union with them. God gives every man his choice in this matter; as Orpah and Ruth had their choice, whether they would go with Naomi into the land of Israel, or stay in the land of Moab. A natural man may choose deliverance from hell; but no man doth ever heartily choose God and Christ, and the spiritual benefits that Christ has purchased, and the happiness of God's people, till he is converted. On the contrary, he is averse to them; he has no relish of them; and is wholly ignorant of the inestimable worth and value of them.

Many carnal men do seem to choose these things, but do it not really; as Orpah seemed at first to choose to forsake Moab to go into the land of Israel: But when Naomi came to set before her the difficulty of it, she went back; and thereby shewed that she was not fully determined in her choice, and that her whole soul was not in it, as Ruth's was.

APPLICATION.

The use that I shall make of what has been said, is to move sinners to this resolution, with respect to those amongst us that have lately turned to God, and joined themselves to the flock of Christ. It is so, through the abundant mercy and grace of God to us in this place, that it may be said of many of you that are in a Christless condition, that you have lately been. left by those that were formerly with you in such a state. There are those that you have formerly been conversant with, that have lately forsaken a life of sin and the service of Satan, and have turned to God, and fled to Christ, and joined them. selves to that blessed company that are with him. They formerly were with you in sin and in misery; but now they are with you no more, in that state or manner of life: They are changed, and have fled from the wrath to come: They have chosen a life of holiness here, and the enjoyment of God hereafter. They were formerly your associates in bondage, and were with you in Satan's business; but now you have their company no longer in these things. Many of you have seen those that you live with under the same roof, turning from be

ing any longer with you in sin, to be with the people of Jesus Christ. Some of you that are husbands, have had your wives; and some of you that are wives, have had your husbands; some of you that are children, have had your parents; and parents have had your children; many of you have had your brothers and sisters; and many your near neighbors, and acquaintance, and special friends; many of you that are young have had your companions: I say, many of you have had those that you have been thus concerned with, leaving you, forsaking that doleful life, and wretched state, that you still continue in. God of his good pleasure, and wonderful grace, hath lately caused it to be so in this place, that multitudes have been forsaking their old abodes in the land of Moab, and under the gods of Moab, and going into the land of Israel, to put their trust under the wings of the Lord God of Israel. Though you and they have been nearly related, and have dwelt together, or have been often together, and intimately acquainted one with another, they have been taken, and you hitherto left! Olet it not be the foundation of a final parting! But earnestly follow them; be firm in your resolution in this matter. Do not do as Orpah did, who, though at first she made as though she would follow Naomi, yet when she had the difficulty of it set before her, went back: But say as Ruth, "I will not leave thee; but where thou goest, I will go: Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." Say as she said, and do as she did. Consider the excellency of their God, and their Saviour, and the happiness of their people, the blessed state that they are in, and the doleful state that you are in.

You that are ok sinners, that have lived long in the service of Satan, have lately seen some that were with you, that have travelled with you in the paths of sin these many years, that with you enjoyed great means and advantages, that have had calls and warnings with you, and have with you passed through remarkable times of the pouring out of God's Spirit in this place, and have hardened their hearts and stood it out with you, and with you have grown old in sin; I say, you have

seen some of them turning to God, i. e. you have seen those evidences of it in them, whence you may rationally judge that it is so. O let it not be a final parting! You have been thus long together in sin, and under condemnation; let it be your firm resolution, that, if possible, you will be with them still, now they are in a holy and happy state, and that you will follow them into the holy and pleasant land.

You that tell of your having been seeking salvation for many years, though, without doubt, in a poor dull way, in com parison of what you ought to have done, you have seen some that have been with you in that respect, that were old sinners, and old seekers, as you are, obtaining mercy. God has lately roused them from their dullness, and caused them to alter their hand, and put them on more thorough endeavors; and they have now after so long a time, heard God's voice, and have fled for refuge to the rock of ages. Let this awaken earnestness and resolution in you. Resolve that you will not leave them.

You that are in your youth, how many have you seen of your age and standing, that have of late hopefully chosen God for their God, and Christ for their Saviour! You have followed them in sin, and have perhaps followed them into vain company; and will you not now follow them to Christ?

And you that are children, there have lately been some of your sort that have repented of their sins, and have loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusted in him, and are become God's children, as we have reason to hope: Let it stir you up to resolve to your utmost to seek and cry to God, that you may have the like change made in your hearts, that their people may be your people, and their God your God.

You that are great sinners, that have made yourselves distinguishingly guilty by the wicked practices you have lived in, there are some of your sort that have lately (as we have reason to hope) had their hearts broken for sin, and have forsaken it, and have trusted in the blood of Christ for the pardon of it, and have chosen an holy life, and have betaken them

selves to the ways of wisdom: Let it excite and encourage you resolutely to cleave to them, and earnestly to follow them.

Let the following things be here considered.

1. That your soul is as precious as theirs. It is immortal as theirs is; and stands in as much need of happiness, and can as ill bear eternal misery. You were born in the same miserable condition that they were, having the same wrath of God abiding on you. You must stand before the same judge; who will be as strict in judgment with you as with them; and your own righteousness will stand you in no more stead before him than theirs; and therefore you stand in as absolute necessity of a Saviour as they. Carnal confidences can no more answer your end than theirs; nor can this world or its enjoyments serve to make you happy without God and Christ, more than them. When the bridegroom comes, the foolish virgins stand in as much need of oil as the wise, Matth. xxv. at the beginning.

2. Unless you follow them in their turning to God, their conversion will be a foundation of an eternal separation between you and them. You will be in different interests, and in exceeding different states, as long as you live; they the children of God, and you the children of Satan; and you will be parted in another world: When you come to die, there will be a vast separation made between you. Luke xvi. 26. “And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you, cannot ; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." And you will be parted at the day of judgment. You will be parted at Christ's first appearance in the clouds of heaven. While they are caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, to be ever with the Lord, you will remain below, confined to this cursed ground, that is kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly You will appear separated from them, while you stand before the great judgment seat, they being at the right hand, while you are set at the left. Matth. xxv. 32, 33, "And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall sepa

men.

rate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." And you shall then appear in exceeding different circumstances: While you stand with devils in the image and deformity of devils, and in ineffable horror and amazement, they shall appear in glory, sitting on thrones, as assessors with Christ, and as such passing judgment upon you, 1 Cor. vi. 2. And what shame and confusion will then cover you, when so many of your contemporaries, your equals, your neighbors, relations and companions, shall be honored, and openly acknowledged, and confessed by the glorious Judge of the universe, and Redeemer of saints, and shall be seen by you sitting with him in such glory, and you shall appear to have neglected your salvation, and not to have improved your opportunities, and rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, the same person that will then appear as your great judge, and you shall be the subjects of such wrath, and, as it were, trodden down in eternal contempt and disgrace! Dan. xii. 2. "Some shall rise to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." And what a wide separation will the sentence that shall then be passed and executed make between you and them? When you shall be sent away out of the presence of the Judge, with indignation and abhorrence, as cursed and loathsome creatures, and they shall be sweetly accosted and invited into his glory as his dear friends, and the blessed of his Father? When you, with all that vast throng of wicked and accursed men and devils, shall descend with loud lamentings, and horrid shrieks into that dreadful gulf of fire and brimstone, and shall be swallowed up in that great and everlasting furnace; while they shall joyfully, and with sweet songs of glory and praise, ascend with Christ, and all that beauteous and blessed company of saints and angels, into eternal felicity, in the glorious presence of God, and the sweet embraces of his love; and you and they shall spend eternity in such a separation, and immensely different circumstances! And that however you have been intimately acquainted and nearly related, closely united and mutually conversant here in VOL. VII. 2 R