~iS Tb~ Hop-.!efjneft ofthe Um·egnzerate. State IV. do but f<lintly :·eprefeht the fearful tempefi of wrath and in. dignation which thall purfue the wick~d to the loweftheH~ and for ever abide on them who are driven to JarlnejJ at death. 3dly, Death roots up their delufive hopes of cterntJl bap• pinefs : then it is their covenant with death, and agreement with hell is .broken. , They are awakened out of their gold– en dreams, and at length lift up their eyes ; Job 1 V'iii. 1 4• Whoft hope jha/1 be cttt off, and rwhoft trufi jhall 'bt a /Pi· .ier's <Web. They truG all iliall be weH with them after death : but this their· trutl is bu~ a ·web woven out of their own bowels, with a great ,deal,of art and indutlry. They wrap themfelves up ifl this their hope, as the fpide r wraps herfelf in her web. But it is but a weak and flender d~ fe nce : for howdet it may withfrand the thr91ltniogs of the word of God, death, that bejom if deftrutlirm, will fwee p t hem and it both aw;t.y, fo as there thall not he ihe l ea~t thred of it )eft them ; but he who this momeot will 09t Jet his hope go, fuall next moment be Utterly hopelefs. Death _over– turns the houfe built on the fand: it Jeaves no man under the powe& of d~l~fion. I Lajily, Death m~kes their ftate abfolutely, ;tnd for evet" hopelefs. M ~ tte•s cannot be retrieved aod·amended after death. For (1.) Time once gone can never be recalled~ If cries or tears~ price o.r pains, could bring time back a– gain; the wicked man might have hope in his death. · But tears of blood ,will not prevail~ nor will his roring f,or ~itlions of ages, ca~fe it to return. The fun will not ll:an'd fiill until the flugga.rd a~ake, and .r enter 'on his journey : and 1whe~ once it is gone down, he needs not expeCt the night to be turned into dayfor hiifa~e; he muG lodge thro' th"'e long night of et~rnity, where 'his time left him. ( 2.). There is no returning to this life, to amend what ts amifs: it is a ftate of probation and trial, which terminates ' at death ; and therefore we cannot return to it again-: it is but Ooee we thus ·Ji ve, and once we die • . Death carries the wicked man to his orwn place, ACl:si. 2 5. rhis life is our working day~ death clofeth our day and e,pr work together . We may readily imagine the wicked might h,ave fome hope in their death ; if, after death has opened their eyes , they c-ould re~urn to life, and have but the trial of ..one ...;abbath, , one offer of Chrifi, one day, -or but on'e hour more) to make ' ' up
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