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638

THE ETERNAL

ISL7RATION

or

rDISC. XIII.

remains

still as heavy as ever,

and

seems

as

far off

from

its end.

This dreadful

price, which the

justice of

God

demands

for

the

réparation

of our

offences

against

his

law and

his

authority,

is

a price

which

creatures

can

never

pay,

for it

is

infinite

;

and

therefore

when a finite

creature

begins to

make

payment

thereof

with

his own

sufferings,

these

sufferings

must

be everlasting.

It

is

evident,

that

one wilful

sin

is

sufficient to

sink

creatures under

the indignation

of God

for

six

thousand

years

:

I

call the angels

who

sinned for

witnesses to this

truth. They

were

formed

in

holiness

and

glory before

the creation of

this lower

world,

and probably

they sin-

ned and

fell

before this

creation

too

;

and

they

are

yet

imprisoned

and

confined

under

perpetual

chains

of

darkness,

as

the word

of

God

tells

us,

and reserved

to everlasting punishment

at

the

judgment

of

the

great

day.

And if thou,

O

sinner among the

sons

of

men,

if

thou

diest

in

an

unregenerate,

unholy,

and

unpardoned

state, the

sins

of

thy

whole life

are charged upon

thee,

and

thou

art

daily "

treasuring up wrath against

the

day

of

wrath,"

Rom.

ii.

5.

and

"

thou shalt

not

escape

from this prison

till

thou

hast paid

the

utmost

farthing,"

Mat.

v.

If

any one

sin

deserves

all

this misery

which

has been

described, what

a

dreadful reckoning

will

the

sins

of

thy

whole

life

come

to, when

every command

of

God

which

thou hast broken

shall

appear

and

demand

reparation

for

its

injured honour

?

Remember,

O sinner, obstinate

and

rebellious, remember

thou

hast

to

do with a

great

and dreadful God,

who

has

all

thy

"iniquities

ever

be-

fore

his eyes

;"

Isaiah

lxv.

6.

"

Behold they

are written

before

me,

and

I

will

recompense,

saith the Lord, their

iniquity

into their

bosom.

He

is

a God

that

will

never

forget

any

of

thy

crimes.

Amos.

viii.

7.

"

The

Lord

bath

sworn by

the excellency

of Jacob,

surely

I

will

never

forget

any

of

their

works." Though thou

hast

lost and forgot

them,

he

will

bring

them again into thy

conscience

with

a

terrible remembrance

;

and

when

God

comes forth

in

a

way

of

vengeance,

"

every

transgres-

sion and

disobedience

shall receive

a

just

recompence

of

reward," Heb.

ii.

.

"

Vengeance

belongeth

unto

me,

saith the

Lord,"

chapter.

x.

so He that

spared

not

his own

Son,

when he

laid pn

him the

iniquity

of

us all,