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written, Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more," Job xli. 8.

I come now to the fourth branch of this head of discourse, which is, that we may stop up the hole of the asp if we can.

The hole of the asp I have proved to be a false teacher's mouth; and it is from this hole that Satan has sent all the errors that are now in the world; all the poor sinners that have gone down to the grave with a lie in their hands, have been destroyed from this hole of the asp; therefore we may warrantably stop the hole up if we can. When we hear men say that they are perfect and clean from all indwelling sin, and that there is such a state of perfection to be attained in this life, we may tell them that they speak lies; for, "if we say we have not sinned, we make him [God] a liar;" and, "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," 1 John i. 8. When we hear men open their mouths at this rate we must bring scripture proof, and stop up the hole. "But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped,” Psalm lxiii. 11.

When we hear preachers speaking against the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, and contending for their own legal obedience as a sufficient righteousness to justify them before God, we must not allow it, but exclaim against such impious boasting of their wretched merit; because the Saviour will not allow even his apostles, upon

whom his grace was so abundant, to boast; no, not even of the fruits of their faith. "When ye

shall have done all those things, say, we are unprofitable servants," Luke xvii. 10. From hence we may conclude that all men, who boast of their merit, are under the law; and we must bring forth the law in its spiritual meaning, and shew its spiritual demands; as it is written, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God," Rom. iii. 19.

Whenever, or wherever, this asp opens a hole, we must labour to stop it up; we must not be idle when the asp is busy; we shall often find men of corrupt minds creeping into houses, leading captive silly women; telling them that religion lies in a plain cap, or in a long narrow bonnet, and delivering lectures against a snuffbox, and nursing their pride by setting them up as class leaders; instead of preaching up the sovereign grace and Spirit of God. Christ calls such preachers flycatchers; they strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Many silly women are led away by these errors; "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," 2 Tim. iii. 7.

The main drift of false teachers is to overthrow the faith of young beginners, setting them to despise orthodox preachers, and the glorious doctrine of election and predestination; and, when they are hardened in errors, they despise and ridicule

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these revealed truths of God. Therefore we are commanded to hold fast the faithful word as we have been taught, that we may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers: "for there are many unruly and vain talkers, and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision [that is, workmongers], whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not,” Titus i. 9—11.

It is true, the faithful servants of God may sometimes see their flocks scattered and corrupted by false teachers, and they may seem to thrive in their deceivings, inasmuch as the true prophets may be brokenhearted under and amazed at it, as you read in Jeremiah, chap. xxviii. Notwithstanding this, their devised fables shall not stand; nor shall they destroy the elect of God in the end, though they may deceive the reprobate and themselves; and this is often made manifest when their errors entangle them in the revealed wrath of God, until they break out into open rebellion against the light, and then they are left to stagger on in darkness, and grope like the blind for the wall, even while the Sun of Righteousness shines in his full strength. We may be sure of this, that God will save the poor in spirit from being destroyed by their mouth; as it is written, "He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. They meet with

darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty, so that the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth," Job v. 12-16.

I come now, as was proposed, to speak to the last branch of this general head of discourse, namely, that we may set fire to the hole, and run safely away by the light of it.

The Spirit of God operates as a spirit of judgment, and as the spirit of burning, in the souls of the elect. He kindles the flame of love in the affections, and a holy zeal according to knowledge in the mind, and shines like a sunbeam in the understanding, by his burning and shining rays. It is the Holy Ghost that makes a minister a flame of fire, Heb. i. 7. Nor is this the blessed privilege of ministers only, but of the whole household of faith; for the Spirit of God is promised to all the chosen seed, Isaiah lix. 21; a measure to each to profit withal. We We may hold forth God's flaming truth at the hole of the asp; we are not to spare the asp, let him appear where he may; if he suggest evil to Peter, we may say, "Get thee behind me, Satan." I know that an erroneous preacher and a hearer of errors are the hardest of any to work upon, especially when the cockatrice has kept possession of the impenitent heart so long, and bent their tongue like a bow to shoot lies, instead of being valiant for the truth, Jer. ix. 3. Yet some such as these have been brought to under

stand and to acknowledge the truth as it is in Jesus. "They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine," Isaiah xxix. 24.

When God's word comes with power to the sinner's heart, it soon demolishes that cockatrice den; and, if the spirit of burning operates, the asp is soon burnt out of his hole. God's word is sufficient to break the heart, and to burn out the asp. "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" Jer. xxiii. 29. I have been an eye and an ear witness to several souls who formerly allowed the asp to carry on his business in their mouths, who have been brought, after all, to confess the real truth, and exult in it, under the sweet influences of sovereign grace. Oh, it is sweet to see the

asp burnt out of his hole by the glorious flame of electing and everlasting love. God has often condescended to own and bless the labours of his faithful servants even to do this. I have known several very stiff advocates for freewill and other popish trumpery, who have cavilled against election and imputed righteousness vehemently, that have been brought off from freewill by a storm from Sinai, and to embrace sovereign grace, and be thankful for it. And, when I have seen them shine in the truth,

and burn in the love of it, I

have ran joyfully away by the light of it.

The elect of God may, at their first setting off, and while under legal convictions, be tossed about

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