up wrath against the day of wrath," and accumulate mountains of guilt to sink us deeper and deeper into everlasting perdition \ Our employment will be like that of those mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah, who " drew out iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as a cart-rope'^ :" for, as a rope is spun out continually to an indefinite length by the constant addition of fresh mate- rials, so will our sin be drawn out to an endless extent, till death shall cut it short, and the deserved punishment be awarded to it.]
It would be improper to pass over such a declara- tion as this without drawing your attention to,
II. The reflections which it naturally suggests —
1. How thankful should we be for the Gospel of Christ !
[Heathens are in the bondage above described, and have no conception of any way of deliverance from it. But in the Gospel a Saviour is proclaimed ; who came on purpose to " preach deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound'." His power no lusts can withstand. As he delivered Peter from prison, causing his chains to fall off, and the prison doors to open of their own accord, so can he liberate the slaves of sin and Satan from their bondage, and bring them forth into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Diseases, devils, elements, all obeyed his voice in the days of his flesh : and at his word the most deep- rooted lusts shall be plucked up, and the most inveterate habits changed. The day of Pentecost sufficiently attests the truth of this assertion. The hands of the men who had crucified him were yet reeking with his blood, yet in an instant were their hearts renewed, and they became altogether new creatures, " the wolf being as harmless as the sheep, and the lion as gentle as the lamb"\"
However inveterate then your habits may have been, despair not: but look to " that Mighty One on whom your help is laid," and who is able to save " to the uttermost all who come unto God by him."]
2. How watchful should we be against the first
incursions of sin !
[As we know not " how gi-eat a matter a little fire will kindle," so we know not what evils one sin may introduce. Every evil habit originated in one sin. Judas little thought in what his first act of dishonesty would issue : and millions, who arc now gone beyond the hope of redemption, once thought as little to what a state they should be ultimately brought, as we now
i Rom. ii. 5. i^ Isai. v. 18. i Luke iv. 18, "^ Isai. xi. 6. VOL. VII. F