HOPKINSIAN MAGAZINE.

VOL. IV.]

April 30, 1832.

SERMON.

[Concluded from page 358.]

[NO. 6.

And their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost.-JOB, 11. 20. AGREEABLY to the plan proposed, a description of secure sinners has been given; and it has been shown, how it comes to pass, that they entertain hopes of future happiness. It now remains to show,

There are two ways by which One is, by genuine conviction. the day of Penticost lost their "I was

III. That secure sinners will find it extremely painful to give up their false hopes. It is certain they must sooner or later give them up. They are built upon false grounds; and when those grounds are taken away, their hopes must expire. So it is represented in the text. "Their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost." That is, their hope shall certainly die. This is the general representation of scripture. The Bible represents secure sinners as constantly liable to lose their delusive hopes of the divine favor. their hopes may be destroyed. Thus the three thousand on hopes. And thus Paul tells us he lost his hopes. alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." All secure sinners are liable to lose their hopes in this way; and they must lose their hopes in this way, in order to be saved. They must come to Christ weary and heavy laden, despairing of salvation in any other way. But if they maintain their false hopes through life and are never awakened and convinced by the influences of the divine Spirit; yet death will certainly put an end to their delusion, and destroy their hopes forever. We read, "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness; but the righteous hath hope in his death." We read, "The desire of the wicked shall perish.” And Job demands, "What is the hope of the hypocrite, when God taketh away his soul?" Zophar appears to have reference to death, in the text, when he says "The hope of the

wicked is as the giving up of the ghost." Death will strip all sinners of the false hopes they indulged in this life, and fix them in a state of endless despair. So that it is certain, that secure sinners will sooner or later experience the loss of all their fond and delusive expectations of eternal happiness. And whenever they shall be constrained to renounce their hopes, it will be like giving up the ghost, and more distressing than death itself. For,

1. When their hopes shall be destroyed, their sense of guilt will be increased. When they find that they have mistaken the character of God, the nature of the Gospel, and the state of their own minds; sin will revive, and the enmity of their hearts will be kindled into a flame of opposition to all those objects, which they once imagined they loved, or at least, did not hate. A clear discovery of the awful justice of God, of the dreadful denunciations of the gospel against the impenitent, and of the total corruption of their own hearts, will fill their souls with a keen sense of their infinite guilt and ill desert in the sight of God, and of all holy beings. They will feel, that they deserve the hatred and displeasure of God, of Christ, of saints, of angels, and even of all those who once loved them. Hence their giving up their hope, will be giving up themselves to the most distressing exercises of mind, that they are capable of feeling. When their hopes are gone, there will be nothing to prevent their pondering upon their guilt and wretchedThey will be constrained to see their sins in their nature, number, and awful aggravations, and to anticipate a state of eternal enmity and opposition to God, to all his works, and to all his creatures. When convinced sinners, in this life, give up their hopes, their souls are filled with anguish and distress. They feel the power of sin, the weight of guilt, and the bitterness of eternal death. But when death destroys their hopes, their views are clearer, and their pains are greater. They feel themselves in the presence and in the hand of God, whose frowns are more than they can support. Their hands and their hearts feel them, and they are constrained to sink deeper and deeper in the bottomless pit.

ness.

destroyed, their This will make So long as men

2. When the hopes of the wicked shall be desires of happiness will remain and increase. the loss of their hopes extremely distressing. hope for future happiness, they can cheerfully endure present misery; but when the hopes of happiness in a future and eter

nal state, are lost, all is lost, and the mind is left in extreme distress. It is the hope of secure sinners, that gives them so much ease and satisfaction in passing through the scenes of the present life. But only let them be constrained to give up their hopes of all future. good, and they will sink in as deep distress, as Esau, when he lost his birthright. For the less men expect future and eternal happiness, the more they desire it. This we see exemplified by all sinners under awakenings and convictions. Their desires of happiness in a future state, are extremely strong and extremely distressing. What then must be the distress of these, who lose their hopes by death, and have their desires of eternal happiness awakened, by finding themselves plunged in eternal despair! The damned will never lose their desires after happiness. When they reflect upon the joys and blessedness of heaven, and that eternal weight of good, which is the portion of saints and angels; their desires of endless felicity will be painfully enflamed. O, how will they long for rest and happiness! But the loss of their hopes will render them an eternal prey to their strong and fruitless desires. Desires unsatisfied will be a principal source of their endless torments in the regions of despair. The most secure sinners, who trifle with eternal realities, will find it as distressing as death, to lose their hopes; because this will awaken the most painful desires, of future and eternal happi

ness.

And

3. It will be extremely distressing to secure sinners to lose their hopes, because it will subject them to the dread of eter-. nal misery. Those who make light of hell, and disbelieve or despise future punishments, will find that they are unable to support the thought of lying down in eternal sorrow. this thought will take fast hold of their minds, whenever they lose their hopes of heaven. Many indeed could bear the thought of losing heaven, if the unavoidable consequence were not, that they must suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. But who can endure the idea of "dwelling with devouring fire? or with everlasting burnings ?" As hope goes, fear comes; and; when all hope is gone, the fear of eternal destruction seizes the minds of sinners. And when they are constrained to relinquish their hopes, they are equally constrained to suffer the fears of eternal misery. Our Saviour, who perfectly knew what it was for sinners to give up their hopes, and yield to despair, has painted their distress in the most lively colors.

"I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." In speaking of the man who was destitute of the wedding garment, he represents the king as saying, “Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Speaking of the vicious servant, who neglected to prepare for the coming of his Lord, he says, "The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And speaking of the man, who had received and neglected the one talent, he says, "Take the talent from him; and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Though sinners, while they remain secure, are stout-hearted, and seem to bid defiance to the dreadful threatenings pointed against them in the gospel; yet whenever they are constrained to give up their false and groundless hopes of eternal happiness, they will find their hearts fail them, and must stoop under the dread of endless destruction. And the stronger their hopes have been, and the less their fears of falling into the bottomless pit, the more distressing will it be to exchange their hopes of eternal life for the fears of eternal death. This will fill them with extreme anguish of heart, if it does not subject them to weeping and gnashing of teeth forever.

HEADS OF IMPROVEMENT.

1. If it be owing to false hopes of future happiness, that sinners are secure; then they are to blame for their security. This they are not apt to believe. They complain of their stupidity, as a mere calamity, which they wish to remove, but cannot. This is a great mistake. Their security is owing to their hopes; and their hopes are voluntary, arising from voluntary ignorance. They wish to retain their hopes, and "will not come to the light" of divine truth, which would show them that they are in "the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity." 2. If the security of sinners arises from their hopes of future happiness, then it should be the leading object of preaching to destroy their false and delusive hopes. No preaching, which leaves sinners in possession of their groundless hopes, will ever

have the least tendency to awaken them from their guilty slumbers. The greatest obstacle which lies in the way of the sav ing effect of a preached gospel, is presented by the false hopes of them that hear it. These must be destroyed, or their souls will be lost. And as these hopes arise from their ignorance of God, of themselves, and of the terms of the gospel; how can they be destroyed, but by exhibiting the truth on these subjects, in a clear, scriptural and discriminating manner? Though such preaching may be the most disagreeable; yet it is the most useful; but that kind of preaching which conceals a part of the counsel of God, or exhibits it in an obscure and unintelligible manner, while it is pleasing and popular, is ever most dangerous and destructive.

3. Sinners have no reason to rejoice, that they are able to retain their false hopes, notwithstanding all the means that are used to awaken them. They do rejoice-but their joy will be turned into sorrow.

4. If sinners can form and maintain their false hopes, notwithstanding all the outward means used with them; then they are entirely in the sovereign hand of God-to awaken, or to stupify-to renew, or to destroy them. All sinners do, is to keep and confirm their old false hope, till convinced by the strivings of the Divine Spirit; and then all they do, is to endeavor to get a new hope, until their hearts are changed by the special, quickening, new-creating influence of the same Holy and Divine Spirit.

5. It concerns all who are in a state of security, to examine the grounds of their hopes. Very many are secure. Negligent sinners are secure-seeking sinners-careless professors.

Let all be urged to give up their false hopes. Such hopes may be known.-They are extremely dangerous.-They must be given up, sooner or later.-If given up now, there may be opportunity to secure that "good hope which is through grace" -but, soon it will be "as the giving up of the ghost."

SENEX.

For the Hopkinsian Magazine.

REASONS WHY GOOD MEN DESIRE THE PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH, ABOVE ALL THINGS ELSE IN THE WORLD.

THE friends of God in Babylon solemnly protested, that they supremely desired the prosperity of Zion. Each one could