4. It is he that must persuade our hearts to embrace and take hold of it. He standeth without, and crieth unto the heart to embrace this great salvation; and he standeth within, making the heart cry out, Content, I will embrace the great salvation: he is indeed the person that commendeth, and doth point out this great salvation unto us. He is the noble minister of it,-it began first to be preached by him.

Now, is there any of you that hath fallen in love with this great salvation? That ye may try yourselves, I shall give you some evidences of the persons that are near unto this great salvation. 1. Is thy estimation of the great salvation increased by what it was in the morning, when thou camest hither? Is thy estimation of the great gospel salvation increased a foot higher than it was in the morning? I say unto thee, thou art not far from the great salvation; come away. 2. Is thy desire after the great salvation increased by what it was in the morning? Hast thou stronger desires after the great salvation, than before thou camest hither? That is an evidence thou art not far from it. 3. Are thy thoughts of thy necessity of the great salvation greater than they were? Thinkest thou that thou hast more need of the great salvation than ever thou thoughtest be-fore? And are thy opinion and thoughts of saving thyself less than they were before thou camest hither? Art thou forced to cry out, None but Christ can save me? I say, thou art not far from the great salvation. Wilt thou come away? O that ye would once seal this conclusion with much heart persuasion. I am undone without Christ, I am undone without Christ, who is the Author of this great salvation. Are there any of you that are sensible that ye are in the fetters of sin, and in the bonds of iniquity? Are ye brought to the conviction of this, that ye are in the gall of bitterness? I say, if thou art brought to this length, to be sensible of thy bonds, and art crying out, O Redeemer, hasten, and come away-I say, if thou art sensible of thy bonds and imprisonment, and crying out, O thou that wast anointed from eternity, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound-0 hasten, and come away, and redeem me, even poor me, sinking, sinning, perishing, self-destroying me,-thou art not far from the great salvation. 4. Art thou a person who beginneth to weep, because thou hast been so long a stranger to Christ, and the great salvation ? Old men that are here, how long have ye been strangers to the great salvation, and to the Author of it? Now, will ye shed one tear for your estrangements, and cry out, Woe is me, that Christ and I have been so long asunder? I say, if thou hast come that length, thou art not far from the great salvation; come away : O pity yourselves! make haste, make haste, and come away.

But now, in the Third place, let me give you some evidences by which ye may know more clearly whether or not ye have embraced this great salvation; that ye may know yourselves, and that ye walk not down to your graves with a lie in your right hand. The first evidence of a person that hath embraced this great salvation, is that he will have a high esteem of the Saviour and Author of the great salvation. Hast thou a matchless esteem of matchless Christ, the

Saviour of the world? That is a speaking evidence unto thee, that thou art a partaker of the great salvation art thou come this length, that thou criest out, None but Christ, none but Christ? It is a speaking evidence, that thou art come to be partaker of the great salvation, when thou canst cry out that word, Exod. xv 2, The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation. If Christ hath become thy salvation, then it is like he hath become thy song. I would ask this at you, were ye ever brought this length, that ye durst never advance to praise Christ alone, but were forced to call all the creatures, and say, O magnify the Lord with me! O that is an evidence that ye have embraced this great salvation.

Secondly, Those who have embraced the great salvation will study to maintain and keep their grips of it; they will study to hold fast so precious a jewel; this is pressed, Gal. v. 1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Yea, they will study to walk suitably to this noble mercy; at least, they will strive and endeavour to do it, as is also pressed in that same verse. I say, if thou hast been made a partaker of the gospel-salvation, thou wilt strive to keep thyself from the power of these things that once triumphed over thee.

Thirdly, A person that is a partaker of the great salvation, will have a high esteem of this mercy and salvation; so Paul, when he speaketh of it here, cannot but put some note of excellency to it, calling it the great salvation: therefore I say, if thou hast embraced the great salvation, thou wilt have so high an esteem of it, that not to be subjected to it as thou shouldst, or to be in subjection to the power of thy lust in any measure, will be thy burden and affliction. The man will be sorry when he is brought forth from the house of bondage into the Red Sea; he will be sorry, that when he should have songs of triumph over his idols put in his mouth, they should sing songs of triumph over him.

Fourthly, A person that hath embraced the great salvation will be longing sometimes for the day when his salvation shall be complete, when he shall sing that song with that numerous multitude, which cannot be numbered, Rev. vii. 9. O what a day shall it be, when thou shalt begin that song! After this (saith he) I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cried and how cried they? They cried with a loud voice. They would not mutter the song, nor sing silently, but cried with a loud voice and what did they cry? They cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. I would only ask you that are partaker of the great salvation, what songs shall be put into thy mouth, when the waters of Jordan shall divide themselves, that the ransomed of the Lord may pass through? When shalt thou sing that song, Psalm cxv. 1, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thee belongs the glory of our salvation? O what a day shall it be, when that excellent song shall be put into thy mouth? Yea, what a day shall it be, when thou shalt be clothed with these excellent garments that are made mention of;

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Isa. Ixi. 10, For he hath clothed thee with the garments of salvation, and he hath covered thee with the robes of righteousness. O what robes are these? Did ye ever see such excellent robes as these must be? I think we will misken ourselves: O! do ye not think we will misken ourselves, when we shall put on these excellent robes? Now, therefore, is the bargain closed? Or will ye go away before ye take this great salvation? I would ask this at you, think ye it will not be most sad, that Christ should tell this in heaven of you to-night, I was preaching to a pack of stones, that none of them would love me? Will ye not be afraid that this report shall be carried back to heaven of you? For what report can Christ carry back but this? Now is the cord of this great salvation let down unto you; is there none of you that will take a grip of it? O will ye flighter after it? Will ye make this a rejoicing day in heaven, that is a fasting day unto you? And the way to make it so, is to embrace the great salvation. Now, what say ye to it, old men? Let me speak to you, and ask your thoughts of the great salvation ; gray hairs should be a crown of glory, if they be found in the way of righteousness. Old men, speak your minds, that young men may not have your bad example ;-what say ye of this great salvation ? Is it not a most glorious salvation? Is it not a most excellent salvation that is in your offer? I entreat you, speak your minds; tell Christ that ye are content to take the great salvation otherwise, whoever he be that will not partake of this gospel salvation, I, in the name and authority of Christ our Maker, denounce eternal and irrevocable war against him ;-put on your harness; ye shall not boast when ye put it off again: the wrath and fury of God shall come upon thee to the uttermost, if ye embrace not this great salvation. Other wars are but for a time: the greatest captains that ever the earth did carry, are now laid down in the sides of the pit, and their swords broken under their heads. Armies of ten hundred thousand, an hundred years' time have laid them all in their graves, and ended all their contests; but there is no discharge in this war, that shall be concluded betwixt Christ and you; it shall become an eternal and most terrible war, which shall be but beginning when time is ended. Now peace, or war, which of them will ye choose? Dare ye send a charge to Christ, and say that ye will defy him? I am afraid there shall be two things that many of us shall report to-day First, I am afraid there will be many that will give Pharoah's report to the great salvation, and say, Who is the Lord, that I should obey him? I tell you who he is, he is glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. O embrace him before ye go hence, and give not Pharaoh's report, lest ye be drowned in the sea of his wrath, whence there shall be no recovery. Secondly, I fear there will be many here to-day, that will give Demas's report to this precious offer: I will go and forsake Christ, and embrace this present world. O bad exchange; cursed be he that will make it. Will ye be of Demas's humour? I fear there have been many of that humour a long time; but I entreat you once to be wise before ye die. I confess that proverb, Old fools are twice fools. I think old men that will not embrace the great salvation are triple

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fools; what wait you for-is there any thing that can afford you any satisfaction but this great salvation? Now, are ye convinced, old men, that Christ is waiting for your answer; I entreat you, before ye go hence, speak your minds; what think ye of the great salvation? Is it not a lovely salvation? Is it not lovely now? What say ye to it? I am to go away, and the offer is to be taken up at this time, and it is hard to say, if ever ye shall have an offer again. I would only say this to you, and be sure of it, though I should never be a partaker of this great salvation, yet I shall be a witness against you that are not partakers of it. I tell and declare unto you, I shall be a witness against you, if ye embrace not this great salvation. Now, old men, are ye persuaded to embrace it? Let me obtest you by the beauty of Christ, come and partake of the great salvation, ye that are travelling upon the borders of eternity. Now, if ye will give no more, give this, will ye go home and think upon it? I shall not be uncharitable, nor enter to judge your thoughts. I fear there will be many declared and found guilty among us, that we have declared unto heaven, we will not embrace this great salvation, but have trodden the blood of the Son of God under foot. Now, I entreat every one of you, ask at yourselves, if ye be the that will persons hearts to do so; now, presume in your I shall leave it with you, let it not be a witness against you. shall leave it with this, O come away, old men, young men, old women, and maids, come and embrace this precious gospel salvation? Ye may say, ye bid us come, but we cannot come. I desire no more of you, but to come with this-Lord, I am content to come, but I cannot come. Come once to that, for, if once ye be content to receive it, it will not be long before ye be able to receive it. Now, shall Christ depart, and will none of you say, ye are content to take him ? Will ye charge your own consciences with this, am I content to take Christ, and the great salvation ? O blest, blest, blest, be he that is the Author of this great salvation; and blest be he that gets any of the ends of the cords of the great salvation, that he sink not under the wrath and fury of the Lord. Come and embrace this great salvation? And again, I say, come and embrace it; for what can ye have, if ye want it? And what can ye want, if ye have it? I shall say no more, but close with that word, Isa. lxii. 11, Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, to those that are afar off: what hath he proclaimed? Say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh-behold, it cometh. I say unto you that are the ends of the world, salvation is brought near unto you. Stout-hearted and far from righteousness, the great salvation is brought near unto you; and will ye send it away? consider what ye are doing. And to him that can persuade you to embrace this great salvation, we desire to give praise.

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SERMON

CONCERNING DEATH.

PSALM lxxxix. 48.—What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death, &c. It is very hard to determine, where all that are here shall be within thirty years; for even ere that time come, many, if not all, of us who are here, shall have taken up our everlasting lodging. And whether we shall take it up in the eternity of joy, or in the eternity of pain, is also hard to determine; only this one thing I am sure of, that all of us shall shortly be gone; and ere long the shadows of death shall be sitting upon our eye-lids, and our eye strings shall begin to break. Therefore, I would the more seriously inquire at you, what would you think if death were approaching this night unto you? Think ye that Jesus Christ is gone up to prepare a place for you, even for you? Surely, I think we are all near to eternity, and there are some hearing me to-day, whom I defy the world to assure that ever they shall hear another sermon: therefore, I entreat you all to hear this preaching, as if it were the last preaching that ever ye should hear; and O that we would speak it, as if it were the last sermon that ever we would preach unto you. Believe me, death is another thing than we take it to be. Oh! what will many of us do in the day of our visitation, when desolation shall come from afar? Where will we flee for rest? and where will we leave our glory? Old rich men, where will ye flee when death assaults you? Old poor men, where will ye flee when death assaults you ? Old women, where will ye flee when death assaults you? Young women, where will ye flee when death assaults you? It was an ancient observation of David, Psalm xxxix. 5, that God had made his days as an hand-breadth. This either may relate to the fourfold state of man, viz. :-his infancy, his childhood, his manhood, and his old age ;—or it may relate to the fourfold time of his life, viz. :—his morning, his forenoon, his afternoon, and his evening; yet all our lifetime is but a day. And O think ye not that our day is near unto a close.

Now, before that I begin to speak any thing from the words, I shall speak a few things to these two questions, which, I conceive, may not altogether be unprofitable.

Quest. 1. Whether is it lawful for any to desire to die, and return unto their long and endless home? Whether it be lawful for one to cry out, O time, time, flee away, (and all my shadows let them be gone) that so long eternity may come ?