Chap. 5. The Meditation of one giving up his Pleas. 51 can, in a Moment, flash in upon the Conscience a most powerful and irresistible Conviction? What then can you do, while you stand convicted in the Presence of God? What should you do, but hold your Peace under an inward Sense of your inexcusable Guilt, and prepare your self to hear the Sentence which. His Law pronounces against you? You must feel the Execution of it, if the Gospel does not at length deliver you; and you must feel something of the Terror of it, before you can be excited to seek to that Gospel for Deliverance, an The -MEDITATION of a Convinced Sinner giving up his vain Pleas before GOD. DEPLORABLE EPLORABLE Condition, to which I am in"deed reduced! I have sinned; and what shall I say unto Thee, O Thou Preserver of Men (u)? What shall I dare to say? Fool that I was, to amuse myself with such trifling Excuses as these, and to imagine, they could have any Weight in Thy tremendous "Presence; or that I should be able so much as to 66 mention them there! I cannot presume to do it. I am silent and confounded. My Hopes, alas, are slain; and my Soul itself is ready to die too; so far as an Immortal Soul can die: And I am almost ready to say, *O that I could die entirely! I am indeed a Criminal in the Hands of Justice, quite disarmed, and stripped of the Weapons in which I trusted. Dissimulation can only add Provocation to Provocation. I will there"fore plainly and freely own it. I have acted, as if I "thought Gop was altogether such an one as myself: But He hath said, I will reprove thee; I will set thy Sins in Order before thine Eyes (x), will marshal them in Battle Array. And Oh, what a terrible Kind of Host do they appr? and how do they surround me be, 66 yond all Possibility of an Escape! Oh my Soul, they have, as it were, taken thee Prisoner; and they are bearing thee away to the Divine Tribunal. แ "Thou must appear before it! Thou must see the awful Eternal Judge, who tries the very Reins (y); and who needs no other Evidence, for He has himself been "Witness (s) Job yii. 20, (x) Psal 14 21 (y) Jer. xvii, 10, 52 The Meditation of one giving up his Pleas. Chap. 5. "Witness (z) to all thy Rebellion. Thou must see "Him, O my Soul, sitting in Judgment upon thee: "And when He is strict to mark Iniquity (a) how wilt "thou answer Him for one of a Thousand (b)! And if "thou canst not answer Him, in what Language will "He speak to thee! LORD, as Things at present stand, I "can expect no other Language than that of Condem"nation. And what a Condemnation it is! Let me "reflect upon it! Let me read my Sentence before I "hear it finally and irreversibly passed! I know, He has "recorded it in His Word; and I know, in the general, "that the Representation is made with a gracious Dé. 66 sign. I know, that He would have us alarmed, that 66 we may not be destroyed. Speak to me, therefore, "O Gon, while Thou speakest not for the last Time, and in Circumstances when Thou wilt hear me no "more. Speak in the Language of effectual Terror, so "that it be not to speak me into final Despair. And let "Thy Word, however painful in its Operation, be quick "and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged Sword(c). "Let me not vainly flatter myself: Let me not be left "à wretched Prey to those who would prophecy smooth "Things to me (d), till I am scaled up under Wrath and "feel Thy Justice piercing my Soul, and the Poison of Thine Arrows drinking up all my Spirits (e); 46 "Before I enter upon the particular View, I know in "the general, that it is à Terrible Thing to fall into "the Hands of the living GOD (f). O Thou living GOD, "in one Sense I am, already fallen into Thine Hands. I am become obnoxious to Thy Displeasure, justly obnoxious to it; and whatever Thy Sentence may be when it comes forth from Thy Presence (g), I must condemn myself, and justify Thee. Thou canst not treat me with more Severity, than mine Iniquities have deserved: And how bitter soever that Cup of Trembling "may be (h), which Thou shalt appoint for me, I give Judgment against myself, that I deserve to wring out "the very Dregs of it (i).” 66 (z) Jer. xxix. 23. (a) Psal. cxxx. 3. (b) Job ix. 3. (c) Heb. iv 12. (i) Psal. lxxv. 8. СНАР. (f) Heb. x. 81. Chap. 6. The Sinner called to hear his Sentence. 53 CHAP. VI. The Sinner Sentenced. The Sinner called upon to hear his Sentence, §. 1. 2. GOD's Law does now in general pronounce a Cur Curse: 3. It pronounces Death, §. 4. And being turned into Hell, §. 5. The Judgment-Day shall come. §. 6. The Solemnity of that grand Process described, according to Scriptural Representations of it. §. 7, 8. With a particular Illustration of the Sentence, Depart Accursed, &c. §. 9. The Execution will certainly and immediately follow, §. 10. The Sinner warned to prepare for enduring it. §. 11. The Reflection of a Sin ner struck with the Terror of this Sentence. §. 1. H EAR, O Sinner, and I will speak (a) yet once more, as in the Name of God, of GOD, thine Almighty Judge; who, if thou dost not attend to His Servants, will ere long speak unto thee in a more immediate Manner, with an Energy and Terror which thou shalt not be able to resist. §. 2. Thou hast been convicted, as in His Presence. Thy Pleas have been over-ruled; or rather, they have been silenced. It appears before Gon, it appears to thine own Conscience, that thou hast Nothing more to offer in Arrest of Judgment; therefore hear thy Sentence, and summon up, if thou canst, all the Powers of thy Soul to bear the Execution of it. It is, indeed a very small Thing to be judged of Man's Judgment; but He that now judeth thee, is the Lord (b). Hear therefore, and tremble, while I tell thec, speak to thee; or rather, while I shew wo fie wwness Scripture, how He doth even now speak, and what is the authentic and recorded Sentence of His Word; even of His Word, who (a) Job alii: 4. (b) 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4. 34 The Law pronounces a Curse. Chap. 6. who hath said, Heaven and Earth shall pass away; but not one Tittle of My Word shall ever pass away (c). §. 3. The Law of GoD speaks, not to thee alone, O Sinner, not to thee by any particular Address; but in a most universal Language, it speaks to all Transgressors, and levels its Terrors against all Offences; great or small without any Exception. And this is its Language: Cursed is every one, that continueth not in all Things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them (d). This is its Voice to the whole World; and this it speaks to thee. Its awful Contents are thy personal Concern, O Reader; and thy Conscience knows it. Far from conti nuing in all Things that ure written therein to do them, thou canst not but be sensible that innumerable Evils have encompassed thee about. (e) It is then manifest, Thou art the Man, whom it condemns; thou art even now cursed with a Curse, as Gop emphatically speaks (f) with the Curse of the Most High Gon: Yea, all the Curses which are written in the Book of the Law, are pointed against thee (g). Gon may righteously execute any of them upon thee in a Moment; and though thou at present feelest none of them, yet, if infinite Mercy doth not prevent, it is but a little while, and they will come into thy Bowels like Water, till thou art burst asunder with them, and shall penetrate like Oil into thy Bones (h). 1 1.4. Thus saith the Lord, the Soul that sinneth, it shall die (i). But thou hast sinned, and therefore thou art under a Sentence of Death. And, O unhappy Creature, of what a Death! What will the End of these Things be? That the Agonies of, dissolving Nature shall seize thee; that thy Soul shall be torn away from thy languishing Body, and thou return to the Dust from whence thou wast taken (k): This is indeed one awful Effect of Sin. In these affecting Characters has Gon, through all Nations and all Ages of Men, written the awful Register and Memorial of his holy Abhorrence of it, and righteous Displeasure against it. But, alas, all this solemn Pomp and Horror of dying, is but the opening of the dreadful Scene. It is but a rough Kind of Stroke, (c) Matt. v. 18. Chap. 6. The Judgment-Day will come. by which the Fetters are knocked off, when the Criminal is led out to Torture and Execution. §. 5. Thus saith the Lord, The Wicked shall be turned into Hetl, even all the Nations that forget GOÐ (1). Though there be whole Nations of them, their Multitudes and their Power shall be no Defence to them. They shall be driven into Hell together; into that flaming Prison, which Divine Vengeance hath prepared; into To phet, which is ordained of old, even for Royal Sinners, as well as for others, so little can any Human Distinction protect! He hath made it deep and large: the Pile thereof is Fire and much Wood, the Breath of the Lord, like a Stream of Brimstone shall kindle it (m); and the flam ing Torrent shall flow in upon it so fast, that it shall be turned into a Sea of liquid Fire; or, as the Scripture also expresses it, a Lake burning with Fire and Brimstone for ever and ever (n). This is the second Death; and the Death, to which thou, O Sinner, by the Word of GOD art doomed. §. 6. And shall this Sentence stand upon Record in vain? Shall the Law speak it, and the Gospel speak it ? And shall it never be pronounced more audibly? and will GOD never require and execute the Punishment? He will, O Sinner, require it; and he will execute it; though he may seem for awhile to delay. For well dost thou know, that He hath appointed a Day in which He will judge the whole World in Righteousness, by that Man whom He hath ordained, of which He has given us Assurance in having raised Him from the Dead (o).' And when God judgeth the World, O Reader, whoever thou art, He will judge thee. And while I remind thee of it, I would also remember, that He will judge mè. And knowing the Terror of the Lord (p) that I may deliver my own Soul (4) I would with all Plainness and Sincerity labour to deliver thine. §. 7. I therefore repeat the solemn Warning: Thou, O Sinner, shalt stand before the Judgment-Seat of Christ (r). Thou shalt see that pompous Appearance; the Description of which is grown so familiar to thee, that (1) Psalm ix, 17. (n) Rev. xxi. 8. (p) 2 Cor. v. 11. |