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XVII.

SERM. to this goodness, to conclude from it, that the disobedience of God's commands is a matter of no consequence, and that it is not greatly offensive to him, but that, because he graciously suspends, he will therefore never inflict punishment.

Far different is the reasoning which a ge nerous mind would suggest; 'O God (it would prompt us to say) O gracious

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"God, who desirest not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from "his wickedness and live; blessed be thy holy name, that thou hast afforded us time for recollection and repentance: < what must have been our condition if • thou hadst cut us off in our sins! Pre

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vent us from abusing thy patience, and enable us to take advantage of thy longsuffering; through thy mercy the gate of ⚫ life is still open to us, Oh! grant us grace to enter, ere it close against us, and exclude us for ever!'

But

XVII.

But after all, God, even in this world, SERM. has not left us without proofs of the evil nature of sin, and of his perfect hatred of it; witness the disturbed reflections and alarming anticipations of the wicked, that hell, which is already begun in the guilty bosom, a guilty conscience;-witness that flood of waters which overwhelmed the whole earth, and destroyed all flesh for their corruption and violence;-witness the destruction of those iniquitous cities Sodom and Gomorrah, by that terrible shower of fire and brimstone;-witness the instantaneous death of Ananias and Sapphira for their falsehood and hypocrisy ;-witness these and a multitude of other instances, which history has handed down to us, of the present punishment of iniquity, both in particular persons, and also of whole nations:-so that God has not left us even here without sufficient warning of the evil of sin, and of its dangerous and destructive tendency. A third

SERM.
XVII.

But

A third set of persons, who suffer themselves to be betrayed into ruin by this delay of sentence, are those who, acknowledging the heinous nature of sin, and the danger to which it exposes them, do yet continue in their wickedness, because they think that they shall have abundance of time, before they die, for repentance. this is so great a hazard in all respects, that there is no venturing upon it. In the first place, they cannot be certain that time will be allowed them; they may be cut off in a moment, and in the grave there is nothing to be done in religion, as the tree falls, so it lies: or if that portion of life, with which they flatter themselves, should be granted, the probability is that they will be more unwilling to forsake their sins at some future time, than they are at present. What was begun by passion may be confirmed by habit, and from having his mercy so long despised, God may be tempted en

XVII.

tirely to withdraw from them his holy spi- SER M. rit, without which they will be altogether unequal to any good work. It is owing to God that they are alive at this moment; let them then take those measures which alone can determine whether, with respect to them, his long-suffering be a mercy: let them this instant make their peace with him, lest his patience be wearied out, and no farther opportunity be allowed them.

I shall mention only one more unhappy consequence which sinners draw from this delay of punishment, and that is, that though certain, it is yet distant, and so distant, that they cannot think of it with any great degree of concern. This is a strange, and yet, I fear, no very uncom mon consolation.

If a future judgment must come, if we must one day give an account of all our thoughts, words, and actions, and (according as we have done well or ill) be reVOL. II. warded

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SERM. warded with everlasting happiness, or doomed to everlasting misery, - it di

XVII.

minishes very little the weight of this
tremendous truth that this judgment

and these punishments will not take place
till some remote period;
how great

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they will be, and how long they will last,
is the only important consideration;
and when we hear that they will be in
degree above our most alarming concep
tions, and that to their duration there
will be no end, we ought surely to count
it nothing, even if a long time were cer-
tainly to elapse before they began.

But we may be mistaken, even in this point; judgment may be nearer to us than we imagine; we may be called to render up our accounts much sooner than we expect and when we vainly flatter ourselves with many more years of ease and luxury, when every thing appears to smile upon us, the decree may then be

sealed,

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