead men to consider that change, said to be so necessary, as what must be effected by a Divine operation on their souls. But as that will more properly come in under a following head, I shall at present content myself with selecting a few Scriptures, as a specimen of many hundred more, in proof of the main point before us; and I beseech you that you would endeavor to enter, not only into the sense, but into the spirit of them. You well know that unregenerate sinners are wicked men; and of such it is said, God is angry with the wicked every day (1); or all the day long, as the original imports. The sinner lies down and rises up, goes out and comes in, under the Divine displeasure and though with great patience God bears with him for a while, he is described as preparing his dreadful artillery against him, to smite him even with a mortal wound: so far will he be from admitting him into his kingdom, that as it is there added, if he turn not he will whet his sword; he has bent his bow and made it ready; he has also prepared for him the instruments of death (2). And in another place, he describes the dreadful consequence of that prep(2) Psal. vii. 12, 13. (1) Psalms vii. 2. aration in most lively terms: IfI whet my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me: I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh from the beginning of revenges on the enemy; i. e. as soon as I begin this awful work (1). And elswhere he compares the destruction which he will bring upon sinners at last, to that which he executed on Sodom and Gomorrah, when he scattered fire and brimstone on their habitations, and reduced their pleasant country to a burning lake; Upon the wicked he will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this will be the portion of their cup (2): and oh, how unlike the state and abode of those who are the happy subjects of his kingdom. None of the prophets speak in milder and more gentle language to returning penitents than Isaiah; yet he declares, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked (3). Yea, he does as it were, call in the concurrence of all who feared God, and who loved their country, to echo back and enforce the admonition: say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him: but on the other hand, wo to wicked, it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given Lim (4) The enumeration would be endless; and it would require more than the time of a whole discourse, only to read over, without any comment or remark one half of the passages which might properly be (1) Deut. xxxii. 41, 42. (2) Psal. xi. 6. 1 Introduced on this occasion. I will therefore only mention two more, which, though some of you may hear with indifference, I confess I cannot read with out a very sensible inward commotion. The one is that passage in the Mosaic law, where God directs his servant to say, If there be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood, or any unregenerate soul, who when he hears the words of this curse, shall bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst, and run into onè debauchery and sin after another: The Lord will not spare him, but the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoke and be inflamed against that man ;—and the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the cove`nant, that are written in the book of the law(1). There is a terrible emphasis of which we cannot but take notice here: God declares, that if among all the thousands of Israel, there was but one such presumptuous sinner, that thus flattered himself in the way of his own heart, he would make a terrible example of him, and separate that one man to evil, out of thousauds and ten thousands of his faithful and obedient servants. This therefore is a passage full of apparent terror: the other is indeed a language of mercy; but it contains a most awful insinuation, which appears, as good Archbishop Tillotson expresses it, "like a ra zor set in oil, which wounds with so much the keener edge." As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no |