provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilder- ness." This was the state of mind which became them ; and this is the habit that becomes us also.
To fix this admonition the more deeply on your minds, I will endeavour to shew,
I. What impression sin makes upon the mind of God —
It is not so light an evil as we are ready to imagine. It is most offensive to God : it is " that abominable thing which his soul hatetha." In what abhorrence he holds it, we may see,
1. By his own positive declarations —
[" In the day that thou eatest of the forbidden tree, thou shalt dieb," was the declaration of God in Paradise : and "The soul that sinneth, it shall die0," has been his solemn warning to all mankind, even to the present hour. Yes ; " the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unright- eousness of mend." " The wicked," saith David, " shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget Gode." And again : " Upon the ungodly shall God rain snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest : this shall be their portion to drink f :" " they shall go into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angelsg:" " they shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation ; and the smoke of their torment shall ascend up for ever and ever : and they shall have no rest, day nor nighth:" they shall be " where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched1;" and shall spend eternity itself in " weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth V
Now I would ask, What can such declarations mean ? or rather, What can they mean who set them all at nought, and say, " I shall have peace, though I walk after the imaginations of my own evil heart1?"]
2. By the actual exhibitions of his wrath —
[It is easy to say, " The Lord doth not see, neither will the Almighty regard it." But how do his dispensations ac- cord with these conceits? Was the sin of Adam visited with no expression of his wrath ? Was there no manifestation of his anger at the deluge ? None on the cities of the plain, the punishment of which was a figure of hell itself? Look at his
a Jer. xliv. 4. b Gen. ii. 17. c Ezek. xviii. 4.
<* Rom. i. 18. e Ps. ix. 17. f Ps. xi. 6.
e Matt. xxv. 41. h Rev. xiv. 10,11. ' Mark ix. 44, 46, 48.
k Matt. xxv. 30. ' Deut. xxix. 19.