SERMON 74.

THE CERTAINTY OF DEATH; A FUNERAL SERMON.

EZEK. XXXIII. 8. O wicked man, thou shalt surely die.

MEN love themselves, and therefore delight to hear things favourable to themselves; and a benevolent mind, that feels pain, whenever he occasions pain to the meanest of his fellow-creatures, would delight to dwell upon such pleasing subjects. And as to the happy few, who are really the sincere servants of God, and are holy in heart and life, I may safely gratify this benevolent inclination, and publish the most joyful tidings. I am authorised to "say to the righteous, it shall be well with him." "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people: speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem." -This is the gracious command of God to all his ministers. And oh how delightful an office to perform it! This only should be the pleasing business of this hour, could I stretch my charity so far, as to conclude, that all this promiscuous crowd, without exception, are indeed the dutiful people of God. But was there ever such a pure assembly upon our guilty earth ?— upon our earth, where an accursed Ham was found in the little select family of Noah, the best in the whole world-where a Judas mingled among the chosen twelve, the first followers of Jesus -where the tares and the wheat grow together in one field till the harvest; and where we are expressly told, many are called, but few chosen." In such a corrupt world, the most generous charity, if under any rational and scriptural limitations, must hesitate at the sight of such a mixed multitude as this must be jealous over them with a godly jealousy, and stand in doubt of them¶-must fear, lest there be one; yea, more than one, wicked man among them. That there is too much reason for this suspicion, and that even a benevolent mind is constrained to admit it, however unwilling, will appear evident, I presume, to

* For Mrs. Burbridge; delivered at Mr. Burbridge's, in James-CityCounty, April 22, 1758.

Isa. iii. 10.

Isa. xl. 1, 2.

Mat. xx. 16.

§ 2 Cor. xi. 2.

¶ Gal. iv. 20.

yourselves, before I have finished my discourse. And if there be so much as one wicked man among us, I would, as it were, single him out from the crowd, and discharge this pointed arrow from the quiver of the Almighty against his heart, to give him, not a deadly, but a medicinal wound; "O wicked man, thou shalt surely die." I am obliged, at my peril, to denounce this doom against thee: and I dare not flatter thee with better hopes, unless I would be accessary to thy death, and at once ruin both myself and thee. For observe the context, which contains the instructions of the great Jehovah to his minister Ezekiel, which are equally binding upon all the ministers of his word in every age. “O thou son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, ✪ wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand." This phrase, “ I will require his blood at thy hand," signifies, "I will look upon thee as guilty of his murder, and I will punish thee accordingly."* Therefore, if I would not incur the guilt and punishment of murder, soul-murder, the most shocking kind of murder; if I would not destroy you and myself, that you may enjoy the sorry pleasure of flattery, and that I may enjoy the short-lived, trifling reward of a little popular applause, I am obliged to tell such of you as are wicked, in the most pungent manner, and as it were by name, "O wicked man, thou shalt surely die :" whoever thou art; however rich, or powerful, or honourable; however bold and presumptuous; however full of flattering hopes; however sure of life in thine own conceit; if thou be wicked, thou shalt die; thou shalt surely die; or, to use the force of the Hebrew phrase,† dying thou shalt die; in death thou shalt die indeed : thou shalt surely die, saith the Lord, and not man: it is the declaration of eternal truth, which cannot fail: it is the sentence of the Lord of hosts, who is able to carry it into execution. That it is his sentence, and not man's, you may see by the connection : "The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die."—When I say,

* That this is the import of the phrase, may be learned from Gen. ix. 5, 6. where it is evidently used in this sense : "Surely the blood of your lives will I require-at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."

man. This the Septuagint imitate, Javara Javatwinan.

that is, when I, the Lord of hosts, say this. Let this, therefore, be regarded, not as the rash sentence of censorious mortals, but as the unchangeable constitution and authentic declaration of a wise and righteous God, which must infallibly stand good, whoever oppose; "O wicked man, thou shalt surely die."

But here two interesting questions occur, Who are the wicked? and, What kind of death shall they die?

If we should not first inquire, who the wicked are, I should but speak to the air; for hardly any would apply the character to themselves. It is an odious character; and that alone is the reason why many try to persuade themselves, it is not theirs. But, my brethren, many things that are very disagreeable, are, notwithstanding, true. And it may be our interest to know them, however painful the discovery may be for now, while we are in a mutable state, we may, through divine grace, change characters those who are now wicked, and consequently exposed to eternal death, may yet become righteous, the favourites of heaven, and the heirs of eternal life. And the first step towards such a happy change, is, a clear affecting conviction, that their present character and condition are bad and dangerous. Let us, therefore, submit ourselves to an impartial trial, and endeavour to discover whether the character of the wicked man belong to us, or not. I would, by no means, desire or expect, you should pay me so extravagant a compliment, as to form a judgment of yourselves merely upon my assertion. I refer you to a higher authority, to your own reason and conscience, and especially to the Holy Scriptures. "The Bible, the Bible is the religion of protestants :"* By the Bible you must be tried at last, by the Supreme Judge and by that infallible test, I would have you try yourselves now.

:

The first class of wicked men that I shall take notice of, are profane and gross sinners, who indulge themselves in notorious immoralities. Instead of particularizing them myself, I shall produce to you a list of them, which the apostle has given long ago. "Know ye not, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" He seems surprised, any should be ignorant of so plain a point as this. "Be not deceived," says he : do not flatter yourselves with better hopes; but who are the unrighteous? He tells you particularly; "neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate," soft, luxurious crea

Chillingworth.

as

tures, unmanned with sensual pleasures, "nor abusers of themselves with mankind," Sodomites, "nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."* You see the apostle is fixed and peremptory in it, that sinners of this class are universally excluded from the kingdom of heaven-not one of them all shall ever be admitted there, if they continue such. All such shall certainly perish, or else St. Paul was an impostor. To the same purpose he speaks,† "the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like of the which I tell you before," that is, I honestly forewarn you, I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." As sin is a monster of so many heads, he does not enumerate them all, but comprehends them in the lump; declaring, that they who practised the vices mentioned, or such like, though not exactly the same, shall be excluded from heaven. This was not an occasional declaration, but what he had solemnly repeated at various seasons: "I forewarn you now," says he, "as I have done in time past." He denounces the same doom against these vices in his epistle to the Colossians: "fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness-for which things' sake, the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience." I shall add but one testimony more, "the fearful," the cowardly in the cause of God," and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." These, you see, are the certain symptoms of the heirs of hell : be admitted into a state of everlasting happiness, while they continue such, it is certain, your religion must be false for the Bible, which is the foundation of your religion, repeatedly declares, they shall not be admitted there. It is also observable, that in this black list, you not only find such gross vices as are scandalous in the common estimate of mankind, but also such as are secret, seated in the heart, and generally esteemed but lesser evils. Here you find not only murder, whoredom, idolatry,

* 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10.

Col. iii. 5, 6.

and if they

Gal. v. 19-21.

§ Rev. xxi. 8.

theft, and such enormous and scandalous sins, but also covetousness, wrath, strife, envyings, unbelief, and such-like latent sins, which men generally indulge themselves in, without feeling much guilt upon their consciences, or apprehending themselves in great danger of punishment. These are but foibles and peccadillos little trifling sins, in their esteem: but oh! how different an estimate does God form of them! He pronounces them damnable vices, the practice of which will certainly exclude from his favour. And his sentence will stand, whether we will or not.

I should be very sorry so much as to suppose, there are any among you of this abandoned character. But I must propose the matter to your own decision; and at so favourable a tribunal, you will, no doubt, be acquitted, if you be clear. I say, I propose it to yourselves, whether some of you be not drunkards, swearers, liars, whoremongers, extortioners, sabbath-breakers, and the like? Or, if you are free from these grosser forms of vice, do not some of you live in wrath, strife, revelling and carousing, covetousness, secret uncleanness, and the like? If this be your character, I have another thing to propose to you; and that is, whether it be most likely that you shall be excluded the kingdom of heaven; or that Christ and his apostles, and the other writers of the holy Scriptures, were deceivers? One or other must be the case: if you be admitted into heaven, then they were certainly deceivers for they have declared, you shall not be admitted. Will you disbelieve their evidence, merely because it is against you? Will you believe nothing, but what is in your favour? That would be a strange test of truth indeed.

Thus far you are assisted to judge, who are the wicked; and whether some of you do not belong to this unhappy class. And now I proceed to another class.

Secondly, All those are wicked, who knowingly and wilfully indulge themselves habitually in any one sin, whether it be the omission of a commanded duty, or the practice of something forbidden. Every good man is of the same spirit with David, who could appeal to God himself, "Lord, I have a respect to all thy commandments ;"* and, with St. Paul, "I delight in the law of God after the inner man." And consequently, they who have not a practical respect to all God's commandments, without exception, and who do not inwardly delight in his law, are of a † Rom. vii. 22.

* Psalm cxix. 6.