amongst them, are to be found in no less degree amongst us also : and the judgments that were de- nounced against them shew what reason we also have to dread the displeasure of God. In confirmation of this truth, we will consider, I. The characters here described —
Such we behold in every place ; persons sunk in,
1. Carnal security —
[The metaphor by which the state of these persons is de- picted exhibits it in a most striking point of view. Wine, when " settled on its lees," retains for a long time its strength and flavour, which, if it were emptied from vessel to vessel, it would soon lose. In like manner, when, through a long period of ease and prosperity, persons have their natural dispositions fixed, and inveterate habits formed, they retain throughout their whole man, and manifest throughout their whole conduct, a savour of earthly things. The very habit of sin hardens them in sin ; and the forbearance which God in his mercy exercises towards them, confirms in them an expectation of final impu- nity. This is the description which the Prophet Jeremiah gives of Moaba; and with it agrees the testimony of David respecting the ungodly in all ages: as long as they have no changes " to awaken them from their slumber, they fear not God." How true this is, we cannot but see in all around us. How securely do men live in a total neglect of their everlast- ing concerns ! They have no dread of God's displeasure ; no anxieties about the future judgment ; no alternations of hope and fear as arising from an examination of their state before God. "Whatever God may say in his word, they regard it not. If he tell them, that " broad is the road that leadeth to de- struction, and that many," even the great mass of mankind, " walk therein ; but that narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it ;" they account it worthy of not the least attention : they cannot believe that they are in any danger ; and they hold fast their delusions with a confidence that nothing can shake.]
2. Atheistical presumption —
[Persons, the more effectually to exclude all misgivings from their minds, deny that God takes any cognizance of their state. " Tush, say they, how shall God know? is there know- ledge in the Most Highb?" They think it would be dis- honouring God to conceive of him as marking all the ways of the children of men in order to a future judgment. True
a Jer. xlviii. 11. b Ps. lxxiii. 11.