remember, that God is the author of that part of fcripture as well as of all the reft; and as Satan hath made fuch a fuccefsful attack upon you, he will not quit the field till he hath got the whole, for the whole is in danger to deny any one part to be true, is to deny the whole, and make God a liar, for no lie is of the truth. Some profeffors are gone so far already, that when they are preffed hard upon this head, they are obliged to confefs," they do not believe the Bible." Hence the exhortation that Jesus by his angel fends to us, Remember bow thou haft received and beard, and bold faft.

But why are we fo charged by the Lord to hold faft? Because our fafety lies in it. Those that keep the word of his patience, he will keep (from being carried away by Satan) in this hour of temptation. Rev. iii. 10. In the next place, thofe that fear God, and have been led aftray by it, are exhorted to repent; for this trap of the devil hardens the heart, and makes men vain, proud, and self-conceited. If you argue with them, and bring forth the will of God to them in his word, it makes no impreffion; they bring forth their ftrong reafons against God himself: and fure I am, that nothing but evangelical repentance can save these from destruction, and set them down at the Saviour's feet to receive and obey his word. The devil, by the inftrumentality of Tom Paine, having come down among us in great wrath, gives me fome room to fufpect, that he knows he hath but a short time, before that infernal bead will be wounded

wounded over divers countries. Perhaps this temptation that is now abroad in the earth is fomething preparatory to what is yet to come. The long difpute between Michael and the devil, in the days of Jeremiah, was to jeparate the vile from the precious; and when this divifion was made, the fword of war determined the point, the rebels perifhed, and the righteous lived.

At that time the devil had got the army of the Jews on his fide, as well as the king, the princes, the priests, and the falfe prophets. Hence you read, that Jeremiah went forth to go into Benjamin; and when he was in the gate, the captain of the ward took him, faying, Thou falleft away to the Chaldeans: and the princes were wroth with him, and smote him, and put him in prifon. Jer. xxxvii. 15. Now this prefent hour of temptation is to make the fame divifion. And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that tranfgress against me: and I will bring them forth out of the country where they fojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Ifrael, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Ezek. xx. 38. This fame work is now going on in our barn floor; the chaff from the wheat is feparating, carnal profeffors and hypocrites, the devil is gathering them together, by Tom Paine's books, and our false prophets; and in the bond of iniquity he holds them faft, while those who do know their God cleave to him, to his fervants, and to his word, in the bond of love. And fomething, which perhaps is yet to come, will determine

this

this branch of the controversy of Zion; for not the rebels, nor the wicked who join hand in hand, fhall escape, but those who keep the word of his patience, in the love of it; and this part of it in particular, be fub • ject to the higher powers: thefe be will keep (from being carried away) in this hour of temptation. Hence the following condition, spoken by way of threatening; If therefore thou shalt not watch, I thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know

will come on

what bour I `will come upon thee. Rev. iii. 3. These words plainly imply, that thofe who are obedient, believe his word, and watch his hand, and his judgments which are abroad in the earth, fhall have timely notice, and know, in due time, when he comes, and what he means to do, fo as to efcape; for he will reveal bis fecrets to bis fervants the prophets. But those profef fors, who are led away by the devil into this damnable delufion, will be given up to blindness of mind, infenfibility, and hardnefs of heart; their heads will be ftuffed with politics, their hearts with malice and murder, and all their hopes and expectations will be upon anarchy. To thefe, faith Chrift, will I come as a thief (in the night), and thou shalt not know what bour I will come upon thee. Those who shall escape this perilous hour are pointed out in the following verfe: Thou haft a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Rev. iii. 4. Thefe were not polluted with adultery or fornication, neither with perjury, rebellion, damnable herefy, nor fuperftition;

fuperftition; and thefe fhall still walk with Chrift, when many fhall fall off; and walk in white, when many are defiled and polluted; and fhall be counted worthy, when the hypocrites' hope fhall perish, and their trust shall be in a spider's web.

I fhall now confider over again the watchword in my text, Go away, stand not still. They knew before where they were to go to, and what they were to meet with when they went; and now an opportunity offered for their efcape, and therefore he gives the watchword, and enforces it, Go away, ftand not ftill. This ftrange work will be brought to pass again, when the most perilous time, the hotteft hour comes on, which, perhaps, may be very violent, but very fhort: and as then, fo now, Chrift will be a ftrength to the needy in his diftrefs, fhould the blaft of the terrible ones fend a ftorm to the wall. Chrift is a hiding-place himself, and he will provide a retreat for those who obey his voice in this degenerate age. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; bide thyfelf as it were for a moment, till the indignation be overpaft. God revealed his fecret to Jeremiah, and he gave the watchword to all that attended him, cleaved to him, and obeyed the voice of the Lord by him. And fo it will be again, when the righteous are fixed in the truth, and the rebels ripe for deftruction. The fervants of the Lord will have timely intimation; and thofe that obey the voice of the Lord, and cleave to him, and hold fast his word,

will

will take the warning, and embrace the shelter, and none elfe; for thofe that are in Satan's trap are filled with fuch defperate malice and madness against every minister of the word, and against every child of God who dares to oppofe or advance truth against their rebellious fpirits, that they are like atheists, they will take no warning, nor give credit to any thing that shall be faid. The prophet is the fnare of a fowler in all his ways; the fpiritual man is mad, because of thy great hatred. Thefe will be like Lot's fons-in-law; they will laugh, and lay down, till the flames of eternal fire roufe them the fecond time; or like king Zedekiah, who perfifted in his rebellion till he faw the king of Babylon's princes in the gates of the city: then he fled; but the vengeance of heaven foon overtook him. Even in the chapel there hath been fome of this caft, who have made a wry mouth, grinned like a dog, and even gnashed their teeth, while I have been infifting upon these things, which I believe in my confcience to be true and right, and that it is my duty to enforce them. But if they can gnafh their teeth in the house of God, what will they do in the pains of hell? But they served Jeremiah worse than this, for every one of them curfed him. Jer. xv. 10. They fmote him. Jer. xx. 2. Again and again (Jer. xxxvii. 15.) they imprifoned him; they put him down into the dungeon, up to the neck in mud. They took counsel to flay him, but they could not beat the grace God out of his heart, nor the truth of God out of

of