Supposition 2. Suppose yourselves now to be at the jndgrilent seat of God, where you know you must be immediately after death ; or, that you did behold the process, and awful solemnity of the ge- neral judgment of the great day ! both which appearances are indis- putably sure, and certain, Heb. ix. 27. 2 Cor. v. 10. Suppose you saw all Adam's posterity there assembled, and convened, even mul- titudes, multitudes which no man can number; all these separated into two grand divisions ; Christ, the supreme and final Judge, upon the judgment-seat; the Christless and unregenerate world, quiver- ing at the bar ; the last sentence pronouncing on them ; the execu- tioners standing ready to take them away : Will you not then (think you) be ready to tear yourselves with indignation, for this your supine and sottish carelessness ? A voice from the throne, like the voice of a trumpet, sounds a loud alarm to all careless, neghgent, and trifling sinners : And this is the voice, if you will not be in the same case with the miserable, condemned world. Put to it heartily, then, in the use of all means with God and men, for converting and regenerating grace now, which is the only thing that differences your state from those miserable wretches then.
Supposition S. Suppose God did but give you a foresight, or foretaste in the terrors of your consciences, of that damnation you have jested at, and so often imprecated upon yourselves : Did you but lie one night in that plight poor Spira, and many others besides him have done, v*dth the terrors of the Lord upon your spirits, under horror and remorse of conscience, which are the first nibblings and bi tings of that worm which shall never die :
Turn pallida mens est
Criminibiis^ tacita sudant pj'oecordia cidpa. * Paleness and horror, fear and trembling, upon the outward and inward man, whilst God is making the immediate impressions of his wrath upon the conscience ; seeming to want some one to let out that mi- serable, wretched soul, that is weary to stay any longer in the body, and yet afraid to be dislodged, lest its condition be made worse by the exchange : do you think you would ever imprecate damnation any more ? And yet all these terrors and horrors upon the conscience, are but as the sweatinsc of marble-stone before the ffreat rains fall.
But what if God should give you a vision of hell itself, and of the inconceivable and inexpressible misery of those desperate and forlorn wretches, that lie there sweltering, and groaning under the heavy pressures of the wrath of a great and terrible God, immediately and everlastingly transacted upon their souls ? Would you ever jest with damnation any more, as with an harmless thing ? Nay, would you not strive to the uttermost, to flee from this wrath to come ? Do you not seem to liear, in this rational and just opposition, and doleful cry
* The mind now conscious of its guilt, Feels hell within : the rest's a horrid sight.
A CORONATION-gERMON, PREACHED AT DARTMOUTH. 545
coming from hell, and the state of the damned, with this very sound and sense ? ' Good souls, if ever you expect to be delivered from this state, and place of torments, strive, to the utmost, strive while you have opportunity, strive whilst breath and strength do last, to flee from, and escape, by a sound conversion, this doleful state of eternal damnation."*
Supposition 4. Lastly, and in a word, suppose you had a vision of heaven, as Stephen and Paul had in the body ; suppose you saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at his right hand, surrounded with the triumphant myriads of palm-bearing saints, singing Ho- sanna**s and Hallelujahs to God, and the Lamb for ever; and bless- ing, praising, and admiring him that gave them another spirit, vastly different from that which governs such as you : Blessing the Lord, that enabled them to be praying and praising, whilst others were cursing and swearing ; to be sighing and groaning for sin in secret, whilst others were shouting and singing in taverns and ale-houses : to beat down their bodies, and keep them under, whilst others were pleasing and gratifying their lusts ; would you still drive that course you do ? Well, sirs, if ever you expect to come where these blessed ones are, you must take the course they did. Let this be your en- deavour, and it shall be my fervent and hearty prayer.
Go forth ye daughters qfZion, and behold king Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
A. CROWN is the top of earthly glory, the culminating point of human dignity. Psalm xxi. 2, 3. " Thou hast given him his heart's desire ; thou hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head." The ambition of the many, moves in various spheres below it ; the ambition of none aspires above it, except it be that anomalous mon- ster, the man of sin, who affects to sit in the very throne of God^ and exalts himself above all that is called God, S Thess. ii. 4,
54^6 A COROXATIOX-SERMOX, PREACHED AT DARTMOUTH.
When God puts a crown upon the head, and a sceptre into the hand of a man, he engraves upon that man (in a qualified sense) both bis name, and the lively characters of his Majesty and authority, Psah Ixxxii. 6. " I have said, ye are gods, and all of you the children c£ the Most High."*' But yet, in all the grants and conveyances of Hea- ven, there is always a reservation and salvo to the divine prerogative, to * displace at pleasure, and set it upon what head he shall please, Ezek. xxi. 26. '* Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown ; This shall not be the same : Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high."
Though dominion be not founded in grace, yet grace both em- bellishes, and secures the dominion of men. The princes of the earth owe fealty and homage to Jesus Christ; (Psal. ii. 10, 11, 12.) and had some of them been more subject to his laws, their kingdoms had flourished, and their government been more ausj^icious.
The coronation-day of a king, is, in a sense, the marriage-day be- twixt him and his people, and is accordingly solemnized with all the signs and demonstrations of joy and gladness: For the shout of a Aing' is among them. Thus when the crown of Israel w as set upon the head of Solomon, the scripture represents their exuberant joy, in an ele- gant and lofty hyperbole : 1 Kings i. 40. " And all the people came up after him ; and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them."
Carnal men rejoice carnally, and spiritual men should rejoice spiritually : The most glorious part of the solemnity of such a day consists in,
1. Praises and prayers for him tliat wears the crov/n.
2. In a spiritual improvement of the action to ourselves.