quences of our first parents' sin, even as others; and to use the language of our own church article, "bring into the world with us, a corruption, which renders us liable to God's wrath, and eternal damnation."

Should I preach to you any other doctrine, I should wrong my own soul; I should be found a false witness towards God and you; and he that preaches any other doctrine, however dignified and distinguished, shall bear his punishment, whoever he be.

From this plain reason, then, appears the necessity, why we, as well as the first apostles, in this sense, must receive the Spirit of God.

For the great work of sanctification, or making us holy, is particularly referred to the Holy Ghost; therefore, our Lord says, "Unless a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Jesus Christ came down to save us, not only from the guilt, but also from the power of sin. And however often we have repeated our creed, and told God we believe in the Holy Ghost, yet, if we have not believed in him, so as to be really united to Jesus Christ by him, we have no more concord with Jesus Christ than Belial himself.

And now, my brethren, what shall I say more ? Tell me, are not many of you offended at what has been said already? Do not some of you think, though I mean well, yet I have carried the point a little too far? Are not others ready to cry out, if this be true, "who then can be saved?" Is not this driving people into despair?

Yes, I ingenuously confess it is ; but into what despair? a despair of mercy through Christ? No, God forbid; but a despair of living with God, without receiving the Holy Ghost! And I would to God, that not only all you that hear me this day, but that the whole world was filled with this despair. Believe me, I have been doing no more than you allow your bodily physicians to do every day: if you have a wound, and are in earnest about a cure, you bid the surgeon probe it to the very bottom; and shall not the physician of your souls be allowed the same freedom? What have I been doing but searching your natural wounds, that I might convince you of your danger, and put you upon applying to Jesus Christ for a remedy? Indeed I have dealt with you as gently as I could; and now I have wounded, I will attempt to heal you. For I was in the Last place, to exhort you all to come to Jesus Christ by faith, whereby you, even you also, shall receive the Holy Ghost. For this spake he of the Spirit, which they th-holiove on him should receive.

This, this is what I long to come to. Hitherto I have been preaching only the law; but behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy. If I have wounded you, be not afraid; behold I now bring a remedy for all your wounds. Notwithstanding you are sunk into the nature of the beast and devil, yet, if you truly believe on Jesus Christ, you shall receive the quickening Spirit promised in the text, and be restored to the glorious liberties of the sons of God; I say, if you believe on Jesus Christ. "For by faith we are saved: not of works, lest any one should boast." And however some men say, there is a fitness required in the creature, and that we must have a righteousness of our own, before we can lay hold on the righteousness of Christ; yet, if we believe the scripture, salvation is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord; and whoever believeth on him with his whole heart, though his soul be as black as hell itself, shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Behold then, I stand up, and cry out in this great day of the feast, "Let every one that thirsteth come unto Jesus Christ and drink. He that believeth on him, out of his belly shall flow (not only streams or rivulets, but whole) rivers of living water." This I speak of the Spirit, which they that believe on Jesus shall certainly receive. For Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He is the way, the truth, the resurrection, and the life; whosoever believeth on him, though he were dead, yet shall he live." There is no respect of persons with Jesus Christ; high and low, rich and poor, one with another, may come to him with an humble confidence, if they draw near by faith; from him we all receive grace upon grace; for Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth, and ready to save to the uttermost, all that by a true faith turn unto him. Indeed, the poor generally receive the gospel, and God has chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith. But though not many mighty, not many noble are called; and though it be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, yet, even to you that are rich, do I now freely offer salvation, by Jesus Christ, if you will renounce yourselves, and come to Jesus Christ as poor sinners; I say, as poor sinners; for the poor in spirit are only so blessed as to have a right to the kingdom of God. And Jesus Christ calls none to him, but those who thirst after his righteousness, and feel themselves weary, and heavy laden with the burden of their sins. Jesus Christ justifies the ungodly; "he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Do not then say you are unworthy: for this is a faithful and true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, “That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners ;" and if you

are the chief of sinners, if you feel yourselves such, verily Jesus Christ came into the world chiefly to save you. When Joseph was called out of the prison house to Pharaoh's court, we are told that he staid some time to prepare himself; but do you come with all your prison clothes about you; come poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked, as you are, and God the Father shall receive you with open arms, as was the returning prodigal. He shall cover your nakedness with the best robe of his dear Son's righteousness, shall seal you with the signet of his Spirit, and feed you with the fatted calf, even with the comforts of the Holy Ghost. O, let there then be joy in heaven over some of you, as believing; let me not go back to my Master, and say, Lord, they will not believe my report. Harden no longer your hearts, but open them wide, and let the king of glory enter in; believe me, I am willing to go to prison or death for you; but I am not willing to go to heaven without you. The love of Jesus Christ constrains me to lift up my voice like a trumpet. My heart is now full; out of the abundance of the love which I have for your precious and immortal souls, my mouth now speaketh; and I could now not only continue my discourse until midnight, but I could speak until I could speak no more. And why should I despair of any? No, I can despair of no one, when I consider Jesus Christ has had mercy on such a wretch as I am; however you. may think of yourselves, I know that by nature I am but half a devil and half a beast. The free grace of Christ prevented me; he saw me in my blood, he passed by me, and said unto me, live; and the same grace which was sufficient for me, is sufficient for you also; behold, the same blessed Spirit is ready to breathe on all your dry bones, if you will believe on Jesus Christ, whom God has sent; indeed, you can never believe on, or serve a better master, one that is more mighty, or more willing to save; I can say, the Lord Christ is gracious, his yoke easy, his burden exceeding light; after you have served him many years, like the servants under the law, was he willing to discharge you, you would say, we love our Master, and will not go from him. Come then, my guilty brethren, come and believe on the Lord that bought you with his precious blood; look up by faith, and see him whom you have pierced; behold him bleeding, panting, dying? Behold him with arms stretched out to receive you all; cry unto him, as the penitent thief did, Lord, remember us now thou art in thy kingdom, and he shall say to your souls, "Shortly shall you be with me in paradise." For those whom Christ justifies, them he also glorifies, even with that glory which he enjoyed with the Father, before the world began. Do not say, "I have bought a piece

of ground, and must needs go see it; or I have bought a yoke of oxen, and must needs go prove them; or I have married a wife," I am engaged in an eager pursuit after the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, and therefore cannot come. Do not fear having your name cast out as evil, or being accounted a fool for Christ's sake; yet a little while, and you shall shine like the stars in the firmament for ever. Only believe, and Jesus Christ shall be to you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and eternal redemption; your "bodies shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body," and your souls be partakers of all the fullness of God.

Which God, of his infinite mercy, grant, through Jesus Christ; to whom, with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, three persons and one God, be ascribed, as is most due, all power, might, majesty, and dominion, now and for ever more. Amen, Amen.

THE excellency of the gospel dispensation is greatly evidenced by those sanctions of rewards and punishments, which it offers to the choice of all its hearers, in order to engage them to be obedient to its precepts. For it promises no less than eternal happiness to the good, and denounces no slighter a punishment than everlasting misery against the wicked: on the one hand, "It is a savor of life unto life;" on the other, "A savor of death unto death." And though one would imagine the bare mentioning of the former would be sufficient to draw men to their duty, yet ministers in all ages, have found it necessary, frequently to remind their people of the latter, and to set before them the terrors of the Lord, as so many powerful dissuasives from sin.

But whence is it that men are so disingenuous? The reason seems to be this: the premise of eternal happiness is so agreeable to the inclinations and wishes of mankind, that all who call themselves christians, universally and willingly subscribe to the belief of it: but then there is something so shocking in the consideration of eternal torments, and seemingly such an

infinite disproportion between an endless duration of pain, and a short life spent in pleasure, that men (some at least of them) can scarcely be brought to confess it as an article of their faith, that an eternity of misery awaits the wicked in a future state.

I shall, therefore, at this time, beg leave to insist on the proof of this part of one of the articles of our creed; and endeavor to make good, what our blessed Lord has here threatened in the words of the text, These, (that is the wicked) shall go away into everlasting punishment.

Accordingly, without considering the words as they stand in relation to the context, I shall resolve all that I have to say, into this one general proposition, That the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter, are eternal.

But before I proceed to make this good, I must inform you that I take it for granted, all present do steadfastly believe they have something within them, which we call a soul, and which is capable of surviving the dissolution of the body, and of being miserable or happy to all eternity.

I take it for granted farther, that you believe a divine revelation; that those books emphatically called the scriptures, were written by the inspiration of God, and that the things therein contained, are founded upon eternal truth.

I take it for granted, that you believe that the Son of God came down to die for sinners; and that there is but one Mediator between God and man, even the man Christ Jesus.

These things being granted, and they were necessary to be premised, proceed we now to make good the one general proposition asserted in the text, That the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter are eternal. These shall go away into everlasting punishment. The

First argument I shall advance to prove that the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter are eternal, (for I have taken it for granted, that you believe those books, emphatically called the scriptures, were written by the inspiration of God, and that the things contained therein are founded upon eternal truth) is, that the word of God himself assures us, in line upon line, that it will be so.

To quote all the texts that might be produced in proof of this, would be endless. Let it suffice to instance only a few. In the Old Testament, in the book of Daniel, chap. xii. verse 2. we are told that some "shall awake to everlasting life," and others to "everlasting contempt." In the book of Isaiah, it is said, that "the worm of those who have transgressed God's law, and die impenitently, shall not die, nor their fire be quenched." And, in another place, the holy prophet, struck, no doubt, with astonishment and horror at the prospect of the continuance