ven. Men may talk of the Mercy of God, and conceit of being admitted to Heaven, after all their Careleffness and finful Courses: But if Heaven be the Enjoyment of GoD, and the Business of it his Service, he whofe Heart is its own Mafter, and who affects not fpiritual Gratifications, would find the. Sight of Gop to be terrible, and his Service the moft grievous Slavery,

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It is not therefore among the leaft of the evil Confequences which Sin hath brought. after it, that it hath set you at Variance with GOD. Perhaps you may be eafy enough for the prefent, and be now infenfible to any Hurt you receive through the Want of an Obedience, Love, and Honor of Spirit. to your heavenly King. Your Backwardnefs to think of him, your Liftleffness when you are near him, the Unruliness of your wayward Heart, utterly averfe to do or to bear his Will; your intire Affection to the; World, your Delight in carnal Pleasures, your Self efteem; all thefe Inventions which; you have fought out, may give you little. Pain in this your Day upon Earth. But when you fhall, by and by, be forced against, your Will into Eternity, then you fhall feel to your Coft, what a fore Evil it is to be without the obedient Spirit of a Creature, to be barren of all Love towards GOD, and to be defolate of all heavenly Graces, and

fo without all Poffibility of Happiness for ever. This World paffeth, as a Dream when -one awaketh, and the next altogether unfit for you; what a difconfolate Soul must you be upon the Moment of your Separation! And upon both these Consequences, follows in the

THIRD Place, as the Event of Man's Apoftafy, that a Sentence of Wrath is gone forth against the World. GOD is able to maintain his own Caufe; he is able fully to vindicate the Wrong, which the lawless World hath done to his Honor. He doth -not affect a Dominion, which he wants Power to manage. He fitteth over all from the Beginning, and he remaineth a King for ever. Hell and Destruction are before him, Nor can any stay bis Hand, or fay unto kim, What deft thou? And can we conceit, that GOD, jealous of his Rights, who will not give his Glory to another, fhall tamely fubmit to fo provoking an Infult, as the univerfal Rebellion of his Creatures? Shall he not

avenge himself upon us, and make it known. from one fide of the Heaven to the other, by the exemplary Justice he will do himself upon us, that be is God, and there is none else? We have drawn a Curtain over his Glory, nor doth he yet make that his Glory to appear; he fuffers it to be hid a little Space; but he will magnificently glorify himself in the

Day

Day of his Vengeance, and all the Earth fball know that God is the Lord. You may make light of Sin, now that ye fee not the Hand of Juftice yet ftretched out; ye may take little Account of the Dishonor ye do unto God in the ftrange Forgetfulness of your Ways: But hear what the GoD of Truth faith, he who changeth not, and whose Words shall not fail: The Lord is flow to Anger, and great in Power, and will not at all acquit the Wicked (t): The Soul that finnetb fball die (u): And the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Ungodliness and Unrighteoufness of Men (x). Not to multiply Paffages; throughout the Gospel-Revelation the Offers made us of Mercy do ever fuppofe us to be in a loft and undone State by reafon of Sin. The established Appointment and Decree of GoD in Heaven and Earth is, The Wages of Sin is Death (y). By the Punishment of Sin GOD will maintain his Glory, which the Infolence of Sin seems to have deprived him of, till the Recompence of Vengeance make his mighty Power to be known. Lay it to heart then, whoever you are; you have finned, provokingly rebelled against your Maker; and how fearful a thing is it to fall into the Hands of the living God! Let me fuggeft to you the (t) Nah.i. 3. (x) Rom. i. 18.

(u) Ezek. xviii. 4.
() Rom. vi. 23.

Certainty

Certainty of that Wrath, the Eternity of that Vengeance, the Depth and Horror of that Tophet, the Fury of that Fire, which the Breath of the Lord kindles. If Sin, like a devouring Army, hath already brought Defolation after it; if it hath intailed the Curfe of GOD upon Nature and upon ourfelves; judge then, what Store of Vengeance is prepared for it against that Day, when it fhall be fully rewarded: But whatever that Vengeance be, Sin hath made you all the Children and Heirs of it: This is the laft Confequence of Man's Apoftafy; it hath brought the Curfe of GOD upon us. The great Governor of the World will not let Sin go unpunished.

AND now what shall we say to these Things? You cannot deny the Accufation. The whole World is guilty before God. You cannot difpute the Confequences. You must own, that you have difhonored God's Government, and fet yourself at a deplorable Diftance from GoD and Happiness, and incurred his avowed Wrath. Sad State of a finful World! Methinks, in fuch a view of ourselves, every Heart fhould be ftruck with an awful Sufpence, with a facred Dread about the Iffue. That trembling Anxiety, which feizes every Breast, upon Occafion of fome more folemn Execution, when the Hand is now lifted up to ftrike the Blow,

fhould

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fhould poffefs our Souls. And yet I have another Confideration to add, when we meet again, which must abundantly contribute to increase our Apprehenfion. But I fhall difmifs you for the prefent with this awakening Paffage of Scripture, which, you will find in the fixth Chapter of Genefis, introduces GOD's Denunciation of Vengeance upon the first World. God faw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of bis Heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made Man on the Earth, and it grieved him at his Heart. And the Lord faid, I will deftroy Man, wkom I bave created, from the Face of the Earth; for it repenteth me that I have made them. The Application is both eafy to be made, and terrible to be thought of.

SERMON