SERMON IV.

"A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: it is sharpened to make a

soro slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter : should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.”—EZEK, xxi. 9, 10.

From the second verse of this chapter we learn that this prophecy was directed against Jerusalem : “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel.”

We have already told you that Ezekiel, while yet a youth, was carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and placed, with a number of his countrymen, by the river of Chebar. It was there that he delivered his prophecies during a space of twenty-two years. The prophecy I have read was delivered in the seventh year of his captivity, and just three years before Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple burnt. From verse 2, we learn that these words were directed against Jerusalem ; for though God had taken Ezekiel away to minister to the captives by the river of Chebar, yet He made him send many a message of warning and of mercy to his beloved Jerusalem. “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel."

God had already fulfilled many of the words of his prophets against Jerusalem. He had fulfilled the word of Jeremiah against one of their kings (Jehoiakim). “He shall be buried with the burial of an ass: drawn and cast forth beyond the walls of Jerusalem.” He had fulfilled the word of the same prophet in carrying another king (Jehoiakin) to Babylon with all the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord. But still neither prophecies nor judgments would awaken Jerusalem ; so that we are told (2 Chron. xxxvi, 12) that Zedekiah, the next king, "did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord.” Vers. 14–16: “Moreover, all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much, after all the abominations of the heathen ; and polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place : but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his works, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy."

It was in a time of great hardness and impenitence in Jerusalem that the prophecy before me was delivered, and just three years before the wrath of God was poured on them to the uttermost. First, All was mirth and sensuality in Jerusalem. Second, The false prophets prophesied peace, and the people loved to have it so. Third, There was no noise but that of revelry within the devoted city. But in the midst of that din and revelry, the lone prophet by the river of Chebar heard the muttering of the distant thunder.

The faithful servant of God saw God arming himself as a mighty man for the war, and the glittering sword of vengeance in his hand, and he calls aloud to his countrymen, all at ease, with awakening thunders, “A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: it is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter : should we then make mirth ?”

My friends, those of you who are unconverted are in the very same situation as Jerusalem was. In the years that are now fled like the mists of the morning, how many messages have you had from God! How many times has He sent his messengers to you, rising up early and sending them! His Bible has been in your houses, a silent but most mighty pleader for God; his providence has been in your families, in sickness and death, in plenty or poverty,_all, all beseeching you to flee from the wrath to come,all, all beseeching you to cleave to the Lord Jesus, the only, the all-sufficient Saviour. All these messages have come to you, and you are yet unconverted-still dead, dry bones, without Christ and without God in the world ; and you are saying, Soul, take thine ease, eat and drink and be merry. But do, my friends, hearken once more, for God does not wish any to perish. I have a word from God unto thee: “A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: it is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter : should we then make mirth ?”

Doctrine. It is very unreasonable in unconverted persons to make mirth.

(1.) It is unreasonable, because they are under condemnation.— The sword is sharpened, and also furbished. It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter. Should we then make mirth? There is a common idea that men are under probation, as Adam was, and that Christless persons will not be condemned till the judgment; but this is not the case. The Bible says, “He that believeth not is condemned already." "He that hath not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” “Cursed is cvery one [not shall be] who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.” Christiess souls are at present in the horrible pit, every mouth is stopped, and they are guilty before God. They are in prison, ready to be brought out to execution. Therefore, when God sends us to preach to Christless persons, He calls it “preaching to the spirits in prison,"l that is, who are under condemnation. The sword is not only unsheathed, it is sharpened and furbished. It is held over their heads.

Should they then make mirth? It is unreasonable in a condemned malefactor to make mirth. Would it not greatly shock every feeling mind to see a company of men condemned to die, meeting and making merry, talking lightly and jestingly, as if the sword was not over them ? Yet this is the case of those of you who are unconverted and yet live lives of mirth. You have been tried in the balance and found wanting. You have been condemned by the righteous Judge. Your sentence is past. You are now in prison ; neither can you break out of this prison : the sword is whetted and drawn over you. And oh! is it not most unreasonable to make mirth? Is it not most unreasonable to be happy and contented with yourself and merry with your friends? Is it not madness to sing the song of the drunkard ? “Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die."

(2.) Because God's instruments of destruction are all ready. Not only are Christless persons condemned already, but the instruments of their destruction are prepared and quite ready. The sword of vengeance is sharpened, and also furbished. When swords are kept in the armoury, they are kept blunt, that the rust may not hurt their edge; but when work is to be done, and they are taken out for the slaughter, then they are furbished and sharpened, made sharp and glittering. So it is with the sword of the executioner : when not in use, it is kept blunt; but when work is to be done, it is sharpened and made ready. It is sharpened and furbished just before the blow is struck, that it may cut clean. So is it with God's sword of vengeance. It is not sheathed and blunt, it is sharpened and furbished, -it is quite ready to do its work, -it is quite ready for a sore slaughter. The disease by which every unconverted man is to die is quite ready,—it is perhaps in his veins at this very moment. The accident by which he is to drop into eternity is quite ready,--all the parts and means of it are arranged. The arrow that is to strike him is on the string,—perhaps it has left the string, and is even now flying towards him.

'I believe he afterwards understood 1 Put. iii. 19 to mean, " the spirits who are now in prison."

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The place in hell is quite ready for every inconverted soul. When Judas died, the Scripture says, “ he went to his own place." It was his own place before he went there, being quite prepared and ready for him. As when a man retires at night to his sleepingroom, it is said he has gone to his own room, so a place in hell is quite ready for every Christless person. It is his own place. When the rich man died and was buried, he was immediately in his own place. He found everything ready. He lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torments. So hell is quite ready for every Christless person. It was prepared, long ago, for the devil and his angels. The fires are all quite ready, and fully lighted and burning.

Ah! should Christless souls then make mirth? A malefactor might perhaps say that he would be merry as long as the scaffold was not erected on which he was to die. But if he were told that the scaffold was quite ready,—that the sword was sharpened, and the executioner standing ready,-oh! would it not be madness to make mirth? Alas! this is your madness, poor Christless soul. You are not only condemned, but the sword is sharpened and ready that is to smite your soul; and yet you can be happy, and dream away your days and nights in pleasures that perish in the using. The disease is ready, the accident is ready, the arrow is on the string, the grave is ready, yea, hell itself is ready, your own place is made ready; and yet you can make mirth! You can play games and enjoy company! How truly is your laughter like the crackling of thorns under a pot: a flashy blaze, and then the blackness of darkness for ever!

(3.) The sword may come down at any one moment. Not only are Christless persons condemned already, and not only is the sword of vengeance quite ready, but the sword may come down at any one moment. It is not so with malefactors; their day is fixed and told them, so that they can count their time. If they have many days, they make merry to-day at least, and begin to be serious to-morrow. But not so Christless persons; their day is fixed, but it is not told them. It may be this very moment. Ab! should they then make mirth?

Some malefactors have been found very stout-hearted to the rery last. Many have received their sentence quite unmoved, and with a determined countenance. Some have even gone to the scaffold qnite unmoved; some even with a light, careless spirit. But when the head is laid down upon the block, -when the eyes are covered, and the neck laid bare, when the glittering sword is lifted high in the air, and may come down any one moment, -that is a dreadful

time of suspense. It would be very horrible to see a man in a light careless spirit at that time. Oh! it would be madness to be merry then. Alas! this is your madness, poor Christless soul. You are not only condemned, and not only is the sword ready, but it may fall on you at any one moment. Your head is, as it were, on the block. Your neck is bared before God, and the whetted sword is held over you; and yet can you make mirth? Can you take up your mind with business and worldly things, and getting rich, building and planting, and this night your soul may be required of you? Can you fill up your time with games and amusements, and foolish books and entertaining companions? Can you fill up your hours after work with loose talk and wanton behaviour, adding sin to sin, treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, when you know not what hour the wrath of God may come upon you to the uttermost? Can you go prayerless to your bed at night, your mind filled with dark and horrid imaginations not fit to be named, and yet you may be in hell before the morning ? A sword, a sword; it is furbished!

(4.) Because God has made no promise to Christless souls to stay his hand one moment. — All the promises of God are yea and amen, that is, they are true. He always fulfils his promises. But the same scripture says they are “ yea and amen in Christ Jesus.” All God's promises are made to Christ, and to sinners that cleave to Christ. I believe that it is impossible, in the nature of things, that God would make a promise to an unconverted man. Accord. ingly, all God's promises are made to Christ, and to every sinuer that cleaves on to Christ. But unconverted persons are those who have never come to Christ; therefore there are no promises made to them. God nowhere promises to make them anxious. He nowhere promises to bring them to Christ. He nowhere promises to keep them one moment out of hell. “Should they then make mirth ?”

Let me speak to Christless persons who are at ease. Many of you hearing me may know that you are in a Christless state ; and yet you know that you are at ease and happy. Why is this? It is because you hope to be brought to Christ before you die. You say, Another day will do as well, and I will hear thee again of this matter; and therefore you take your ease now. But this is very unreasonable. It is not worthy of a rational being to act in this way. God has nowhere promised to bring you to Christ before you die. God has laid himself under no manner of obligation to you. He has nowhere promised that you shall see to-morrow, or that you shall hear another sermon. There is a day near at hand