to see an ungodly person dying, and to think of his soul and hopes departing together; and with what a sad change he presently appears in another world. Then, if a man could but speak with that hopeless soul, and ask it; 'What, are you now as confident of salvation as you were wont to be; do you now hope to be saved as soon as the most godly?' Oh, what a sad answer would he return! They are just like Korah, Dathan, and their companions: while they are confident in their rebellion against the Lord, and cry out, "Are not all the people holy?" They are suddenly swallowed up, and their hopes with them: or like Ahab, who hating and imprisoning the prophet for foretelling his danger, while he is in confident hopes to return in peace, is suddenly smitten with that mortal arrow, which let out those hopes, together with his soul; or, like a thief upon the gallows, who hath a strong conceit that he shall receive a pardon, and so hopes and hopes, till the ladder is turned; or, like the unbelieving sinners of the world before the flood, who would not believe the threatening of Noah, but perhaps derided him for preparing his ark so many years together, when no danger appeared, till suddenly the flood came and swept them all away. If a man had asked these men, when they were climbing up into the tops of trees and mountains; 'Where is now your hope of escaping, or your merry deriding at the painful preventing preparations of godly Noah; or your contemptuous unbelief of the warnings of God?' what do you think these men would then say, when the waters still pursued them from place to place, till it devoured their hopes and them together? Or if one had asked Ahab, when he had received his wound, and turned out of the battle to die; 'What think you now of the prophecy of Micaiah; will you release him out of prison; do you now hope to return in peace?' Why, such a sudden overthrow of their hopes will every unregenerate sinner receive. While they were upon earth, they frustrated the expectations, as I may say, of God and man; God sent his messengers to tell them plainly of their danger, and said, It may be they will hear and return and escape; but they stiffened their necks and hardened their hearts: the minister studied, and instructed, and persuaded them in hope: and when one sermon prevailed not, he laboured to speak more plainly and piercingly in the next, in hope that at last they would be persuaded and return; till their hopes were frustrate, and their labour lost, and they were fain to turn their exhortation to lamentation, and to sit down in sorrow for men's wilful misery; and take up the sad exclamation of the prophet, "Who hath believed our report; and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" (Isa. liii. 1 :) so did godly parents also instruct their children in hope, and watch over them, and pray for them, hoping that at last their hearts would turn to Christ; and is it not meet that God should frus-` trate all their hopes, who have frustrated the hopes of all that desired their welfare? Oh! that 'careless sinners would be awaked to think of this in time! If thou be one of them, who art reading these lines, I do here as a friend advise thee, from the word of the Lord, that, as thou wouldst not have all thy hopes deceive thee, when thou hast most need of them, thou presently try them, whether they will prove current at the touchstone of the Scripture; and if thou find them unsound, let them go, whatsoever sorrow they cost thee. Rest not till thou canst give a reason of all thy hopes; (1 Pet. iii. 15;) till thou canst prove that they are the hopes which grace and not nature only hath wrought; that they are grounded upon scripture promises and sound evidences; that they purify thy heart; that they quicken, and not cool thy endeavours in godliness; that the more thou hopest, the less thou sinnest, and the more painful thou art in following on the work, and not grown more loose and careless by the increasing of thy hopes; and they make thee set lighter by all things on earth, because thou hast such hopes of higher possessions; that thou art willing to have them tried, and fearful of being deceived; that they stir up thy desires of enjoying what thou hopest for, and the deferring thereof is the trouble of thy heart. (Prov. xiii. 12.) If thou be sure that thy hopes be such as these, God forbid that I should speak a word against them, or discourage thee from proceeding to hope thus to the end. No, I rather persuade thee to go on in the strength of the Lord; and whatever men or 1 When our ministry petrifies, turns hearts into stones, and these taken up and thrown at us, this kills us: the recoiling of our pains kills us: when our peace returns to us; when we spend our strength to make men more naught than they were; this wounds our heart: which should be considered of sinners; to kill oneself, and one's minister too, that would save him. What a bloody condition is this! The blood of a minister on a man's soul, is more than the blood of many men: stubborn souls, lay this to heart.-Lockier on Col. i. 29. p. 52. There is a twofold repentance: the one, for that a man hath sinned, which is common; the other, when a man hath learned the nature of sin, persuadeth him by principal reason to desist from sin; the consequent of which is, to sin no more.-Clem. Alexan. Stromat. lib. vi. devils, or thy own unbelieving heart," shall say against it, go on, and hold fast thy hope, and be sure it will never make thee ashamed. But if thy hope be not of this spiritual nature, and if thou art able to give no better reason why thou hopest, than the worst in the world may give, that God is merciful; and thou must speed as well as thou canst, or the like; and hast not one sound evidence of a saving work of grace upon thy soul, to show for thy hopes; but only hopest that thou shalt be saved, because thou wouldst have it so, and because it is a terrible thing to despair: if this be thy case, delay not an hour; but presently cast away those hopes, that thou mayst get into a capacity of having better in their stead. But it may be thou wilt think this strange doctrine, and say, 'What, would you persuade me directly to despair?' Answ. Sinner, I would be loth to have thy soul destroyed by wilful self-delusion. The truth is, there is a hope, such as I have before showed thee, which is a singular grace and duty: and there is a hope which is a notorious, dangerous sin. So, consequently, there is a despair which is a grievous sin; and there is a despair which is absolutely necessary to thy salvation. I would not have thee despair of the sufficiency of the blood of Christ to save thee, if thou believe, and heartily obey him; nor of the willingness of God to pardon and save thee, if thou be such an one; nor yet absolutely of thy own salvation; because, while there is life and time, there is some hope of thy conversion, and so of thy salvation; nor would I draw thee to despair of finding Christ, if thou do but heartily seek him: or of God's acceptance of any sincere endeavours, nor of thy success against Satan, or any corruption which thou shalt heartily oppose, nor of any thing whatsoever God hath promised to do, either to all men in general, or to such as thou art. I would not have thee doubt of any of these in the least measure, much less despair. But this is the despair that I would persuade thee to, as thou lovest thy soul: that thou despair of ever being saved, except thou be born again; or of seeing God, without holiness; or of escaping perishing, except thou soundly repent: or of ever having part in Christ, or salvation by him, or ever being one of his true disciples, ex n Give me a man that, after many secret bickerings and hard conflicts in his breast, upon a serious penitence, and sense of reconciliation with his God, hath attained to a quiet heart; walking consciouably and close with that Majesty with whom he is atoned. I shall bless and emulate him as a meet subject of true joy.—Bishop Hall Soliloq. 11. pp. 37, 38. cept thou love him above father, mother, or thy own life: or of ever having a treasure in heaven, except thy very heart be there: or of ever escaping eternal death, if thou walk after the flesh, and dost not by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh; or of ever truly loving God, or being his servant, while thou lovest the world, and servest it. These things I would have thee despair of, and whatever else God hath told thee shall never come to pass. And when thou hast sadly searched into thy own heart, aud findest thyself in any of these cases, I would have thee despair of thyself of ever being saved in that state thou art in. Never stick at the sadness of the conclusion, man, but acknowledge plainly, If I die before I get out of this estate, I am lost for ever. It is as good deal truly with thyself as not; God will not flatter thee, he will deal plainly whether thou do or not. The very truth is, this kind of despair is one of the first steps to heaven. Consider, if a man be quite out of his way, what must be the first means to bring him in again? Why, a despair of ever coming to his journey's end in the way that he is in. If his home be eastward, and he be going westward, as long as he hopes he is in the right, he will go on; and as long as he so goes on hoping, he goes further amiss: therefore, when he meets with somebody that assures him that he is clean out of his way, and brings him to despair of coming home, except he turn back again; then he will return, and then he may hope and spare not. Why, sinner, just so is it with thy soul: thou art born out of the way to heaven; and in that way thou hast proceeded many a year; yet thou goest on quietly, and hopest to be saved, because thou art not so bad as many others. Why, I tell thee, except thou be brought to throw away those hopes, and see that thou hast all this while been quite out of the way to heaven; and hast been a child of wrath, and a servant of Satan, unpardoned, unsanctified, and if thou hadst died in this state, hadst been certainly damned: I say, till thou be brought to this, thou wilt never return and be saved. Who will turn out of his way while he hopes he is right? And let me once again tell thee, that if ever God mean good to thy soul, and intend to save thee, this is one of the first things that he will work upon thee remember what I say, till thou feel God convincing thee, that the way which thou hast lived in, will not serve the turn, and so break down thy former hopes, there is yet no saving • John iii. 5; Heb. xii. 14; Luke xiv. 25-27, &c., xv. 3, 4, xvi. 23; Matt. vi. 11; Rom. viii. 13; 1 John ii. 15. : work wrought upon thee, how well soever thou mayst hope of thyself. Yea, thus much more, if any thing keep thy soul out of heaven, which God forbid, there is nothing in the world liker to do it, than thy false hopes of being saved, while thou art out of the way to salvation. Why else is it that God cries down such hopes in his word? Why is it that every faithful, skilful minister doth bend all his strength against the false faith and hope of sinners, as if he were to fight against neither small nor great, but this prince of iniquity? Why, alas! they know that these are the main pillars of Satan's kingdom; bring down but them too, and the house will fall. They know also the deceit and vanity of such hopes; that they are directly contrary to the truth of God; and what a sad case that soul is in, who hath no other hope, but that God's word will prove false; when the truth of God is the only ground of true hope; alas! it is no pleasure to a minister to speak to people upon such an unwelcome subject, any more than it is to a pitiful physician to tell his patient, I do despair of your life, except you let blood; or there is no hope of the cure, except the gangrened member be cut off if it be true, and of flat necessity, though it be displeasing, there is no remedy. Why, I beseech you, think on it reasonably without prejudice or passion, and tell me, where doth God give any hope of your salvation, till you are new creatures? (Gal. vi. 15.) Nay, I have showed you where he flatly overthroweth all such hope. (Gal. v. 18-24; 2 Cor. v. 7.) And will it do you any good for a minister to give you hope, where God gives you none; or, would you desire him to do so? Why, what would you think of such a minister, when those hopes forsake you; or what thanks will you give him, when you find yourself in hell? would you not there lie and curse him for a deceiver for ever? I know this to be true, and therefore I had rather you were displeased with me here, than curse me there. For my own part, if I had but one sermon to preach while I lived, I think this should be it: to persuade down all your ungrounded hopes of heaven, not to leave you there in despair, but that you may hope upon better grounds which will never deceive you. God hath told us what he shall say: "Say to the righteous, It shall be well with him; and to the wicked, It shall be ill with him." (Isa. iii. 10, 11.) And if I shall say, it will be well with thee, when God hath said, it shall be ill with thee, what the better wert thou for this? Whose word would stand, think you, God's or mine? Oh, little do carnal ministers know what |