answer this argument. You all allow that SERM. there is a God, and that he is an exact ob server of human affairs. A second argument, by which some, who may have a small sense of religion in them, deceive themselves, is this; they think that, because sin goes unpunished for the present, it is not therefore so great an evil, nor so entirely offensive and provoking to God, as it is represented. But how ab surd and ungrateful is this! Because God does not take immediate vengeance on us, when we disobey his commands, we there fore venture to set them at nought, and persuade ourselves that this disobedience is a matter of no importance. All kinds of sin, we allow, are strictly forbidden in our Bible, and heavy penalties denounced against them; but because these penalties do not instantly follow, we therefore foolishly doubt whether they will be exacted at all; because we experience the greatness of God's mercy XVII. SERM. in affording us time for repentance, we XVII. therefore presumptuously conclude against his justice and veracity. He hath solemnly sworn that the sinner who continues impenitent, and dies in his sins, shall not enter into his rest; and do we impiously imagine, because the execution of this tremendous threat is deferred for a short time, that the oath of the God of truth shall fail ?-Can an impunity of thirty or forty years lead us to such an absurd conclusion as this ?-of thirty or forty years which are but as a grain of sand in comparison with the sea shore, but as a single moment in respect to eternity!— But still farther, during this present life we are upon our trial, and till that is ended, it would scarce seem equitable that sentence should be passed; nor was it ever intended by God to distribute exact justice in this world. You remember the parable of the tares mixed with the wheat: the servants of the house householder are in haste to root out and SER M. XVII. destroy them; but he interposes and prevents it:-"Let them (says he) both grow " together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "Gather ye together, first the tares, and "bind them into bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." Our Saviour, at the request of his disciples, explained to them this parable; he told them that the field was the world,-the wheat, the children of the kingdom, i. e. good people; the tares, the children of the wicked one, i. e. bad people that this wicked one, who sowed them, was the devil; that the harvest was the end of the world, and the reapers the angels:-" As "therefore (added he) the tares are ga"thered together and burned in the fire, "so shall it be in the end of the world."The son of man shall send forth his "angels, and they shall gather out of his SERM. " kingdom all things that offend, and them XVII. which do iniquity, and shall cast them "into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then "shall the righteous shine forth as the "sun in the kingdom of their Father." You see our Saviour himself tells us, that judgment will not take place against sinners till the end of the world; we have therefore no reason to be surprized at their present impunity, nor can we at all argue from it, that sin is no evil, or that it is not displeasing to God, or that he will not take severe vengeance on those who commit it The truth is, we have much ground to apprehend, that the longer the punishment of the wicked is delayed, the more heavy and dreadful it will be, when it does fall on them! God spares them for the present; he permits them to fill up the measure of their sins, but in the mean time be fills up the vials of his wrath; he shews forth his mercy mercy in this world, but in the next he will $ERM. shew forth his, justice; now he restrains his anger, and permits the unrighteous to triumph in their safety, but the time will come when he will make amends for this apparent indifference-when he will vindicate his insulted majesty in the sight of men and angels.-Go on then thou, who presumest on the long-suffering, of God,. yield to every evil temptation, follow the bent of every corrupt passion, walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that in the mean time thou art treasuring up to thy-> self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Or take the matter in another light, and suppose (what is also true) that the Almighty means by this delay of sentence, to give the sinner time and encouragement to repent of his wickedness, and reform his life; what an ungrateful! turn is it to give to XVII. |