" the unclean cannot enter there1." There shall be " a dif- ference between those who serve God, and those who serve him notk : " and the wish that ungodly men feel to be found at last in the place of those whom the}' now despise, is a proof that they have in their own minds some apprehension of the sen- tence that awaits them in another world '.]
And are not these things matters of just lamentation ? [It is much to be regretted that men will " feed on ashes m, " and seek to " fill their belly with the east wind"," when they might " eat the bread of life," and " delight their souls with marrow and fatness0." And still more must we pity him, who, when there is a rest prepared, and a supper spread for him in heaven, has provoked God to swear, that he shall never enter into that restp, nor ever partake of that supper q.]
But there is yet greater reason to weep,
II. On account of the miseries they bring upon them- selves—
Not to mention the misery of a guilty conscience, which in many instances is so great as to render life itself a burthen —
How inexpressibly dreadful are the judgments which the wicked will endure in hell !
[However men may labour to disprove it, hell must be the portion of all that forget Godr. And who can form any ade- quate conception of the torments that shall be there endured ? To spend an eternity in such a furnace as that which Nebu- chadnezzar kindled for the destruction of the Hebrew youths, would be beyond measure dreadful : but what must it be to lie down in that lake of lire which the breath of the Almighty hath kindled5?]
And can we view sinners hastening to that place of torment, and not weep over them 1
[Our blessed Lord wept over Jerusalem on account of the temporal calamities that should come upon it : and shall not we weep over the eternal miseries which men are bringing on themselves ? Must not our hearts be harder than adamant, if they do not melt into tears at such a sight ? Can we weep at the recital of a story we know to be fictitious, and not mourn over such awful realities ?]
There is, however, yet greater reason to weep,
1 Rev. xxi. 27. k Mai. iii. 18. l Numb, xxiii. 10.
m Isai. xliv. 20. n Job xv. 2. ° Isai. lv. 2.
P Heb. iii. 18. <J Luke xiv. 24. r Ps. ix. 17.
8 Isai. xxx. 33.