be left for ever in your sins, and have no part with him to all eternity. The whole tenor of jour life has been to this effect, ' We will not have this man to reign over us : ' and therefore from him and his kingdom you shall be separated for ever."]
3. Towards your own souls —
[You have not eared about them, or sought their happi- ness. You have been mindful only of earthly things. Your ease, pleasure, interest, honour, with the approbation of men, have been more to you than any concern pertaining to the soul. Pardon, peace, holiness, glory, have all been, in your esteem, of small account, in comparison of some temporal ad- vantage. And, when warned what must be the issue of such a life, you have determined to run the risk, and to endure the consequences of impenitence, rather than put yourselves to the pain and trouble of repenting. Heaven has had no value, in comparison of some vain indulgence ; nor hell an}^ terror, in comparison of the pain of self-denial, and the shame of ridicule from an ungodly world.
According, therefore, as you have sowed, you shall reap : "You have sown to the flesh, and of the flesh you shall reap corruption." God will say to you, " Your soul shall be of as little value in my eyes, as it was in yours. Heaven was not worth seeking : you shall not have it. Hell was not worth avoiding : you shall take your portion in it. You were satis- fied with things temporal: you shall have nothing beyond them. You did not even desire a happiness that is eternal : you shall never have it obtruded upon you, but shall be left destitute of it for ever and ever. You chose to wrestle with me, and walk contrary to me : continue now your fruitless contest to all eternity, whilst I walk contrary to you, and 'wrestle'^' with you. You have been the authors of your own destiny : and by your own choice you must abide for ever and ever."]
The same mode of proceeding is observed by God,
II. In the rewarding of the godly —
Mark how he will act towards,
1. The penitent —
[It is a grief to you that you have ever sinned against so good a God : you are ashamed ; you blush and are confounded when you look back upon your ways : you even lothe and abhor yourselves in dust and ashes ; and if you could, by any means, undo what you have done amiss, you would do any thing, or suffer any thing, that it were possible for you to do or suffer, to effect it.
<= See the marginal rendering of ver. 26.
VOL. v. H