[Our Lord has assured us of it : yea, he has repeated it again and again '. And wherefore has he so solemnly affirmed it ? Was he disposed to create unnecessary alarm ? or did he feel any pleasure in denouncing woes ? No : it was from love he spake: he desired the salvation of hishearers; and, therefore, whilst he encouraged them with words of grace, speaking to them with a wisdom and a tenderness that " never man spake," he warned them of the consequences of rejecting his gracious invitations. Let it not, then, be thought unkind in us, if we also, " knowing the terrors of the Lord, persuade menk." It is not to excite unnecessary fears that we thus speak, but to avert the judgments that are impending over your heads. We would not willingly grieve you ; but we dare not " prophesy unto you smooth things; we dare not prophesy deceits." Our God has told us, that, " if we forbear to sound the trumpet of alarm, our own souls must perish." Nor will you be at all benefited : for " you will die in your iniquities ; and your blood will be required at our hands1." If you doubt the truth of what we affirm, look at the frequent appeals which God makes
to yourselves look at the parable of the Rich Man and
Lazarus. The Rich Man believed not in Christ, nor gave him- self up to him : and when he died, " he died in his sins :" and the next that you hear of him is, that he was " in hell, lifting up his eyes in torments." His five brethren, who inherited his wealth, were following his steps ; never dreaming whither he was gone, or whither they themselves were hastening. The man in torments earnestly entreated that one might be sent from the dead, to warn his surviving brethren of the certain issue of their course. But that favour could not be granted. They had Moses and the prophets : and, if they would not receive their testimony, no other would be given them. So then you may see the certain consequence of unbelief: and, if you will not credit the testimony of the Lord Jesus, nothing remains for you, but to feel to all eternity what you cannot now be prevailed upon to believe and shun™.]
Permit me now to recommend to you,
1. An inquiry into your state, in relation to this matter—
[Do not take it for granted that you are believers in Christ. The Jews thought that they believed Moses, whilst they were acting in direct opposition to his words. And, as they deceived themselves, so do ye, whilst you imagine that you can be saved in any way but that of a total surrender of
1 Shewn in the Introduction. k 2 Cor. v. 1 1 .
1 Ezek. xxxiii. 8, 9. m Heb. ii. 3. xii. 25. and x. 28, 29.