"tribulation and anguish " will be their certain and unalterable portion0. O! who can conceive what it is to be " cast into a lake of fire and brimstone," and to " dwell with everlasting burnings ?" Alas ! what " weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth " will there be in those regions to which the ungodly will be for ever consigned ! Yes : " to every soul that doeth evil," shall this sentence be awarded. " No respect will be shewn to persons " on account of their name, or profession, or rank, or distinctions of any kind. The Jew will have a priority to the Gentiles, both in respect of happiness and misery ; of happiness, inasmuch as his peculiar privileges afford him greater advantages for the attainment of holiness ; though the Gentile shall not be overlooked on account of his want of those advantages. In like manner the Jew will have a fearful precedence also in respect to punishment, on account of the advantages he has abused : but the Gentiles will accord- ing to their measure be punished also, if they have not walked agreeably to the light which they have enjoyed d. The posses- sion of privileges will prove a blessing, or a curse, according to the use that has been made of them ; but the want of privi- leges shall neither excuse deliberate wickedness, on the one hand, nor prevent the acceptance of willing, though imperfect, services, on the other hand. If God, on the one hand, will " take vengeange on them that know him not," he has, on the other hand, declared, that " in every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, shall be accepted of him."]
From this subject then we may learn,
1. What the Gospel is — [Many imagine that such declarations as those in our text are altogether legal. But the apostle Paul, who surely under- stood the Gospel, considered these declarations as an essential part of it : and it is worthy of notice, that, in the very epistle where he has most strongly advanced the doctrines of predes- tination and election, he has brought forward these truths, which are so often set in opposition to them. But the Gospel is not such a partial system as is generally imagined : it neither consists exclusively in those doctrines which are commonly spoken of under the term Calvinism, nor in those which are supposed to have an Arminian aspect. The Gospel exhibits the Deity to us under different views ; first, as a merciful Father, who offers salvation to us through the blood and righteousness of his only-begotten Son ; next, as an almighty Sovereign, who dispenses his blessings according to his own will and pleasure ; and lastly, as a righteous Judge, who will proceed with perfect equity in assigning to every man his
c Compare Ps. lxxviii. 40. with Ps. xi. 6. d Luke xii. 47, 18.