CHARACTER AND FATE OF THE WICKED.

FOOLS make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.

An ungodly man diggeth up evil and in his lips there is as a burning fire.

A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.

The wicked worketh a deceitful work but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.

Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.

When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth : but the righteous shall see their fall.

Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man

A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.

As righteousness tendeth to life so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.

The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.

When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.

The memory of the just is blessed but the name of the

wicked shall rot.

The wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transof understanding walketh up-gressors shall be rooted out. rightly.

In the nomenclature of the world, the term "wicked" is almost exclusively applied to those who are abandoned in principle and practice. The bold and impious blasphemer, the mad atheist, the perpetrator of such vices as endanger the lives and property of the community, would by common consent be thus classed. It is too common, however, to employ a softening and exculpatory phraseology to designate vices which are equally heinous in the sight of God; but which, in some degree, may be divested of their repulsive gross

ness. A gentlemanly profligate will often escape censure, where a vulgar one would be condemned without mercy; because vice in the one instance is accompanied by a certain air of refinement, of which, in the other, it is destitute. It is astonishing with what facility an irreligious world strips the law of God of its prohibitions, and how adapted to the inclinations of the libertine is the code of morals which it prescribes in its stead. If they admit the sanctions of the divine law at all, they would confine their application to outlaws alone.

Still the word of the Lord is immutable. All unrighteousness is, in his sight, sin, by whomsoever committed; and under the general head of wickedness are included not only the more flagrant vices, but sins of every grade, and the unbelief of the heart from which they all proceed. The first great characteristic of a sinner is his unbelief, which more openly or secretly discredits whatever God has revealed, respecting human duty and its sanctions. Connected with this and of which it is a principal part, is a native depravity, every feeling of which is in opposition to God and holiness; and then to crown all, the overt acts of transgression which are the development of the inward principles. A wicked man, therefore, is one whose heart is alienated from God; who makes light of the doctrines and precepts of the gospel; who disregards his moral obligations; obeys the impulses of an unsanctified heart; and who daily breaks the commandments of God in thought, word, and deed. All the irreligious who have not abandoned their sin and returned to their allegiance to God, are embraced under this character, although they may not publicly

be chargeable with profanity, licentiousness, fraud, falsehood, or cruelty. A mere restraint imposed on the outward conduct has no effect in changing the moral condition of the heart. There are certainly different degrees of guilt and blame-worthiness, and due credit is to be accorded to the outwardly moral, in comparison with the abandoned; still it is not to be concealed that all unregenerate men, in despite of these differences, are, in the sight of God, the wicked upon whom abideth the wrath of God. The wickedness of which we speak is universally diffused. There is no favoured spot on earth where its polluting traces may not be detected. If we do not see it breaking forth, at every step we take, in shocking acts of depravity, we still observe it in the general disregard of men for religion, and in their engrossing devotion to merely temporal pursuits. Believers in Jesus are the exception to the general rule. They are few in comparison with the whole mass.

Man

Now there is nothing more true than that every sin deserves God's wrath and curse; and except by a special intervention, such as the gospel provides, it shall be thus visited. The world is already under condemnation; and its righteous Governor is even now expressing his abhorrence for sin by the sufferings, in mind and body, which are inflicted on our race. is not permitted to go onward in his career of sin, even for the very limited period of his present life, without interruptions. He has disquietude of mind, bitter disappointments, sad bereavements, painful and loathsome diseases, and the certainty ever staring him in the face, that he must soon bid adieu to all the loved scenes of earth, and make his dwelling in the grave. Even

amidst his most exquisite enjoyments he is subject to the check, that they must soon end, and that in sorrow. He knows not what a day or even an hour may bring forth. Did death close the scene and put a period to his existence, it might still be tolerable; but conscience tells him there is an endless futurity. The soul never ceases to exist, and the wicked cannot promise themselves even the wretched hope of annihilation. The anger of God, which is known here only in very partial exhibitions, is an eternal anger, and it will be inflicted by an omnipotent hand. All human language must fail to portray the intensity of that suffering which awaits the finally impenitent. Who can conceive of an immortal soul suffering under an eternal anguish; always dying and yet never permitted to die! A man on earth, excruciated by acute pain, may count his sufferings by hours, but the lost soul, as it cries out, "when shall a moment of respite come?" hears no response but ETERNITY! The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. O could human eyes pierce the dark abyss; could human ears catch the notes of wailing and woe; could the indescribable scenes which are at this moment transacting in that dark prison house be disclosed; the world would stand mute with dread-its business and its pleasures would in a moment be cast aside as impertinent. Still it is all as real as if seen; the immutable God has avouched its truth; and if men will not believe him, speaking in his word, neither would they believe a messenger from the invisible world. What madness in men to defy God, and brave the terrors of his unquenchable wrath!

O my soul, thou mayest well tremble when thou rememberest the hole of the pit whence thou wast digged;

and thou mayest well be sad when thou reflectest that many of thy fellow-creatures, and perhaps dear kindred, are still exposed, in their impenitency, to all the fury of the divine anger. Thou hast deserved hell, and yet by a miracle of grace thou hast escaped. Forget not all His benefits who has plucked thee as a brand from the burning; and if thou art now enabled to rejoice in thy deliverance, yet remember those who are still exposed. With earnestness plead with them to flee from the wrath to come; and with importunity plead for them with thy God and Saviour. Pity their condition, for they have eyes but see not, ears but hear not, neither do they understand. They go on as the ox to the slaughter, little dreaming of the fate which awaits them. Let them not sleep in such peril, if thou canst disturb their slumber; suffer them not to hasten to their dreadful doom, if thy tears and entreaties can prevail with them. How blessed to be instrumental in saving a soul from death, and in covering from the judgment to come the multitude of its sins!

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