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gloomy mind of a melancholy person, who, having failed in the courage necessary to resist temptations, fails again in that which is necessary to bear the thought of having fallen into them. But, before we oppose or describe this weakness, let us grant that there is something in it which deserves respect. The greatest part of those who treat it as an extravagance, seem to me far more extravagant than those who fall into it. Yes, the utmost excess of grief that can be occasioned by the remembrance of sin, seems to me incomparably less blameable than the excessive tranquillity of some other people's minds. Who (think you), is most extravagant, he who is too much affected with the enormity of his sins, or he who is not affected enough? Is it he who, notwithstanding his sorrows and regrets, dares not venture to believe himself an object of divine compassion; or he who, having no contrition, nor shedding any tears of repentance, presumes on that compassion? Is it he, whom the bare probability of being punished for his sins, of being eternally laden with chains of darkness,' of being an eternal prey to the worm that never dieth,' 2 Pet. ii. 4; and of becoming fuel for that fire which shall never be quenched,' Mark ix. 44, 45: deprives of his rest, of a relish for the sweets of society, and of all inclination to enjoy the most insinuating pleasures; or, is it he who, in spite of so many reasons to fear his dangerous state, eats, drinks, diverts himself, runs from company to company,2 from circle to circle, and employs the moments, that are given him to avoid his miseries, in inventing the most effectual means of forgetting them? I repeat it again, a melancholy, that is occasioned by the remembrance of sin, has something respectable in it, and the greatest part of those who treat it altogether as an absurdity, are more absurd than those who fall into it.

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I intend, however, in this part of my discourse, to oppose this melancholy gloom. And thanks be to those divine mercies, the grandeurs of which I am this day commending, for furnishing me with so many means of opposing this disposition, independently of the words of my text. What a multitude of reflections present themselves beside those which arise from the subject in hand!

What madness possesses thy melancholy mind? The Holy Spirit assures thee, that 'though thy sins be as scarlet,' he will make them as white as snow;' that though they be as red as crimson,' he will make them as white as wool,' Isa. i. 19; and dost thou think that thy sins are too aggravated to be pardoned in this manner?

The Holy Spirit gives thee a long list of the most execrable names in nature; a list of idolaters, murderers, extortioners, adulterers, persecutors, highway robbers, and blasphemers, who obtained mercy when they desired and sought it and art thou obstinately bent on excluding thyself from the number of those sinners, to whom mercy is promised; and, because thou dost not believe it attainable, dost thou obstinately refuse to ask for it?

The Holy Spirit has lifted up an ensign for the nations,' Isa. xi. 12; or, to speak without a figure, the Holy Ghost has lifted up a cross, and on that cross a Redeemer, who is

'able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him,' Heb. vii. 25; and who himself says to all sinners, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, I will give you rest, and ye shall find rest unto your souls,' Matt. xi. 28, 29. And dost thou flee from this cross, and rather choose to sink under the weight of thy sins than to disburden them on a Redeemer, who is willing to bear them?

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But passing all these, let us return to the text. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.' This is sufficient to refute, this is enough to subvert, and to destroy, the whole system of a despairing mind. The perfections of God are infinite: By what rule then dost thou pretend to limit the Holy One of Israel,' Ps. lxxviii. 41. Canst thou by searching find out God?' Job. xi. 7. Canst thou find out the eternity of him, with whom'a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years,' 2 Pet. iii. 8. Canst thou find out the extent of his wisdom; a wisdom that first invented, then created; that governs now, and will for ever govern, both the material and intelligent worlds? Behold, his understanding is infinite,' Ps. cxlvii. 5. Canst thou find out the power of him who weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance,' Isa. xl. 12; who 'taketh up the isles as a very little thing,'

ver. 15.

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The mercy of God is no less inconceivable than the rest of his attributes. The nature of the thing proves it; reason declares it; revelation places it in the clearest light; experience confirms it; and of his mercy God says in the text, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts than your thoughts.'

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Your thoughts have formed a gloomy system, and ye think that God can pardon a first, or a second, or perhaps a third, sin; but ye cannot believe that he can forgive the hundredth, or even the fortieth offence: but God's thoughts are, that he can abundantly pardon; that he can forgive the hundredth offence, yea the thousandth and the ten thousandth, as well as the first and the second, if ye be sincerely willing to renounce them, and seriously endeavour to reform them.

Ye think, agreeably to your gloomy system, that God does indeed pardon some crimes, but that there are some which he will not pardon; that he sometimes pardons hatred, but that he will never forgive murder; that he sometimes pardons sins of infirmity, but that he will never forgive sins of obstinacy; that he pardons idle words, but that he will never forgive blasphemies: but God's thoughts are that he will abundantly pardon; that he will pardon murder as well as hatred; and sins of obstinacy as well as sins of infirmity; provided ye be sincerely willing to renounce them, and seriously endeavour to reform them.

Ye think, consistently with your melancholy system, that God may perhaps pardon the sins of a few days, or of a few months,

or of a

few years; but that he cannot forgive the sins of ten, or twenty years, or of a whole life: but God thinks that he can abundantly pardon; that he can forgive the sins of ten years, or of twenty, or of a whole life, as well as the sins of one day, or of one month, or of one year; if ye be sincerely willing to renounce them, and seriously endeavour to reform them. Your thoughts are that God pardons the sins of those whom he has not called into church-fellowship, nor distinguished by particular favours: but the thoughts of God are that he will abundantly pardon; that he will forgive sins committed under the Mosaic dispensation as well as those that have been committed under the dispensation of nature; those that have been committed under the gospel as well as those that have been committed under the law, or before the law; if ye be sincerely willing to renounce, and seriously endeavour to reform them. It is not I, it is the prophet, it is God himself, by the prophet, who attests these truths: Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked FORSAKE HIS WAY, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him RETURN UNTO THE LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he WILL ABUNDANTLY PARDON. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.'

If ye sincerely forsake, and seriously reform them. Have ye not been surprised at the frequent repetition of this clause? This clause, however, is the ground of all the promises, that we make to you on God's part.

The chief design of the prophet is to produce obedience to God, and in this we would wish to unite this whole assembly. Deprive the text of this clause, and the rest of the words are not only false and unwarrantable, but contradictory to themselves, and injurious to that God, whose mercy we have been publishing. We have no consolation for a melancholy man, who is resolved to persist in his sins. We have no remedy against despair, when the despairing man refuses to renounce those crimes, the remembrance of which causes all his distress and despair.

Ye slanderers, ye false accusers, ye pests of society, God will abundantly pardon you.' Yea, though ye have been wickedly industrious to poison the purest words, the most harmless actions, the holiest intentions, yet ye ought not to despair of the mercy of God; 'for his thoughts are not as your thoughts, nor his ways as your ways.' He will forgive all your sins, if ye sincerely forsake, and se

riously reform them; if ye do justice to the innocence that ye have attacked, and repair the reputation that ye have damaged.

Ye unjust, ye oppressors, ye extortioners, ye who, as well as your ancestors, have lived on the substance of the wretched, and who are about to transmit an accursed patrimony to your posterity, God will abundantly pardon you: yea, though ye have made a sale of justice, negotiated the blood of the miserable, betrayed the state, and sold your country, yet ye ought not to despair of the mercy of God; for his thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are his ways your ways.' All these sins he will forgive, if ye endeavour seriously to amend them; if ye lay aside those equipages, and retrench those sumptuous festivals, which are the fruits of your own, and of your parents' oppressions and extortions.

Ye sick, ye dying people, who cannot think of your momentary life, without thinking of those sins, which ye have been perpetually committing, and in the multitude and magnitude of which your thoughts are lost, 'God will abundantly pardon you.' Though no other time remains to conciliate your souls to God than the last days of a dying illness, the slight remains of a departing life, yet ye ought not to despair of the mercy of God, for his thoughts are not as your thoughts, neither are his ways as your ways.' He will forgive all your sins, if ye sincerely forsake, and seriously reform them; if ye be animated not only with the fear of death and hell, but with a sincere desire of 'returning unto the Lord;' if ye do not make your pastor an accomplice in your sins: if ye do not forbid him the mentioning of some of your sins; if ye do not prevent the removal of that veil, which yet hides a great part of your turpitude from you; in a word, if ye willingly fall in with all the ways of repentance and reparation, that may be opened to you.

I conclude with the clause, that I have so often repeated, and which I repeat again, (and wo be to him who forgets it! wo be to him who, by his perseverance in sin, renders his compliance impossible!) if ye sincerely forsake, and seriously endeavour to reform and repair them. I give you a subject to meditate for the conclusion of this discourse

(a very terrible and alarming conclusion for

those who have the madness to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness'), Jude 4; this subject, which I leave with you to meditate, is, what degree of punishment in hell will be inflicted upon such men as despise the mercy that we have been describing? God grant that ye may never be able to answer this by your own experience!

SERMON IX.

THE SEVERITY OF GOD.

HEBREWS xii. 29.

For our God is a consuming fire.

IT is a very deplorable thing, that your preachers can never expatiate on the goodness of God, without having just grounds to fear that ye infer dangerous consequences from their doctrine. That goodness, of which God has made such tender declarations; that goodness, of which he has given us such astonishing proofs; that goodness, which seems so proper to make us love him above all things; that goodness, through our abuse of it, contributes the most to rivet our infidelity, and to increase our misery. We freely acknowledge, therefore, that with fear and trembling we endeavoured last Lord's day to display its greatness, and, though all our portraits were infinitely beneath the original, though we esteemed it then our happiness, and our glory, not to be able to reach our subject, yet we have been afraid of having said too much. When, to prevent the fatal effects of despair, we assured you, that, though ye had trafficked with the blood of the oppressed, or betrayed the state, or sold your country, yet ye might derive from the ocean of divine mercy a pardon for all these crimes, provided ye were enabled sincerely to repent, and thoroughly to reform them; when we said these things, we revolved in our minds these discouraging thoughts: perhaps some of our hearers may poison our doctrine: perhaps some monster, of which nature produces an example in every age, actually says to himself; I may then, without despairing of my salvation, traffic with the blood of the oppressed, betray the state, sell my country, and, having spent my life in these wicked practices, turn to God on my death-bed. Ye will allow, we hope, that the bare probability of our having occasioned so dangerous a wound ought to engage us to attempt to heal it, by contrasting to-day the goodness of God with his severity.

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The text that we have chosen, is the language of St. Paul, 'Our God is a consuming fire; and, it is worthy of observation, that we have scrupulously imitated the apostle's example in making this subject immediately succeed that which we explained last Lord's day. The gospel of last Lord's day was a passage in Isaiah, God will abundantly pardon, for his thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways his ways: for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts,' Isa. lv. 7. The gospel of this day is, Our God is a consuming fire. St. Paul has made a similar arrangement, and him we have imitated. In the verses which precede our text he has described, in a very magnificent manner, the good

ness of God in the dispensation of the gos pel. He has exalted the condition of a Christian, not only above that of the heathens, who knew the mercy of God only by natural reason, but even above that of the Jews, who knew it by revelation, but from whom it was partly hidden under veils of severity and rigour. Ye are not come,' said he, 'unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel,' ver. 18, &c. But what consequences has the apostle drawn from all these truths? Are they consequences of security and indifference, such as some Christians draw from them; such as some of you, it may be, drew from the prophet's doctrine last Lord's day? No; they are consequences of vigilance and fear: See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: for our God is a consuming fire,' ver. 25.

'Our God is a consuming fire.' These words are metaphorical; they include even a double metaphor. God is here represented under the emblem of fire, agreeably to what the Psalmist says, 'Shall thy wrath burn like fire?' Ps. lxxxix. 46. There is no difficulty in this first metaphor. But the second, which represents the conduct of God towards im penitent sinners, as wrath, vengeance, anger, is very difficult, and requires a particular explication. In order to which we will attempt three things.

I. We will endeavour to harmonize our text with other parallel passages, and to give you distinct ideas of that which is called in God wrath, anger, vengeance, and which occasioned our apostle to say, 'God is a consuming fire.'

II. We will prove that this attribute agrees to God in the sense that we shall have given.

III. We will endeavour to reconcile the doctrine that we preach to-day, with that which we preached last Lord's day; the jus tice of God with his goodness; and by this

mean to engage you to love and adore God as much when he threatens as when he promises, as much when he presents his justice as when he displays his mercy. This is the whole plan of this discourse.

I. We will endeavour to give you distinct notions of that which the Scripture calls the wrath, the anger, the vengeance, of God.

Recollect a remark which we have often made, that is, that when the Scripture speaks of the perfections and operations of God, it borrows images from the affections and actions of men. Things that cannot be known to us by themselves can be understood only by analogy, as it is called, that is, by the resemblance which they bear to other things, with which we are better acquainted. Divine things are of this kind.

From this remark follows a precaution, which is necessary for the avoiding of error whenever we meet with an emblem of this kind descriptive of God in the holy Scriptures; that is, that we must carefully lay aside every part of the emblem, that agrees only to men from whom it is borrowed, and apply only that part to the Deity which is compatible with the eminence of his perfections.

Sometimes the part that ought to be laid aside is so obvious that it is impossible to mistake it. For example: when the Scripture attributes to God hands, or feet, sorrow, or tears, or jealousy, it is very easy, methinks, to separate from emblems of this sort all that can only agree with the natures of frail, or with the conditions of sinful men.

But sometimes it is not quite so easy. The difficulty may proceed from several causes, of all which I shall mention but one at present, and to that I entreat your attention. Some men have false notions of grandeur, and none are more likely to entertain such notions than those divines, who have breathed only the air of the study, and trodden only on the dust of the schools. Such divines having never sweetened their manners by a social intercourse with rational people in the world, have often contracted in that way of life a sour morose disposition, and their tempers have tinged their ideas of grandeur and glory. I am greatly inclined to believe that some ideas, which several schoolmen have formed of the liberty and independence of God, have arisen from this disposition. Divines, who have sweetened their manners by associating with rational people in the world, would have at tributed to God a noble and magnanimous use of his liberty and independence. They would have said, God is free and independent, then he will always do justly and equitably then he will require of mankind only that which bears a proportion to the talents that he has given them; then misery will be the consequence of nothing but vice, and felicity will always follow virtue. If the Scriptures sometimes represent God by emblems, which seem opposite to these notions, sensible men would have considered that one part of them ought to have been cautiously separated from the other, because it was incompatible with the eminence of the perfections of God. But these scholastic divines have attributed to God such a conduct as their own savage tempers would have observ

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ed, had they been vested with divine power. To each of them the prophet's reproach may be very properly applied, "These things hast thou done, and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself,' Ps. 1. 21. They said, God is free, therefore he may appoint men, who have done neither good nor evil, to eternal flames. God is free, therefore he may create men on purpose that they may sin, and that he may display his wrath in their punishment.

II. Here let us stop, and let us keep to the subject in hand, by observing that those em blems of wrath and vengeance, under which God is represented to us, have one part that cannot be attributed to him, because it is not compatible with the eminence of his perfec tions, and another, that must be applied to him because it is:

1. It is a consequence of the frailty, or of the depravity of men, that their anger inclines them to hate those whom they ought to love, and in whose happiness they ought to interest themselves, as far as they can without violating the laws of equity. Such a hatred cannot be attributed to God; he loves all his intelligent creatures, and when we are told that the Lord hateth a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,' Prov. vi. 17; when he is represented as refusing some real blessings to mankind, as 'hardening their hearts, as sending them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie,' Exod. iv. 21; 2 Thess. ii. 11; all these descriptions mean that he dislikes sin, and all those who commit it; that it is not always consistent with the eminence of his perfections to work miracles for their conversion : and that it is not fit to reform by a physical power, which would destroy the nature of vice and virtue, men who refuse to be reformed by a moral power, which is suited to intelligent beings.

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2. It is a consequence of human frailty or depravity that men's wrath makes them taste a barbarous pleasure in tormenting those who are the objects of it, and in feasting, as it were, on their miseries. This is incompati ble with the eminence of the perfections of God. When he says to impenitent sinners, 'I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh,' Prov. i. 26; when he says, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries,' Isa. í. 24; when Moses says to the Jews, It shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought,' Deut. xxviii. 63. All the meaning of passages of this kind is, that the wisdom of God approves the judgments that his justice inflicts; that the punishments of sinners cannot affect his happiness; and that when he has not been glorified in their conversion, he will be glorified in their de

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3. It is a consequence of the frailty or of the depravity of men, that their anger disorders their bodies, and impairs their minds. See the eyes sparkle, the mouth foams, the animal spirits are in a flame; these obscure the faculties of the mind, and prevent the weighing of those reasons that plead for the guilty offender; anger prejudges him, and in

spite of many powerful pleas in his favour, his ruin is resolved. All these are incompatible with the eminence of the perfections of God. 'God is a spirit,' John iv. 24; he is not subject to revolutions of sense; reasons of punishing a sinner never divert his attention from motives of pardoning the man, or of moderating his pain. When therefore, God is represented as 'shaking the earth, and moving the foundations of the hills, because he is wroth;' when we read, 'there went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth,' Ps. xviii. 7, 8; when he who is called the Word of God, is described as treading 'the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God,' Rev. xix. 13. 15, we understand no more than that God knows how to proportion the punishment to the sin, and that he will inflict the most rigorous penalties on the most atrocious crimes.

4. It is a consequence of the frailty and depravity of men, that their anger makes them usurp a right which belongs to God. An individual, who avenges himself, assumes the place of that God who has said, 'Vengeance is mine,' Rom. xii. 19; at least he assumes the place of the magistrate, to whom God has committed the sword for the preventing of those disorders, which would subvert society, if each were judge in his own cause. This is incompatible with the eminence of the divine perfections. God uses his own right when he punishes sin, agreeably to the doctrine of St. Paul, 'Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. What is this wrath, to which we are required to give place? It is the anger of God. Avenge not yourselves, but give place unto wrath;' that is, be not hasty in revenging injuries; your selflove may magnify them, and the punishment which ye inflict may exceed the offence; leave vengeance to God, who knows how to weigh the injuries that ye have received in an impartial scale, and to inflict such punishments on the guilty as their crimes deserve.

5. It is a consequence of the frailty and depravity of men, that time does not abate their resentment, and that the only reason which prevents the rendering of evil for evil, is a want of opportunity; as soon as an opportunity offers they cagerly embrace it. This is incompatible with the eminence of the perfections of God; he has at all times the means of punishing the guilty. When we are told, therefore, that he 'sets our iniquities before him, our secret sins in the light of his countenance,' Ps. xc. 8; when, having reprieved the Israelites at the request of Moses, he told him, 'in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them,' Exod. xxxii. 34; we only understand, that time never removes an idea from his mind; and that if a sinner do not improve the time, which is granted to him for his repentance, he will be punished when that period expires.

6. In fine, it is a consequence of the frailty and depravity of men, that their anger puts them upon considering and punishing a pardonable frailty as an atrocious crime. This is incompatible with the eminence of the divine perfections. If we imagine that God

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acts so, in any cases, it is because we have false notions of sins, and think that a pardonable frailty which is an atrocious crime. Sometimes an action that appears tolerable to us, is an atrocious crime, on account of the motive from which it proceeds. was that of Hezekiah; he showed his treas ures to the Babylonian ambassadors, and al though this may seem very pardonable, yet it was an atrocious crime, which appears by the following passage, 'Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him: for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Je rusalem,' 2 Chron. xxxii. 25. An action that may appear to us very tolerable, is sometimes a heinous crime, on account of the singularity of the favour which preceded it. Such was the conduct of Lot's wife; she looked back towards Sodom, which although it may seem very pardonable was yet a heinous crime, because she disobeyed the express command of her benefactor, who had just delivered her from the destruction of Sodom; and therefore she was instantly petrified. An action that may seem very tolerable to us, is sometimes a very atrocious crime, on account of the little temptation which the offender had to commit it. Such was the action of that man who gathered sticks upon the sabbathday,' Numb. xv. 32; and although this may seem very tolerable to us yet it was a heinous offence, because it was very easy to abstain from it, and therefore he was stoned. An action that may seem very pardonable to us, may be a heinous crime, on account of the dignity of the offender. Such was that of Nadab and Abihu; they offered strange fire to the Lord, and although it may appear very pardonable to us yet it was an atrocious crime, for Nadab and Abihu were ministers of holy things, and they ought to have given examples of exact and scrupulous obedience, accordingly they were consumed with fire from heaven, Lev. x. 1, 2.

Thus we have gone through our first article, and have endeavoured to give you distinct ideas of that which the Scripture calls in God, wrath, anger, consuming fire.'

Morcover, in explaining the meaning of the proposition in the text, we have collected scveral passages, and alleged examples, which prove the truth under our consideration. The explication of this proposition, our God is a consuming fire,' proves its truth in the sense in which we have explained it. We leave the enlargement of this article to your meditation, and proceed to the next.

III. We are to conciliate what the Scripture says of the goodness of God with what it says of his anger or vengeance; the gos pel of last Lord's day, with the gospel of this day: and, as the two subjects never appear more irreconcileable than when having used all our endeavours to terrify people who defer their conversion till a dying-illness, we actually take pains to comfort those who have deferred it till that time; we will endcavour to harmonize the goodness and justice of God in that particular point of view.

First, Let us endeavour, in a general view, to reconcile the goodness of God with his justice, by laying down a few principles.

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