God's Wrath dreadful to Sinners. Saviour back again in his Face. But becaufe Ingenuity is perifht from oft ihe Earth, and Men are generally more apt eo be wrought upon by Argumems drawn from Fear than Love, therefore the Scripture propounds to us the confiaeration of the dreadful Juftice of God arrayed in all the terrible Circumftance 1ofit that if Mercy cannot allure usJufiice at leaft might affright us from our Sins.Anda~ thofe who are to travel through Wilderneffis and De{erts, carry Fire with rhem to rer4 rifie wild and ravenous Beafts, and to fecure themfelYes from their Affaults: So doth_ the great God,, who ha~h w deal :vith brutifh Men, Men more favage than w1ld Beafis; he kmdles a Ftre about h1m, and appears to them all in Flames and Fury ; that fo he might fright them from their hold Attempts, who other~ ~~~ IS. wi!C would be ready, to mn upon his Neck, and the thick BojJn of his Buckltr. And therefore in dJe Four precedent Ver[es, we find che Apojfle chreatniilg mo£1 tremendous Judgments againft an that lhould wilfuny tranfgrefs , after they had received the knowledge of the Truth. He tells us, there remainJ nii mfJre {acri{ice fQ'I· their Sins: Nothing to expiate their Guilt, but that they themfelves muli fan a Burflt-Sacrifice to the offended Juftice of God, confumed with that fiery Indignation that Jhall certainly feize and prey upon them f9r ev er. And in Heb. '"· v. 28, 29. he fets forth the exceeding Dreadfulnefs of their Judgment, by a ~s, 29· comparifon between thofe that violated the Law of Mo[es, and thofe that renotmce and a11nul the Lmv of Chrijl. He that defpifed Mofes't Law, who himfelf was but a Servant, and his Laws confifi:ed of inferiour and lefs fpiritual Ordinances, yet a Defpifer and Tranfgreifor of theft::, ~as to die without Mercy ; certainly much forer Judgments await thofe, who reJeCl: the Laws ofChrifl, and trample him who is the Son and Lord of the Houfe, under foot; accounting his Blood unholy and prophane, renouncing his Merits, and blafpheming the Holy Spirit by which our Sa'rliour acted: Sucl} as thefe, Jhall eternally perifh with lefs Mercy, than thofe chat died without Mercy. Where ohferve the ftrange Emp_haft that the Apoftle lays upon this dreadful Commination; he tells us they fhall be fo rer punilh'd, than thofe that are punifhed without Mercy; to let us kno w, that as there are tranfcendent Glories, fuch as Eye bath not {em, nor Ear heard, nor can it enter intotbe Heart of Man to conceive, referved in the Heavens for thofe that love God; {o are there \Voes and Torments, fuch as Eyebath not_feen,Ear heard, nor can it mter into tht Heart of Man to conceive, how great and infupporcablc they are, prepared in Hdl for thofe that hate him. They !hall die with lefs Mercy, than thofe chat die without Mercy. Now that we might not wonder at fuch a Paradox as this, the Apojlle gives the Reafon of it in my Text, For we know him that hath {aid, Yengeance belongeth tmto me ; it is the Vcngeance of God; and 11 falling into tbe Handt of God, and therefore it is no wonder iftheir Punilhments be beyond all extremity . They fall under the Power and Wrath of an infinite God, which when we h ave heaped Superlatives upon Superlatives, yet fiill we muft exprefs defeCl:ively, and all that we can conceive of ir falls vafily fhort of reaching but a faint and l anguilhing refemblance thereof. It is a State fo full of perfect Mifery, that Mif ery it felfis too eafie a Name to give it ;yea, whatfoever wecanfpeakmoft app ofitelyofir, is but diminilhing il; for becaufe it is the Wrath and Vengeance of an infiniteGod, it can no more be known by us, than God himfelf. Plunge your Thoughts as deep into it as you can, yet ftill there remains an infinite Abyfs which you can never fathom. And 0 that the confideration of this Wr11th might caufe us to tremble before this great and terrible God; that we might fo fear it , as never to feel it ; and be perfwaded to fall down at his Peer, that we may never fall into his Hands. And that we mar be thus affected, I have chofen this Text eo fet forth the Greatnefs and Drcadfulnefs of that Wrath and Vengea nce which the righteous God will execute upon aJI ftubborn and difobedient Wretches. A Text that fpeaks to us, as God did to the IfraelittJ from Mount Sinai, out of the midftoftheFlre and Blacknefs, Darknefs and Ternpe£1, in the Voice of a Trumpet. And truly -we have aJI need to have fuch roufing Truths frequently inculcared upon us, for the befi of us are Letbargical; and though fometimes when our Confciences are pincht hard by a fevereand fearchingTru th, we fiart and look abroad, yet as foon as the prefent lmpreffionis over, weclof e our Eyes, and faJI aUeep again in Sin and Security. There is a ftrange Dulnefs and Stupor bath feiz'd us, that we can no longer keep waking tha1.1 we are lhook . And
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