The justice of God in the damnation of sinners. Illustrated in a sermon

1. You have many of you been opposite in your spirit to the salvation of others. There are several ways that natural men manifest a spirit of opposition against the salvation of other's souls. It sometimes appears by a fear that their companions, acquaintance, and equals, will obtain mercy, and so become unspeakably happier than they. It is sometimes manifested by an uneasiness at the news of others having hopefully obtained. It appears when persons envy others for it, and dislike them the more, and disrelish their talk, and avoid their company, and cannot bear to hear their religious discourse, and especially ⟨p. 65⟩to receive warnings and counsels from them. And it oftentimes appears by their backwardness to entertain charitable thoughts of them, and their being difficultly brought to believe that it is really so, that they have obtained mercy, and a forwardness to listen to any thing that seems to contradict it. The devil hated to own Job's sincerity, Job. i.7. &c. and chap. ii. verses 3.4.5. There appears very often much of this spirit of the devil in natural men. Sometimes they are ready to make a ridicule of others pretended godliness: They speak of the ground of other's hopes, as the enemies of the Jews did of the wall that they built. Neh. iv.3. "Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said▪ That which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." There are many that join with Sanballat and Tobiah, and are of the same spirit with them. There always was, and always will be, an enmity betwixt the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. It appeared in Cain, who hated his brother, because he was more acceptable to God than himself: and it appears still in these times▪ and in this place. There are many that are like the elder brother, who could not bear it that the prodigal when he returned should be received with such joy and good entertainment, and was put into a fret by it, both against his brother that ⟨p. 66⟩had returned, and his father that made him so welcome.