life with tolerable serenity ; what will they do at the instant of their departure from the body ? Then they will begin to understand the meaning of the word " destruction : " now perhaps they listen to it with indifference ; but then they cannot remain insensible to it. What terror must seize them when they behold the face of incensed Majesty ! when they see that God, whose laws they have trampled on, and that Saviour whose redemption they have slighted ! What agony must pierce their souls, when they hear him say, " Depart, accursed, into everlasting fire ! " And, when they are hurled headlong into the bottomless abyss, when they are lying down in flames of fire, and know that they must "dwell with everlasting burnings," how will they gnash their teeth with anguish ! how will they curse the day that they were born ! how will they curse themselves for their own folly in neglecting redeeming love ! But can it be, that they who live in the state before described, are exposed to all this misery ? Yes, " Woe unto them ! Destruction unto them ! " saith Jehovah. And the apostle says, " that they who know not God and obey not his Gospel," or, in other words, they who flee from God and trample on redeeming love, "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power e." The whole sacred volume attests and con- firms this awful truth : every part of it speaks to the same effect as David, " The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget Godf."
Now, my Brethren, deceive not your own souls. To what purpose will it be, to be speaking peace to yourselves, when God is denouncing " woe and destruction" unto you ? If you say that you are not the worst of sinners, what will that avail you? If you say that you are honest, and just, and sober, what is all that to the purpose? This, and more than this, the Pharisee could say for himself; yet was he not hereby jus- tified. The only question is, Do you answer to the character drawn in my text ? Have you not "fled from God?" have you not "transgressed against him?" have you not " spoken lies against him?" If you are disposed to deny any of these charges, consider with yourselves, Have you sought your hap- piness in communion with God ? and, when he has said, " Seek ye my face," has your heart always answered," Thy face, Lord, will I seek ? " Are you not also transgressors against his law ? Have you not been just now acknowledging upon your knees, that " you have done those things which you ought not to have done, and left undone those things which you ought to have done ? " And can you affirm that the constant course and tenour of your life has proclaimed to all around you, that
« 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. f Ps. ix. 17.