Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

belongeth unto thee; to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee;" thou, Jehovah, art just in all the judgments which thou hast poured upon our world, in all that vanity which thou art causing us to experience in every enjoyment of life, in all that disease of body and disquietude of mind to which we are exposed, "because we have sinned against thee."

3. Aim at realising the certain and awful consequences of transgression. It really exposes to the curse of Almighty God; it renders us obnoxious to all misery, both here and hereafter. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Art thou persuaded that every transgression binds thee over to the curse, and does thy conscience tremble under the persuasion? A cold speculative belief, that all have sinned, that the whole world is become guilty before God, is unprofitable; each individual ought particularly to apply the doctrine to himself, "I am the man; I have sinned, what shall,Í do unto thee, O thou Preserver of men ?Behold! I was shapen in iniquity, and I am therefore by nature a child of wrath even as

I

others." It is truly affecting that thousands entertain some general notions about their original and actual sin, without giving themselves any more concern; they will not be at the trouble of reflecting on its consequences; this consideration, although infinitely awful, rarely produces an uneasy emotion in their hearts, an anxious cry from their lips, or a penitential tear from their eyes; they can lie down in the evening and rise up in the morning; they can proceed to their ordinary employments, and retire from these employments when the wrath of God is hanging over them, and the sword of justice is unsheathed for their blood, with incomparably less anxiety than that of a child or servant when threatened by a parent or master. Endeavor, therefore, to be affected with the dangerous and damning consequences of sin. What avails it for a man merely to know he is diseased, he will not determine on consulting or employing a physician until he is alarmed with the probably fatal issue of his disease? What avails it for the criminal to know he has broken the law of his country, and that his sovereign is offended, he will not think of acknowledging his crime or asking forgiveness until he apprehends the actual punishment of his offence; neither will the sinner be truly earnest about fleeing from the wrath to come, unless he be fully convinced that he is exposed to wrath; that he is liable to the dam

nation of hell. How cheerful have been the most perfect of the saints in the confession of their sin; how contrite their spirits under a consciousness of their imperfections; how ardent in imploring the exercise of mercy? "If I justify myself mine own mouth would condemn me; If I say I am perfect, I shall prove myself perverse: I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth: Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." I shall now conclude this discourse with a single inference to the ungodly, and to the righteous.

1. To the ungodly, who are yet in their sins, who have never fled for refuge to the everlasting Surety, nor improved his great salvation, heavy tidings must be uttered from the Lord of hosts. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked, and therefore none to thee in thy present condition. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, and is therefore revealed against thee. Art thou, thoughtless sinner, art thou in childhood, remember that thou art called a transgressor from the womb, and a child of wrath : Behold! thou wast shapen in iniquity, and in sin did thy mother conceive thee. Thy parents may perhaps flatter thee, but the li

ving God is thine adversary whilst thou art unreconciled by the blood of Jesus: Health may bloom in thy cheek, joy may suffuse thy heart, and the world present its gilded charms before thine eyes, but the wrath of almighty God hangs over thy head, and the broken law thunders its curses in thine ears. Art thou, thoughtless sinner, art thou in youth, in manhood or old age, thou also art an heir of wrath not only by nature, but by practice; as thou wast really born under the sentence of condemnation, so all the transgressions thou hast committed from infancy to the present hour; all the serious advices thou hast neglected, all the holy impressions thou hast quenched, all the vain, idle thoughts thou hast entertained, all the unholy, unprofitable words thou hast uttered; these are all charged against thee in the volume of Jehovah's remembrance; ant without a speedy application to his mercy, through Jesus Christ, the accumulated sins of thy nature and life will fill up thy cup to its brim, and bring upon thee wrath to the very uttermost. Dream not of impuni ty while sin is indulged in thy heart: Did a holy God for their sins hurl the angels from heaven, drive them down to hell, and bind them in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day, and shalt thou escape living and dying in thy transgressions? Did a holy God, for their sin, punish Sodom and Gomorrah, causing them to suffer the venge

[ocr errors]

ance of eternal fire, and shalt thou escape living and dying in thy transgressions? Did a holy God punish sin to the uttermost in his own Son; did he command the sword of justice to awake and cleave him to the dust of death when undertaking as surety for man, and shalt thou escape living and dying in thy transgressions? "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap; they that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. The word is gone out of his mouth and shall not return, that he will by no means clear the guilty. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God." Fondly I would convince you of your multiplied, spiritual diseases, that you might be brought to welcome the great PHYSICIAN; fondly I would open up the malignant mortal wound of sin to prepare for administe ring the healing balm; fondly I would alarm you with apprehensions of divine wrath, that you might be driven by a holy necessity to that Jesus in whom there is plenteous redemption; Who is the end of the law for righteousness to all them that believe. A door of hope is now opened for you through his obedience and blood; mercy abounds through the merits of his cross for the very chief of sinners. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so is the son of man lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have eternal

« ZurückWeiter »