gall, and * writes bitter things ;' now his poisoned arrows stick fast in tlie heart, Ps. Ixxxviii. 15, 16., " While I suffer thy ter- rors, I am distracted ; thy fierce wrath go- eth over me." Lutlier, in desertion, was in such horror of mind, that Nee color, nee sanguis super esset, — he had no blood seen in his face, but he lay as one dead. Now, if God's wrath be such towards them whom he loves, what will it be towards them whom he hates ? If they who sip of the cup find it so bitter, what will they do wlio drink the dregs of the cup? Ps. Ixxv. 8. Solomon saith, " The king's wrath, is as the roaring of a lion," Prov. xix. 12. What then is God's wrath ! When God musters up all his forces, and sets himself in buttnHa against a sinner, how can his heart endure ? Ezek. xxii. 14. WTio is able to lie under mountains of wrath ? God is the sweetest friend, but the sorest cjiemy. To set forth tJic fc«i fulness of this wrath :
1.9^. The wrath of God shall seize upon every part of a sinner: 1. Upon the body. The body, which was so tender it could not liear heat or cold, shall be tormented in the winepress of God's wrath ; those eyes, which before could behold amorous objects, shall be tormented with the sight of devils; the ear?;, which before were delighted with music, shall be tormented with the hideous shrieks of the damned. 2. The wrath of God shall seize upon the soul of a rej)robate. Ordi- nary fire cannot touch the soul ; when the martyrs' bodies were consuming, their souls did triumph in the fiamcs : but (iod's wrath burns the soul. (1.) The memory shall be tormented to remember what means of grace have been abused. (2.) The con- science shall be tormented \\ ith self-accu- sations. The sinner shall accuse himself for presumptuous sins, — for mis-spending his precious hours, — for resisting the Holy Ghost.
2d. The wrath of God is without inter- mission. Hell is an abiding-place, but no resting-place; there's not a minute's rest. Outward pain hath some abatement ; if it be the stone or cholic, the patient hath some- times ease ; but the torments of the damn- ed have no intermission ; he that leels God's wrath, never saith, " I have ease."
2^. The wrath of God is eternal. So J
saith the text, " Everlasting lire." No teare can quench the flame of God's anger; no, though we could shed rivers of tears. In all pains of this life, men hope for a cessa- tion, the suffering will not continue long ; either the tormentor dies, or the tormented ; but the wrath of God is always feeding up- on a sinner. The terror of natural fire is, that it consumes what it burns; but this makes the fire of God's wrath terrible, that it doth not consume what it burns. Sic mo- rieiitur dumnali ul semper vivant, Bern. The sinner shall ever be in the furnace ; after innumerable millions of years, the wrath of God is as far from ending, as it was at the ' beginning. If all the eartli and sea were sand, and <>vrry tlwniKinid ye;ivs a bird should come and take away one gniin of this sand, it would be a long while ere that vast heap of sand were emptied; but, if after all that time, the damned might come out of hell, there were some hope; but this word f.ver breaks the lieart.
Quest. But how doth it scan to consist with God^s justice to punish, sin {uhich per- haps was committed in a moment) with eter- nal fire ?
Ans. In respect of the heinous nature ot sin. Consider the person offonde<l ; it is Crimen Lmsai majestis : Sin is comniiit(<l a- gainst an infinite majesty ; therefore the sin is infinite, and so the punishment must be infinite. Now, because the nature of man is but finite, and a sinner cannot at once bear infinite wrath, therefore he must in e- ternity of time be satisfying what he cannot satisfy at once.
Ath. While the wicked lie scorchinjr in the flames of wrath, they have none to com- miserate them. It is some ease of grief, to have some condole with us; but the wick- ed have wrath and no pity shown them. Who should j)ity them? God will not pity them. They derided liis Spirit, and now he will laugli at their calamity, Prov. i. 26. The saints will not ])ity them. They per- secuted the saints upon earth, therefore tliey will rejoice to see God's justice exe- cuted on them, Ps. Iviii. 10., " The righ- teous shall rejoice when he seeth the ven- geance."
bth. The sinner under wrath hath none to speak a good word for him. An elect
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person, when lie sins, hath one to intercede for him, 1 Jolin ii. 1., " We have an ad- vocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Christ will say, " It is one of my friends, one for whom I have shed my blood ; Father, pardon him." But the wick- ed (that die in sin) have none to solicit for them ; they have an accuser, hut no advo- cate ; Christ's blood will not plead for them ; they slighted Christ, and refused to come under his government, therefore Christ's blood cries against them.