LIX.

[Luke 16. 22, &c.]

SERM. my days here; if God, who only can tell us what will become of us when we die, has expressly declared, that He will call every soul to an account for the works done in the body, whether they have been good or evil; that this judgment, and the sentence following, cannot be very far off: for (as our Saviour intimates), as the soul of the rich unmerciful man, immediately after death, went to a place of torment, so the soul of Lazarus was, as soon as ever he was dead, carried by the angels into Paradise, a place of rest and comfort, there to remain until the judgment of the great day; and that thus it must be with every soul when death parts it from the body; why then, it very much concerns me (let other people be never so careless), to lay these things to heart; to provide against the worst that can happen: to be very earnest to know what I must do to appease and to please God; what I must do to escape that place of torment which the rich man so dolefully complained of; and how I may be made partaker of that happiness in Paradise which the soul of Lazarus enjoys till the resurrection, when his soul and body shall enjoy eternal happiness.

This is what one would be apt to think every Christian, who has heard of these things and pretends to believe them to be true, should reason with himself. But, God knows, this is not the way that the generality of people, the generality of Christians, take; for, instead of being awakened into a sober fear for themselves; instead of asking that concerning question, Lord! what must I do to be saved? that is, how must I live so as to make my life easy and my death happy? instead of this, they take the sure way to be for ever undone. They hate, and they avoid, that light which would shew them Job 21. 14. their mistake and their danger. "They say unto God" (as those heretofore did), " depart from us, for we desire not the chap. 30. knowledge of Thy ways;" or, as those which Isaiah complains

10, 11.

of, "who say to the seers, see not; and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things; cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us;" that is, do not speak to us of God and His Word;. we had rather not hear these things; they make us uneasy; while we do not know them, we do not fear them; and while we do not fear them, we are easy; we see plainly, that if we

give way to the belief of these things, we must lead another sort of life; we must part, every man, with his most beloved sins, which we cannot yet think of doing; we will therefore choose to continue in darkness; we had rather continue ignorant, and enjoy the pleasures we do, than part with them, or be tormented with the knowledge of what will follow, if we do not part with them.

I know very well, what every one that hears me, and understands, and minds what I have said, thinks of this way of reasoning.

What! people that are bred and born amongst Christians; people that every day profess to believe a judgment and life to come, rewards and punishments of another world; is it possible for Christians to speak, or to think at this wild rate? People who have the light of the Gospel to guide them, and the ministers of the Gospel to instruct them, can they be said to be still in darkness? Can they be said to hate that light which God has sent to guide their feet into the way of peace? Why now, Christians, I will set before you matter of fact; and you will see that it is as true at this day, as it was when our Saviour spoke these words; and that, although light, the light of the Gospel, has been so long in the world, "yet men" (the generality of men) "love darkness rather than light:" and, for the very same reason, even "because their deeds are evil," they will not bear to be reproved; they will not bear to be disturbed; they will not lay these things to heart. And first; as our blessed Lord observed then, that "the [Luke 7. 30.] Scribes and the Pharisees rejected the counsel of God,"His gracious designs of mercy to bring them to Christ by the baptism of John; even so it is now. Infinite is the number of those, who, though the glad tidings of the Gospel are held forth to them, will not vouchsafe to hearken to them, because they are too wise to be taught by God Himself.

But, secondly, this is not the worst of our case. There are many, very many, who set themselves to oppose this light with all their might; who deny the Lord that bought them; [2 deny, or, which is worse, despise all His gracious offers of pardon, of reconciliation, of assistance, and of happiness.

Thirdly, there are others, and perhaps they are most in number, who dare not go so far as to deny the Lord Jesus,

Pet. 2. 1; Jude 4.]

LIX.

SERM. and the Gospel He has given us, who yet do hold the truth in unrighteousness, do lead as careless and ungodly lives, as the greatest infidels.

[Rom. 1. 18.]

2 Tim. 2. 13.

Lastly, there are but too many, and in the very throng of Christians, who are utter strangers to the very design of Christianity; who know not why they are baptized; why they were obliged to renounce the devil, to believe in God, and to serve Him; who are altogether unconcerned how to please God while they live, and know not what will become of them when they die.

All this is matter of fact. It is an astonishing infatuation that men should not care for, should avoid, should hate, that light which would shew them their folly and their danger. But so it is; and our Lord has given us the true reason: "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved;" that is, lest he should see his error, be convinced of his danger, and be obliged to part with his beloved sins. And this is the true reason, let whatever else be pretended, of all that infidelity, ignorance of Divine things, profaneness, and stupid carelessness, which we meet with, which way soever we turn us.

Some therefore choose to be infidels, concluding, one may suppose, that if they do not believe the terrors of the world to come, they have no reason to fear them; that, therefore, they may go on in the ways of their own choosing without disturbance.

To such perverse reasoning, one would oppose what St. Paul saith to Timothy: "If ye believe not, yet God abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself:" that is, if God has decreed "that every one that believeth not, shall be damned,” this will be so in the conclusion, though all the world should agree not to believe one word of it.

Others there are, who believe, who see the light, but hate the sight of it, because it shews them their error and their danger. The consequence of which will certainly be what Rom. 1. 28. St. Paul has set down; "Whereas they did not like to retain

God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind:" enough, one would think, to startle the most resolved sinner, to be abandoned of God and left to himself! Nor are they in a much better condition, who hope, that

their being in darkness, their want of knowledge, will excuse their following their own ways, and living in sin. Want of knowledge, in a Christian country! where the church doors are open one day in seven; where the Gospel is, or may be, in every body's hands; where the great truths and duties of religion are made plain to the meanest capacities, and fitted for the shortest memories!

:

17.

10.]

In short, none are so blind as they that will not see. And this is, in truth, the case of all such as are engaged in sinful courses or infidelity. They shut their eyes and complain that they want light and at the same time they are "as those that rebel against the light," of whom Job speaks, "the Job 24. 13, morning being to them as the shadow of death." And therefore, they hate Jesus Christ, because He hath brought life and [2 Tim. 1. immortality to light through the Gospel. They hate that Gospel, because it holds forth a standing light which shews them to themselves; they hate Christ's ministers, because they are, or should be, ever sounding these, and such like truths in their ears: "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord:" "Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor covetous, &c., shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."

It is for this reason, that, as the prophet Amos, chap. v. 10, speaks, "They hate him that rebuketh in the gate;" that is, the conscientious civil magistrate, who punishes vice: "and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly;" that is, the priest, who tells them the plain truth.

In one word; they that are engaged in wickedness of any kind will have an aversion to every thing that belongs to God; His house, His day, His word, His ministers, and His ordinances; and by this they themselves may know that they are in darkness, and in the way of perdition.

Now, the things which I would recommend to your consideration, from these words of Christ, are these following:

And first; it is plain from hence, that if men have no religion, it is because they will have none. It is not for want of light to shew them the way they should go; but because they are resolved not to part with their sins, they avoid that light which would shew them their folly and their danger. And let such people complain never so much, that they want

LIX.

SERM. to be convinced of the truths of Christianity, and of that holiness which it requires, and the happiness which it proposes; they will still continue in darkness, and will die without faith, and without hopes of mercy; for faith being the gift of God, He expects, that they that want it should ask it, and after such a manner as to shew they value it; that they should prepare themselves for receiving it, by parting with those sins which they know to be displeasing to God, from whom they ask this favour. When they do this, they will believe the Gospel, and be convinced, how much it concerns them to obey its laws: but whoever is afraid of seeing the truth, has no reason to expect that God will shew it him.

Secondly; as for such as do believe the Gospel, but hold the truth in unrighteousness; that is, who believe as they should do, but lead careless or ungodly lives, such would do well to consider, that every man who lives in any known sin is advancing towards atheism; that is, to a state which will oblige him, first to wish, and then to say there is no God.

Christians will not believe this, or that God will ever deprive them of that measure of light and knowledge which He has vouchsafed them; and yet it is as certain as any truth in the Gospel, that he who lives not up to that measure of grace which God has given him, even that which he hath shall be taken away. If men will not retain God in their knowledge, and live like men that know God, God will give them up to a reprobate mind; that is, to a mind void of judgment; so that they shall commit all iniquity with greediness, as a most righteous punishment for making so ill use of the grace of God, and the light He had given them.

In the next place; they that hope to make their lives easy, by continuing in darkness, and by shutting their eyes against the light, do not consider, that that very darkness will make them uneasy. No man ever found perfect satisfaction either in ignorance or infidelity. Doubts and fears of what may come hereafter, are the certain consequence of sin, of ignorance, and of unbelief.

Fourthly; they that are uneasy or unwilling to hear their duty, or to have their miscarriages reproved, may depend upon it, that they are in a bad way, a way which will lead