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down.
That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is
only that God's appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when
that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then
they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight.
God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will
let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into
destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the
edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately
falls and is lost. The observation from the words that I would now
insist upon is this. -- "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any
one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." -- By the mere
pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will,
restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any
more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree,
or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men
one moment. -- The truth of this observation may appear by the following
considerations. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into
hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The
strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his
hands. -- He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can
most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal
of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself,
and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is
not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the power
of God. Though hand join in ha
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