to need no great art of rhetoric to persuade any understanding person to avoid and abhor those sins, which, without repentance, will certainly plunge him into this eternal gulf. The disproportion between the pleasure and the pain (if there be any pleasure in sin) is so infinitely great, that supposing it were only possible, though not certain, that the wicked would be everlastingly punished, no one that has the reason of a man, for the enjoying a little momentary pleasure, would, one might imagine, run the hazard of enduring eternal pain. But since the torments of the damned are not only possible but certain, (since God himself, who cannot lie, has told us so,) for men, notwithstanding, to persist in their disobedience, and then flatter themselves, that God will not make good his threatenings, is a most egregious instance of folly and presumption.

Dives himself supposed, that if one rose from the dead, his brethren would amend their lives; but Christians, it seems, will not repent, though the Son of God died and rose again, and told them what they must expect, if they continue obstinate in evil-doing.

Would we now and then draw off our thoughts from sensible objects, and by faith meditate a while on the miseries of the damned, I doubt not but we should, as it were, hear many an unhappy soul venting his fruitless sorrows in some such piteous moans as these.

"O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death!" O foolish mortal that I was, thus to bring myself into these never-ceasing tortures, for the transitory enjoyment of a few short-lived pleasures, which scarcely afforded me any satisfaction, even when I most indulged myself in them. Alas! are these the wages, these the effects, of sin? Are all the grand deceiver's inviting promises come to this? O damned apostate!-first to delude me with pretended promises of happiness, and, after several years' drudgery in his service, thus to involve me in eternal woe. O that I had never hearkened to his beguiling insinuations! O that I had rejected his very first suggestions with the utmost detestation and abhorrence! O that I had taken up my cross, and followed Christ! O that I had never ridiculed serious godliness, and, out of a false politeness, condemned the truly pious as too severe, enthusiastic, or superstitious! For I then had been happy indeed, happy beyond expression, happy to all eternity, yonder in those blessed regions, where they sit clothed with unspeakable glory, and chanting forth their seraphic hallelujahs to the Lamb that sitteth upon the throne for ever. But, alas! these reflections come now too late these wishes now are vain and fruitless. I have not suffered, and therefore must not reign with him. I have in effect denied the Lord that bought me, and therefore justly am I now denied by him. But must I live for ever tormented in these flames? Must this body of mine, which not long since lay in state, was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, must it be here eternally confined, and made

the mockery of insulting devils? O eternity! that thought fills me with despair: I must be miserable for ever.

Come then, all ye self-deluding, self-deluded sinners, and imagine yourselves for once in the place of that truly wretched man I have been here describing. Think, I beseech you, by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, think with yourselves, how racking, how unsupportable, the never-dying worm of a selfcondemning conscience will hereafter be to you. Think how impossible it will be for you to dwell with everlasting burnings. Come, all ye Christians of a lukewarm, Laodicean spirit, ye Gallios in religion, who care a little, but not enough, for the things of God; O think, think with yourselves, how deplorable it will be to lose the enjoyment of heaven, and run into endless torments, merely because you will be content to be almost, and will not strive to be altogether Christians. Consider, I beseech you consider, how you will rave and curse that fatal stupidity which made you believe any thing less than true faith in Jesus, productive of a life of strict piety, self-denial, and mortification, can keep you from those torments, the eternity of which I have been endeavouring to prove.

But I can no more.

These thoughts are too melancholy for me to dwell on, as well as for you to hear; and God knows, as punishing is his strange work, so denouncing his threatenings is mine. But if the bare mentioning the torments of the damned be so shocking, how terrible must the enduring of them be!

And now, are not some of you ready to cry out, "These are hard sayings, who can bear them?"

But let not sincere Christians be in the least terrified at what has been delivered: No, for you is reserved a crown, a kingdom, an eternal and exceeding weight of glory. Christ never said that the righteous, the believing, the upright, the sincere, but the wicked, merciless, negatively good professors before described, shall go into everlasting punishment. For you, who love him in sincerity, a new and living way is laid open into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus Christ; and an abundant entrance will be administered unto you, at the great day of account, into eternal life. Take heed, therefore, and beware that there be not in any of you a root of bitterness springing up of unbelief: but, on the contrary, stedfastly and heartily rely on the many precious promises reached out to you in the gospel, knowing that he who hath promised is faithful, and therefore will perform.

But let no obstinately wicked professors dare to apply any of the divine promises to themselves: "for it is not meet to take the children's meat, and give it unto dogs :" No, to such the terrors of the Lord only belong. And as certainly as Christ will say to his true followers, "Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world;" so he will unalterably pronounce this dreadful sentence against all that die in their sins, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

From which unhappy state, may God of his infinite mercy deliver us all through Jesus Christ: to whom, with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, three Persons and one eternal God, be ascribed, as is most due, all honour, power, might, majesty, and dominion, now and for evermore.

SERMON XXVII.

BLIND BARTIMEUS

And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.-Mark x. 52.

WHEN the apostle Peter was recommending Jesus of Nazareth, in one of his sermons to the Jews, he gave him a short, but withal a glorious and exalted character," that he went about doing good." He went about, he sought occasions of doing good; it was his meat and drink to do the works of him that sent him, whilst the day of his public administration lasted. Justly was he styled by the prophet, the Sun of righteousness. For, as the sun in the natural firmament diffuses his quickening and reviving beams through the universe, so wherever the Sun of righteousness, the blessed Jesus, arose, he arose with healing under his wings. He was indeed a prophet like unto Moses, and proved that he was the Messiah which was to come into the world, by the miracles which he wrought, though with this material difference, the miracles of Moses, agreeable to the old testament dispensation, were miracles of judgment: the miracles of Jesus, who came to bear our sicknesses and heal our infirmities, were miracles of mercy, and were wrought, not only for the cure of people's bodies, but also for the conversion of their precious and immortal souls. Sometimes one and the same person was the subject of both these mercies. A glorious proof of this, we have in the miraculous cure wrought upon a poor blind beggar, named Bartimeus, who is to be the subject of the following discourse, and to whom the words of the text refer. "Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way."

My design is, First, To make some observations on the matter of fact, as recorded by the evangelists. And then,

Secondly, To point out the improvement that may be made thereof. May Jesus so bless this following discourse, that every spiritually blind hearer may receive his sight, and, after the example of Bartimeus, "follow Jesus in the way!"

If we would take a view of the whole story, we must go back to the 46th verse of this chapter: "And they (our Lord and his disciples, who, we find by the context, had been conversing together) came to Jericho," a place devoted by Joshua to the curse of God; and yet, even this place yields converts to Jesus;

Zaccheus had been called there formerly: and Bartimeus, as we shall hear by and by, in all probability, was called now. For some good may come even out of Nazareth. Christ himself was born there, and his sovereign grace can reach and overcome the worst of people, in the very worst of places. Jesus came to Jericho. Let not his ministers, if Providence point out their way, shun going to seemingly the most unlikely places to do good; some chosen vessels may be therein. Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. They were itinerants; and, as I have frequently observed, seldom stayed long in a place: not that this is any argument against the stated settlement of particular pastors over particular parishes: but, however, our Lord's practice, in this respect, gives a kind of sanction to itinerant preaching, when persons are properly called to, and qualified for, such an employ. And I believe we may venture to affirm, (though we would by no means prescribe or dictate to the Holy One of Israel,) that, whenever there shall be a general revival of religion in any country, itinerant preaching will be more in vogue. And it is to be feared, that those who condemn it now, merely on account of the meanness of its appearance, would have joined with the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, in condemning even the Son of God himself, for such a practice.

"And as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, and a great number of people;" vyλave a great number of mob, or rabble, as the high-priests of that generation termed them, for these were the constant followers of Jesus of Nazareth: it was the poor that received his gospel, the common people heard him gladly, and followed him from place to place. Not that all who followed him, were his true disciples. No, some followed him only for his loaves, others out of curiosity; though some undoubtedly followed to hear, and be edified by, the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. Jesus knew this, and was also sensible how displeasing this crowding after him was to some of the rulers of the Jewish church, who, upon every occasion, were ready to say, "Have any of the scribes and Pharisces believed on him?" But, notwithstanding, I do not hear of our Lord's sending them home but once; and that was, after they had been with him three days, and had nothing left to eat, he saw they were as sheep having no shepherd, and therefore had compassion on them, and taught them. A sufficient warrant this for gospel-ministers to preach to poor souls that follow to hear the word, whatever principle their coming may proceed from. At the same time, they should caution people against thinking themselves Christians, because they follow Christ's ministers. This our Lord frequently did. For there are many that followed Jesus, and now follow his ministers, and hear them gladly; nay, perhaps do many things, as Herod did, who, it is to be feared, will never follow them into the kingdom of heaven. Much people followed Jesus out of Jericho, but how many of them were offended in him! and afterwards, it may be; cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him." Who would depend on popularity?

It is like the morning cloud, or early dew, that passeth away. But what a press, and seemingly continued hurry of business did the blessed Jesus live in! he could not be hid; go where he would, much people followed him. He had scarce time to eat bread. Happy is it for such who are called to act in a public station in the church, and to be more abundant in labours, that their Jesus has trodden in this dangerous path before them. Popularity is a fiery furnace, and no one, but he who kept the three children amidst Nebuchadnezzar's flames, can preserve popular ministers from being hurt by it. But we can do all things through Christ strengthening us. And I have often thought, that there is one consideration sufficient to extinguish, or moderate at least, any excess of joy and self-complacence, which the most popular preacher may feel, when followed even by the greatest multitudes; and that is this, "How many of these hearers will go away, without receiving any saving benefit by my preaching; nay, how many, it may be, will only have their damnation increased by it!" as we find many will say at the great day, "Hast thou not taught in our streets?" to whom Jesus shall answer, "Verily I know you not."

But to proceed, "As our Lord went out of Jericho with his disciples, and a great number of people, blind Bartimeus, (the son of Timeus) sat by the highway-side begging.". It should seem that he was a noted, though by no means what we commonly call, a sturdy beggar; having no other way, as he had lost his sight, to get his bread: his case was still the more pitiable, if he were, as some think the name imports, the blind son of a blind father. It may be, he begged for his father and himself too; and if so, then this may give us light into that passage of Matthew, xx. 22. where we are told, that "two men spake to Jesus." It might be father and son, though only one is mentioned here, because he only followed Jesus in the way. Thus, that holy, judicious, and practical expositor of holy writ, Mr. Henry. But however this be, he is not blamed for begging, neither should we discommend others for so doing, when Providence calls to it. It was the unjust steward that said, "To beg I am ashamed." It is our pride that often makes us unwilling to be beholden; Jesus was not thus minded, he lived, as it were, upon alms; the women that followed him, ministered to him of their substance. Bartimeus, not being able to dig, begs for his living; and, in order to make a better trade of it, sat by the highway-side-in all probability, without or near the gate of the city, where people must necessarily pass in and out. But though he had lost his sight, he had his hearing perfect; and it should comfort us, if we have lost one sense, that we have the use of another, and that we are not deprived of the benefit of all. Happy was it for Bartimeus that he could hear, though not see for in all probability, upon hearing the noise and clamour of the much people that followed after our Lord, his curiosity set him upon inquiring into the cause of it, and some one or another told him, "that Jesus of Nazareth was passing