3. They have the threatenings and curses of God in force against them in his word; even words so terrible, as you would think might affright them out of their sins or their wits; and they take on them to believe this word of God; and yet they feel not.
4. They are in the power of the devil; ruled and deceived by him, and taken captive by him at his will, Acts xxvi. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 26.
5. They may be certain that if they die in this condition they shall be damned, and they are uncertain whether they shall live another day; they are never sure to be one hour longer out of hell; and yet they feel not.
6. They know that they must die, and that it is a great change, and of the greatest endless consequence, that death will make with them; and they know that this is sure and near, and are past doubt of it; and yet they feel it not.[146]
7. They must shortly appear before the Lord, and be judged for all that they have done in the body, and be doomed to their endless state; and yet they feel not.
8. They know that life is short, and that they have but a little time to prepare for all this terrible change, and that it must go with them for ever, as they now prepare; and yet they feel not.
9. They hear and read of the case of hardened, wicked men, that have gone before them, and have resisted grace, and lost their time, as they now do; and they read or hear of the miserable end that such have come to; and yet they feel not.
10. They have a world of examples continually before them; they see the filthy lives of many for their warning, and the holy lives of others for their imitation, and see how Christ and Satan strive for souls; and yet they feel not.
11. They are always before the eye of God, and do all things before his face; he warneth them, and calleth them to repentance; and yet they feel not.
12. They have Christ as it were crucified before their eyes, Gal. iii. 1: they hear of his sufferings; they may see in him what sin is, and what the love of God is; he pleadeth with them his blood and sufferings against their obstinate unkindness; and yet they feel not.
13. They have everlasting joy and glory offered them, and heaven so opened to them in God's promises, that they may see it as in a glass, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. They take on them to believe how much the blessed spirits there abhor such wickedness as theirs; and yet they feel not.
14. They have the torments of hell opened to them in the word of God; they read what impenitent souls must suffer to all eternity; they hear some in despair in this life, roaring in the misery of their souls; they hear the joyful thanksgivings of believers, that Christ delivereth them from those torments; and yet they feel not.
15. All the promises of salvation in the gospel do put in an exception against these men, "unless they be converted:" they are made to the penitent, and not to the impenitent. There is justification and life; but not for them. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," Rom. viii. 1. "But he that believeth not, is condemned already," John iii. 18, 36. And they that "after their hardness and impenitent hearts, do treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, shall have tribulation and anguish," Rom. ii. 5-7. Here is comfort for repenting sinners, but none (but on condition they repent) for them: when others are welcomed to Christ's marriage feast, he saith to these, "How came you in hither?" and yet they feel not.
16. They still carry about with them the doleful evidences of all this misery. One would think the ambitious, and covetous, and voluptuous might see these death-marks on themselves; and the ungodly might feel that God hath not their hearts; especially they that hate the godly, and show their wolfish cruelty against them, and are the progeny of Cain; and yet they feel not any of this, but live as quietly, and talk as pleasantly, as if all were well with them, and their souls were safe, and their calling and election were made sure. Alas! if these souls were not hardened in sin, we should see it in their tears, or hear it in their complaints; they would after sermon sometimes come to the minister, as they, Acts ii. 37; xvi. 30, "Sirs, what must we do to be saved?" or we should see it in their lives, or hear of it by report of others, who would observe the change that grace hath made; and sermons would stick longer by them, and not at best be turned off with a fruitless commendation; and saying, it was a good sermon, and there is an end of it. Judge now by this true description which I have given you, what a hardened sinner is. And then the godly may so see cause to bewail the remnants of this mischief, as yet to be daily thankful to God that they are not in the power of it.