Those that religiously name the name of Christ and do not depart from iniquity, how will they die; and how will they look that Man in the face, unto the profession of whose name they have entailed an unrighteous conversation; or do they think that he doth not know what they have done, or that they may take him off with a few cries and wringing of hands, when he is on the throne to do judgment against transgressors.  O, it had been better they had not known, had not professed; yea, better they had never been born.  And as Christ says it had been good, so Peter says it had been better, Mark 14:12; 14:22; 2 Pet. 2:  20, 2l—­good they had not been born, and better they had not known and made profession of the name of Christ.

We read that the tail of the dragon, or that the dragon by his tail, did draw and cast down abundance of the stars of heaven to the earth.  Rev. 12:4; Isa. 9:14,15.  The prophet that speaketh lies either by opinion or practice, he is the tail, the dragon’s tail, the serpentine tail of the devil.  Isa. 9:14,15.  And so in his order, every professor that by his iniquity draweth both himself and others down to hell, he is the tail.  Nor can Satan work such exploits by any, as he can by unrighteous professors.  These he useth in his hand as the giant useth his club; he, as it were, drives all before him with it.  It is said of Behemoth, that “he moveth his tail like a cedar.”  Job 40:17.  Behemoth is a type of the devil; but behold how he handleth his tail, even as if a man should swing about a cedar.  This is spoken to show the hurtfulness of the tail, as it is also said in another place, Rev. 9:5,10,19.  Better no professor than a wicked professor; better openly profane, than a hypocritical namer of the name of Christ; and less hurt shall such a one do to his own soul, to the poor ignorant world, to the name of Christ, and to the church of God.

There is the sin of professors; there is a profession that will stand with an unsanctified heart and life.  The sin of such will overpoise the salvation of their souls, the sin-end being the heaviest end of the scale:  I say, that being the heaviest end which hath sin in it, they tilt over, and so are, notwithstanding their glorious profession, drowned in perdition and destruction.

The iniquity that cleaveth to men that profess, if they cast it not away, but countenance it, will all prove nettles and briars to them; and I will assure thee, yea, thou knowest, that nettles and thorns will sting and scratch but ill-favoredly.  “I went,” saith Solomon, “by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.”  Prov. 24:30,31.