foretold, Matt, xxiv., when the abomination of desolation should be seen, stand- ing in the holy place : ' Then,' saith Christ, ' let him that is in Judea flee into the mountains.' But what was that to this? They are but men, though abomi- nable ; these devils. They did but stand in the material temple, and defile and deface that ; hut these display their banners in the souls of men, pollute that throne, which is more glorious than the material heaven itself, made for God alone to sit in. They exercised their cruelties at furthest on the bodies of men, killing and torturing them : here the precious souls of men are destroyed. When David would curse to purpose the enemies of God, he prays that ' Satan may be at their right hand.' It is strange sinners should no more tremble at this, who, should they but- see their swine or a beast, bewitched and possessed of the devil, run headlong into the sea, would cry out as half undone. And is not one soul worth more than all these ? What a plague is it to have Satan possess thy heart and spirit, hurrying thee in the fury of thy lusts to perdition? O poor man ! what a sad change hast thou made ? Thou who wouldst not sit under the meek and peaceable government of God thy rightful Lord, art paid for thy rebellion against him, in the crueltv of this tyrant, who writes all his laws in the blood of his subjects : and why will yovi sit any longer, O sinners, under the shadow of this bramble, from which you can expect nothing but eternal fire to come at last and devour you ? Behold, Christ is in the field, sent of God to recover his right and your liberty. His royal standard is pitched in the gospel, and proclamation made, that if any poor sinners, weary of the devil's govern- ment, and heavy laden with the miserable chains of his spiritual bondage, so as these irons of his sins enter into his very soul to afflict it with the sense of them, shall thus come and repair to Christ ; he shall have protection from God's justice, the devil's wrath, and sin's dominion ; in a word, ' he shall have rest,' and that 'glorious,' Matt. xi. 28; Isa. xi. 10. Usually, when a people have been ground with the oppression of some bloody tyrant, they are apt enough to long for a change, and to listen to any overture that gives them hope of liberty, though reached by the hand of a stranger, who may prove as bad as the other ; yet bondage is so grievous, that people desire to change, as sick men their beds, though they find little ease thereby. Why then should deliverance be unwel- come to you, sinners? Deliverance brought not by a stranger whom you need fear what his design is upon you, but your near kinsman in blood, who cannot mean you ill, but he must first hate his own flesh ; and whoever did that? To be sure, not he, who though he took part of our flesh, that he might have the right of being our Redeemer, yet would have no kindred with us in the sinful- ness of our nature, Heb. ii. 14, 15. And it is sin that makes us cruel, yea, to our own flesh. What can you expect from him but pui-e mercy, who is him- self pure ? They are ' the mercies of the wicked which are cruel,' Heb. iv. 15. Believe it, Christ counts it his honovir, that he is King of a willing people, and not of slaves. He comes to make you free, not to bring you into bondage ; to make you kings, not vassals. None give Christ an evil woi'd, but those who never were his subjects. Inquire but of those who have tried both Satan's service and Christ's ; they are best able to resolve you what they are. You see when a soul comes over from Satan's quarters unto Christ's, and has but once the experience of that sweetness which is in his service, there is no getting him back to his old drudgery, as they say of those who come out of the north, which is cold and poor, they like the warm south so well, that they seldom go back more. What more dreadful to a gracious soul than to be delivered into the hands of Satan, or fall under the power of his lusts ? It would choose rather to leap into a burning furnace, than be commanded by them. This is the great request a child of God makes, that he would rather whip him in his house, than turn him out of it to become a prey to Satan. O sinners, did you know, which you cannot till you come over to Christ, and embrace him as j'our Lord and Saviour, what the privileges of Christ's servants are, and what gentle usage saints have at Christ's hands, you would say those were the only happy men in the world which stand continuallj^ before him. His laws are written, not with his subjects' blood, as Satan's are, but with his own. All his commands are acts of grace ; it is a favour to be employed about them. To you it is given to . believe, yea, to ' suffer,' Phil. i. 20. Such an honour the saints esteem it to do
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