First, then, to address you who live, or rather are dead, under the guilt, dominion, power, and law of sin, " how shall ye escai^e the dam- nation of hell?" The judgment of God is, that they who commit those things to which you are totally given up, and which you cannot refrain from, are " worthy of death." " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God;"^ since it is " a just thing with him to render to every one according to his works." And who shall deliver you out of his mighty hand ? Wherewith can " the wrath to come" be averted? wherewithal can 3^ou make atonement to so great a judge? Sacrifices avail nothing; hence those words in the prophet, which express not so much the language of inquiry as of confusion and astonishment: "Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with • Heb. Yii. 2G; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Gal. iii. 13. » llom. ii. 2. 3 lleb, x. 31.
USES OF THE DOCTRINE. 621
burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"^ Would you attempt an obedience arduous and expensive beyond all credibility? By such dreadful propitia- tions, by such dire and accursed sacrifices, at the thought of which human nature shudders, would you appease the offended Deity? You are not the first Avhom a vain superstition and ignorance of the justice of God hath forced to turn away their ears from the sighs and cries of tender infants, breathing out their very vitals, your own blood, in vain. These furies, which now by starts agitate us within, will, by their vain attempts against the snares of death, torment us to all eternity: for God, the judge of all, will not accept of " sacrifice, or offering, or burnt-offerings for sin;" with these he is not at all de- lighted ; for " the redemption of the soul is precious, and ceaseth for ever."^ God cannot so lightly esteem or disregard his holiness, jus- tice, and glory, to which your sins have done so great an injury, that he should renounce them all for the sake of hostile conspirators, unless there should be some other remedy quickly provided for us; — unless the judge himself shall provide a lamb for a burnt-offering ; unless the gates of a city of refuge shall be quickly opened to you, exclaiming and trembling at the avenging curse of the law; unless you can find access to the horns of the altar. If God be to reiiiain blessed for ever, you must doubtless perish for ever. If, then, you have the least concern or anxiety for your eternal state, hasten, " while it is called To-day," to " lay hold on the hope that is set before you." Give yourselves up entirely to him; receive him " whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, that he raio-ht declare his rio-hteousness." But what and how bitter a sense of sin ; how deep a humiliation, contrition, and dejection of heart and spirit; what self-hatred, condemnation, and contempt; what great self- indignation and revenge ; what esteem, what faith in the necessit}'-, excellence, and dignity of the righteousness and satisfaction of Christ, especially if God hath graciously condescended to bestow his holy Spirit, to convince men's hearts of sin, of righteousness, and of judg- ment (without whose effectual aid and heart-changing grace even the most apposite remedies applied to this disease will be in vain), and^ to excite and work such sentiments concerning the transgression of the divine law, the nature of sin, or the disobedience of the crea- tures ! A persuasion how fit and proper, those who have spiritual eyes will easily perceive.
1 Mic. vi. 0, 7. 2 Ps. slix. 8.
3 From tlie figure of notation to the close of the paragraph, the sense of the author has been entirely misapprehended. Head, " must be excited and kept alive by sucli a fit and adequate view respecting the transgression of the divine law, the nature of sin, or the disobedience of the creature,— those who have spiritual eyes will easily perceive." — Eu.
622 A DISSEKTATION ON DIVINE JUSTICE. [PAET II.
To those happy persons " whose sins are forgiven, and to whom God will not impute iniquity," because he hath laid their transgres- sions upon Christ, the knowledge of this divine truth is as a spur to quicken them to the practice of every virtue and to sincere obedi- ence; for in what high, yea, infinite honour and esteem must God be held by him who, having escaped from the snares of death and the destruction due to him, through his inexpressible mercy, hath thoroughly weighed the nature of sin and the consequences of it, which we have mentioned before ! for whosoever shall reflect with himself that such is the quality and nature of sin, and that it is so impiously inimical to God, that unless by some means his justice be satisfied by the punishment of another, he could not pardon it or let it pass unpunished, will ever acknowledge himself indebted to eter- nal love for the remission of the least transgression, because in inex- pressible grace and goodness it hath been forgiven. And hence, too, we may learn how much beyond all other objects of our affection Ave are bound to love with our heart and soul, and all that is within us, our dear and beloved Deliverer and most merciful Saviour, Jesus Christ, " who hath delivered us from the wrath to come."