thine infinite compassion delay the stroke, till I inquire a little farther, how I may finally avoid it!"

CHAPTER VII.

THE HELPLESS STATE OF THE SINNER, UNDER CONDEMNATION.

SINNER, thou hast heard the sentence of GOD, as it stands upon record in his sacred and immutable word. And wilt thou lie down under it in everlasting despair? Wilt thou make no attempt to be delivered from it, when It speaks nothing less than eternal death to thy soul: If a criminal, condemned by human laws, has but the least shadow of hope that he may possibly escape, he is all attention to it. If there be a friend, who he thinks can help him, with what strong importunity does he intreat the interposition of that friend? And even while he is before the judge, how difficult is it often to force him away from the bar, while the cry of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, may be heard, though it be ever so unreasonable? A mere possibility that it may produce some impression, makes him eager in it, and unwilling to be silenced and removed.

Wilt thou not then, O sinner, ere yet execution is done, that execution which may perhaps be done this very day, wilt thou not cast about in thy thoughts, what measures may be taken for deliverance? Yet what measures can be taken? Consider attentively, for it is an affair of moment. Thy wisdom, thy power, thy eloquence, thine interest, can never be exerted on a greater occasion. If thou canst help thyself, do. If thou hast any secret source of relief, go not out of thyself for other assistance If thou hast any sacrifice to offer; if thou hast any strength to exert; yea, if thou hast any allies on earth, or in the invisible world, who can defend and deliver thee, take thine own way, so that thou mayest but be delivered at all, that we may not see thy ruin. But say, O sinner, in the presence of God, what sacrifice thou wilt present, what strength thou wilt exert, what allies thou wilt have

recourse to, on so urgent, so hopeless an occasion. For hopeless I must indeed pronounce it, if such methods

are taken.

The justice of God is injured: hast thou any atonement to make to it? If thou wast brought to an inquiry and proposal, like that of an awakened sinner, “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high GOD? Shall I come before him with burntofferings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?" (Micah vi. 6, 7.) Alas! wert thou as great a prince as Solomon himself, and couldst thou indeed purchase such sacrifices as these, there would be no room to mention them; "Lebanon would not be sufficient to burn, nor all the beasts thereof for a burntoffering." (Isaiah xl. 16.) Even under that dispensation, which admitted and required sacrifices in some cases, "the blood of bulls and of goats," though it exempted the offended from farther temporal punishment, "could not take away sin,” (Heb. x. 4.) nor prevail by any means to purge the conscience in the sight of God. And that soul, that had done ought presumptuously, was not allowed to bring any sin-offering or trespass-offering at all, but was condemned to "die without mercy. (Numb. xv. 30.) Now God and thine own conscience know, that thine offences have not been merely the errors of ignorance and inadvertency, but that thou hast sinned with a high hand, in repeated aggravated circumstances, as thou hast acknowledged already.-Shouldst thou add, with the wretched sinner described above, "Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (Micah vi. 7.) What could the blood of a beloved child do in such a case, but dye thy crimes so much the deeper, and add a yet unknown horror to them? Thou hast offended a Being of infinite majesty; and if that offence is to be expiated by blood it must be by another kind of blood, than that which flows in the veins of thy children, or in thine own.

Wilt thou then suffer thyself, till thou hast made full atisfaction? but where shall that satisfaction be made?

CHAP. VII. REFORMATION WILL BE NO ATONEMENT. 59

-Shall it be by any calamities to be endured in this mortal momentary life? Is the justice of God then esteemed so little a thing, that the sorrows of a few days would suffice to answer its demands?-Or dost thou think of future sufferings, in the invisible world? If thou dost, that is not deliverance; and with regard to that, I may venture to say, when thou hast made full satisfaction, thou wilt be released. When thou hast paid the utmost farthing of that debt, thy prison-doors shall be opened: In the mean time, thou must "make thy bed in hell :” (Psalm cxxxix. 8.) and O, unhappy man, wilt thou lie down there, with a secret hope, that the moment will come, when the rigour of divine justice will not be able to inflict any thing more than thou hast endured, and when thou mayest claim thy discharge as a matter of right? It would indeed be well for thee, if thou couldst carry down with thee such a hope, false and flattering as it is; but, alas! thou wilt see things in so just a light, that to have no comfort but this, will be eternal despair. That one word of thy sentence, everlasting fire; that one declaration, the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched; will be sufficient to strike such a thought into blank confusion, and to overwhelm thee with hopeless agony and horror.

Or, do you think that your future reformation and diligence in duty, for the time to come, will procure your discharge from this sentence? Take heed, sinner, what kind of obedience thou thinkest of offering to a holy God that must be spotless and complete which his infinite sanctity can approve and accept, if he consider thee in thysc!f alone; there must be no inconstancy, no forgetfulness, no mixture of sin attending it. And wilt thou, enfeebled as thou art by so much original corruption, and so many sinful habits contracted by innumerable actual transgressions, undertake to render such an obedience, and that for all the remainder of thy life? In vain wouldst thou attempt it, even for one day guilt would immediately plunge thee into new ruin. But if it did not; if from this moment to the very end of thy life all were as complete obedience as the law of God

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required from Adam in paradise, would that be sufficient to cancel past guilt? Would it discharge an old debt, that thou hast not contracted a new one? Offer this to thy neighbour, and see if he will accept it for payment; and if he will not, wilt thou presume to offer it to thy God? But I will not multiply words on so plain a subject. While I speak thus, time is passing away, death presses on, and judgment is approaching. And what can save thee from these awful scenes, or what can protect thee in them? Can the world save thee from that vain delusive idol of thy wishes and pursuits, to which thou art sacrificing thine eternal hopes? Well dost thou know, that it will utterly forsake thee, when thou needest it most; and that not one of these enjoyments can be carried along with thee into the invisible state: no, not so much as a trifle to remember it by; if thou couldst desire to remember so inconstant, and so treacherous a friend, as the world has been.

And when you are dead, or when you are dying, can your sinful companions save you? Is there any one of them, if he were ever so desirous of doing it, that " can give unto God a ransom for you," (Psalm xlix. 7.) to deliver you from going down to the grave, or from going down to hell? Alas! you will probably be so sensible of this, that when you lie on the border of the grave you will be unwilling to see, or to converse with, those who were once your favourite companions. They will afflict you rather than relieve you, even then. How much less can they relieve you before the bar of God, when they are overwhelmed with their own condemnation?

As for the powers of darkness, you are sure they will be far from any ability or inclination to help you. Satan has been watching and labouring for your destruction, and he will triumph in it. But if there could be any thing of an amicable confederacy between you, what would that be, but an association in ruin? For the day of judgment for ungodly men, wili also be the judgment of these rebellious spirits; and the fire into which thou, ( sinner, must depart, is that which was "prepared fo the devil and his angels." (Matt. xxv. 42.)

Will the celestial spirits then save thee? will they interpose their power, or their prayer, in thy favour? An interposition of power, when sentence is gone forth against thee, were an act of rebellion against Heaven, which these holy and excellent creatures would abhor. And when the final pleasure of the Judge is known, instead of interceding in vain for the wretched criminal, they would rather, with ardent zeal for the glory of their Lord, and cordial acquiescence in the determination of his wisdom and justice, prepare to execute it. Yea, difficult as it may at present be to conceive it, it is a certain truth, that the servants of Christ, who now most tenderly love you, and most affectionately seek your sal. vation; not excepting those who are allied to you in the nearest bonds of nature or of friendship; even they shall put their amen to it. Now, indeed, their bowels yearn over you, and their eyes pour out tears on your account. Now they expostulate with you, and plead with God for you, if by any means, while yet there is hope, you may be "plucked as a fire-brand out of the burning." (Amos iv. 11.) But alas! their remonstrances you will not regard: And as for their prayers, what should they ask for you? What but this, that you may see yourselves to be undone ? and that, utterly despairing of any help from yourselves, or from any created power, you may lie before God in humility and brokenness of heart; that submitting yourselves to his righteous judgment, and in an utter renunciation of all self-dependence and of all creature dependence, you may lift up a humble look towards him, as almost from the depths of hell, if peradventure he may have compassion upon you, and may himself direct you to that only method of rescue, which, while things continue as in present circumstances they are, neither earth, nor hell, nor heaven can afford you.

The LAMENTATION of a Sinner, in this miserable Condition.

O DOLEFUL, uncomfortable, helpless state! O wretch that I am, to have reduced myself to it! poor, empty,

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