68 MISERY OF THOSE WHO [Chap. 5, and shalt live and die in this condition, let me tell thee, thou shalt never partake of the joys of heaven, nor have the least taste of the saints' eternal rest. I may say, as Ehud to Eglon, " I have a message to thee from God;" that, as the wordof God is true, thou shalt never see the face of God with comfort. This sentence I am commanded to pass upon thee ; take it as thou wilt, and escape it if thou canst. I know thy humble and hearty subjection to Christ would procure thy escape; he would then acknowledge thee for one of his people, and give thee a portion in the inheritance of his chosen. If this might be the happy suc- cess of my message, I should be so far from repining, like Jonah,`that the threatenings of God are not executed upon thee, that I should bless the day that ever God made me so happy a _messenger. But if thou end thy days in thy unregenerate 'slate, as sure as the heavens are over thy head, and the earth under thy feet, thou shalt be shut out of the rest of the saints, and receive thy portion in ever- tasting fire. I expect thou wilt turn upon me, and say, When did God show you the Book of Life, or tell you who they are that shall be saved, and who shut out ? I answer, I do not name thee, nor any other; I only con- elude it of the unregenerate in general, and of thee, if thou be such a one. Nor do I go about to determine who shall repent, andwho shall not; much less, that thou shalt never repent. I had rather show thee what hopes thou hast be- fore thee, if thou wilt not sit still and lose them. I would far rather persuade thee to hearken in time, before the door be shut against thee, than tell thee there is no hope of thy repenting and returning. But, if the foregoing de- scription of the people of God does not agree with the state of thy soul, is it then a hard question, whether thou shalt ever be saved ? Need I ascend up into heaven to know, that " without holiness no man shall see the Lord;" or, that only " the pure in heart shall see God ;" or, that " except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God?" Need I go up to heaven, to inquire that of Christ, which he came down to earth to tell us; and sent his Spirit in his apostles to tell us; and which he and they have left upon record to all the world? And though I know not the secrets of thy heart, and therefore cannot tell thee by name, whether it be thy state or not;
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