FILL ye up then the Measure of your Fathers. - Ye Serpents, ye Generation of Vipers, How can ye escape the Damnation of Hell? Mat. xxiii. 32, 33. GOD cannot either command or approve of Sin, because he is infinitely juft. Miferable is the State of him who has filled up the Measure of his Crimes. To be deaf to the Truth, to oppose it out of Intereft, Envy, or Jealoufy, and to perfecute Those who preach it, are generally the laft Sins. There is a certain Measure of Grace and Mercy, after which God leaves his Juftice to take its Courfe: This Measure is known only to Him. When a Man is about to commit any Sin, he ought to fear, left that very Sin be the last to fill up the Measure; but, after the Commiffion of it, he fhould hope that it is not, and repent of it: This is the only Means to ef cape the Damnation of Hell; but how rare is the Grace of Repentance after a pharifaical Life, fuch as our bleffed Saviour has here represented it. How then shall Sinners meet the Lord, The Men, who freely pardon'd here, Or his dread Day abide, If caft for every idle Word, On JESUS doth depend, Ferufalem, Ferufalem, thou that killeft the Prophets, and ftoneft them which are fent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy Children together, even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings, and ye would not, Mat. xxiii. 37. How great muft the Tenderness of CHRIST be for his Children, fince He fhews fo much for these obdurate Hearts; Gon earnestly defires the Sinner's Repentance, fince He caufes it to be preached to him by fo many Perfons, and in fo many different Manners: But the Sinner will not hear. Wretched Will! of which Man is fo fond and jealous; and which yet, by Reason of its Corruption, is good for nothing, but to refift and oppofe the Will of GOD! But Thou, Lord, canft overcome this Refiftance whenever thou pleasest. How kindly, Lord, doft Thou lament "I would, and ye would not," What daring Blafphemy, Who will not, while they may, repent, For Reprobates, fo dearly bought, And thy Salvation fee: Jerufalem, who e'er deny, Thou would'ft not have one Sinner die (i) To charge their Death on Thee! But O! before they die The Reprobates forgive, And, by thy gracious Will, may I Behold, your Houfe is left unto you defolate. --- For I fay unto you, Ye shall not fee me henceforth, till ye fhall fay, Bleffed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord, Mat. xxiii. 38, 39. The Jewish People, left to the Juftice of GOD, even to this Day, are a dreadful Inftance of the Punishment of Sin. When Men feek to avoid the Lofs of worldly Goods by forfaking GOD, they are themselves forfaken by Him ; and his Juftice often takes away That, which they endeavoured to fecure at the Expence of their Fidelity. In what a fad Condition is a Heart, when GOD withdraws himself from it, when His Hand leaves it to itself, when the Eyes of its Faith are closed, and it fees neither CHRIST nor his Truth, nor its own Duty. O, JESUS, let not this miferable Heart be mine! Let it never lofe Sight of Thee. Let thy Light continually shine upon it. Come, divine effectual Power, Now our Universe create Fair, beyond its first Estate, Behold, I have told you before. --- Wherefore if they fhall fay unto you, Behold, he is in the Defert, go not forth: Behold, he is in the fecret Chambers, believe it not, Mat. xxiv. 25, 26. Every new and ftrange Doctrine is falfe and pernicious. Let us have no Curiofity for new Discoveries: It is not the good Grain but the Chaff, which is carried about with every Wind of Doctrine. There are but too many, who feek here and there for fuch Remedies in their Diftreffes, as GoD has not promised them; and neglect to have Recourfe to JESUS CHRIST, the fole Deliverer from all our Miseries, whom all the Scriptures point out to us. Blind and miferable is every one who hopes to mend his Condition by forfaking CHRIST! It is to him we must apply ourselves: It is He, whom GoD hath given us Whatever turns us afide from Him is fatal to us. Prophet, fent from God above, From the idle Babler, Man, Behold, I turn away, That human Wit can lay : NOW ¡OW learn a Parable of the Fig-tree: When his Branch is yet tender, and putteth forth Leaves, ye know that Summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye fhall fee all these Things, know that it is near, even at the Doors, Mat. xxiv. 32, 33. -- The Belief of the Coming of JESUS CHRIST is the Confolation of the Righteous. Let us not wait for the last Trumpet e'er we prepare ourselves for Judgement: The Sound of it, in the Gofpel, is even now heard by all those who have the Ears of the Heart. Whoever has not thefe ftopped by the Amusements of this Life, and is not stunned by the Noise of his Paffions, is continually called upon by it. Let our Faith inceffantly fay to us, The Son of Man is near, even at the Doors. Let the Voice of thy Grace, O Lord, repeat This to me, both frequently and effectually. Ye living Men the Tomb furvey Once you must die, and once for all The folemn Purport weigh, For know that Heav'n and Hell are hung f |