III. The urgent necessity which lies upon us all to
comply with it —
[" God has appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness." It is not left to men's option, whether they will embrace the sentiments proposed to them in the Gospel, or obey its injunctions: they must obey them, at the peril of their souls. The philosophers could only advise. They knew nothing of a future state of retribution. If occasionally they hinted at such a state, it was with extreme uncertainty, and without the least idea of the rule by which they should be judged, or the person by whom their sentence should be awarded to them. But the Apostle declared to them God's determina- tion respecting these things: and I also declare, that every soul amongst us shall, ere long, " stand at the judgment-seat of Christ, to receive according to what we have done in the body, whether it be good or evil." Then will our compliance with this injunction be inquired into, and that declaration of our blessed Lord be fulfilled, " Except ye repent, ye shall all perish e " : ]
Address —
1. The careless —
[Whether ye be amongst the number of learned philoso- phers, or of the illiterate poor, I must equally call upon you to repent. The injunction is universal. There is no exception, in behalf of any place, or any 'person, under heaven. The old, the young, the rich, the poor, the learned, the unlearned, must all repent, or be condemned at the tribunal of their Lord, and " take their portion for ever in the lake that burnetii with fire and brimstone." Dream not, brethren, that, because God has borne with you hitherto, he will not visit your sins at last : for he has declared, that " his Spirit shall not always continue to strive with you ;" but that, if you do not speedily return to him in penitence and faith, he will give you up to final impenitence, and leave you to " treasure up wrath against the day of wrath." O " let his long-suffering be accounted by you as salvation f," and " let his goodness lead you to repentance g."]
2. The repenting sinner —
[Sweet beyond description are the expressions in my text, as bearing on your state. Does God so authoritatively com- mand repentance ? then will he assuredly have respect to it, wheresoever he finds it: nor is there a creature in the universe so vile, but he shall obtain acceptance with his God, through
the instrumentality of penitence and faith Humble
yourselves, then, before God, in dust and ashes, and plunge
e Luke xiii. 3. f 2 Pet. iii. 15. e Rom. ii. 4.