AND ND caft ye the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth, Matt. xxv. 30. To be excluded from Heaven, to be caft headlong into Hell, and abandoned to Rage and Defpair to all Eternity, O God, can any one think on it without Horror! and yet this is the inevitable Punishment of every impenitent Sinner. --- The Love of Reft and Eafe makes Men flothful, and unprofitable; and it is merely by This, that they lose the very Thing which they have loved in a wrong Manner. What Multitudes the Curfe fhall feel, Shut out from Heaven, fhut up in Hell, Who keep their Talent unemploy'd, For doing neither Harm nor Good. What Harm to raise a Fortune fair, And when the Fiend is enter'd in, THEN the Son of Man fhall come in his Glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then fhall he fit upon the Throne of his Glory. --- And before him fhall be gathered all Nations; and he fhall feparate them one from another, as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats, Matt. xxv. 31, 32. In vain does the Sinner endeavour to avoid the Presence of his GOD; he will be forced one Day to appear before his Tribunal. See here a Spectacle very different from that of the Crofs, where the Son of God naked and disfigur'd, forfaken by his Difciples, incompaffed with his Enemies, and feated between two Thieves on the Throne of his Humiliation! He did in those Two exhibit an Emblem of the Separation here described. · -What an Object is this to exercise our Faith! What a large Field of Reflection and Meditation is here before us: To confider JESUS CHRIST as a God in his Majesty, as a King upon his Throne, as a Judge on his Tribunal, and as a Shepherd amidft his Flock, wherein the Goats continue mixed with the Sheep, even to the last Day. The Wicked and the Just "Till then together Ray, Sever'd the Tares and Wheat, But the Saints and Sinners muft Never again to mix, or meet Be parted at that Day: 2 Thro' all Eternity. ΑΝ ND he fhall fet the Sheep on his right Hand, but the Goats on the left, Matt. xxv. 33. The laft Function of the Prince of Paftors, to be performed on Earth, is to make this dreadful Separation of Mankind for Eternity. Let us ftrive to be of the Number of the Sheep by our Faith, Meeknefs, Humility, Tractablenefs, and Innocency of Life. Such as we are at our leaving this World, fuch fhall we be for ever, either Sheep to drink at the very Fountain of eternal Truth, or Goats to become the Prey of Devils. --- O pure and fpotlefs Church, Society of Believers alone, immortal Body compofed of none but living Members, in vain do we feek for Thee on Earth, it is only in the Land of the Living, and after this great Divifion and Separation, that we fhall find Thee with and in God, living to Him and by Him to all Eternity. They fhall be numbered with the Sheep, And found on the Right Hand, Who hear the Shepherd now, and keep His every kind Command: Ah, give me now thy Voice to hear, And mark me with thy Sign, (150)) May 29. If there have been Kings who have given away Kingdoms, they were only foreign Kingdoms, which they could not keep. None but God gives his own out of pure Bounty, and this Kingdom is himself.-God blesses none but in JESUS CHRIST, who have believed in Him. Come, inherit: amiable, powerful, and efficacious Words! which draw Believers near to God, and put them in Poffeffion of Him. He, who during his Life has faid, Come, Lord JESUS! through a fincere Defire of his Coming; and thro' his Fidelity. and Love, Lord, poffefs my Heart! fhall, in his Turn, hear these two Words, Come, inherit, which will actually confer on Him eternal Happiness. Thee, JESUS, the Son Of GOD we confess, Hath purchas'd our Peace: There, there we shall fae The Subftance divine, T HEN fhall he fay also unto them on the left Hand, Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels, Matt. xxv. 41. It is an Article of our Faith, that thofe who are found without Love fhall be treated as the Devils, and have the fame Portion with them in Eternity.---O fatal and irrecoverable Exile! O eternal Banishment and Separation from the Prefence of Chrift! Sad Confinement in Hell, and difmal Society in fuffering with the Devils themselves! All this fhews, that it is more proper to tremble than to speak on this Subject. - Obdurate Sinners are the Angels, Envoys, and Miffionaries of the Devil, who eftablish his Kingdom on Earth, propagate his Maxims, preach and authorize them by their Example, and feduce and pervert the Children of God. Let us take Care not to join ourselves to them in any Respect. Not for the wretched Sons of Men Was Topbet first prepar'd, Intruders into hellish Pain, They fnatch the Fiend's Reward: If Juft as well as Good thou art, Thy Vengeance they require, |
