V{e. 2. Of fCrving God, with Well OO\V to conclude this~ methinks what bath already been fpokcn fhould fill the Heart_ of. e\'cry ~arnll .Wretch with Fear; methinks this fhould 'make them cry out Wlth thofe Smners Ill Sion, !fa 33- I+. Wno amonx usfb:~JJ d":Vtll'Riith devom·- ing Fire 1 Whq mnong uJ fh.dJ dwell with t'Vtrl.-rfting Burmng; ! Can the Drunkard hear thefe things, and yet pn t his intemperate Ct:ps to his Mouth with a fr:::dy Hand? Can the Swearer lH•ar thefc thir.g;s, and yet hts Tongue move ftcady in his MGllth and not tremble when he raps out Oath;? Certainly how fecur e and confident '\f~~ ever Men may now be, yet there is a time coming when the Wrath of God Jha~ melt down their Hearts like \Vax, in the mid ft of their Bowels. Drath is a thundriog Preacher, and it will make you fear the dreadful Rcprefentations of that fiery Indignation, that Ihortly it will difplay before your Eyes in all its Terrors. I Oh! when your Eyes fua\l fwim in the Night and in the Da1 k, and it cannot be loniJ" firfr, when you {hall meet with thofc dreadful Shapes and Vifions of a flaming Hell and a more flaming God, it will be too late then to Fear, and alas ! It will be too late then to Hope, God will then laugh at your Cal amity j and mock at you when this unfeafonable Fear romerh. Be perfuaded, .therefore, to entertain a Fear of God at laft, though but a Oavifh Fear; this is the preparation that the HolyGhoft works in the Heart1 in order to a filial and a holy Fear of God. Secondly, Another Ufe th;o.t we may make of this Point is this: Jf God be a con4 fuming Fire, how hiEhly doth it concern us to look out for a Screen that may fence us from thofe everlafti ng Burnings? We are Stubble and Fuel fully prep1red our Sins have made us fo, and ·for us to ftand it out againft ~od, is no other tha'n for dried Stubble to chJilcngc the d'evouring Fire. Now God, that he might nor bre.1k forth upon us and dcftroy us, hath himfelf prepared a Screen to hide and fhdter us from ~h! s flaming W,ratb, and that is ~hrift the l\ledia~or. We. have a !ively Type of thiS 1ll Aaron, lvumb. 16. 48. ~~ hen the rebellious lfrrutm:s mnuned ag~inft M(lfcs, God did fuddenly break forth llpon them, and flew a! moll fifteen thoufa_nd of them Dead upon the Place. As Fire rUns on a Train of Powder, fo did this Wrath of God pafs fwifty from one to another, till Aaron interpofed and ftopt it; . there ftood that mighty Prieft as a Bulwark betwixt the living and the dead, and intercepted the reft from this deftroyi ng \Vrath; and t1.ough it over.. whclmed fo many Thoufands, yet it could not bear down his powerful Interce!Iion· he alone was Ehe Fence and Safeguard of a pcriihing People. Chrift upon th; Crofs maintains the fame Station, interpofing betwixt the Li\ring and the Dead . the Wrath of God confumcs all before it that is not under the Protefrion of tha; Screen, there it ftops; and though it feized fiercdy upon him-too, yet it never burnt through him to reach thofe that fled for Security to that Refuge fet before them. In a general Conflagration, even Chaff and itubhle may be fecure, under the Covert of an Adamantine Wall. Though all the Wicked of the Worldfliall burn tog.ether, and all Believers be in themfelvcs as·combuftible Matter as they, yet Chrift interpofed as a Wall of Adamant betwixt Stubble and Stubble; and when the Wrath of God hath confumed the oae, he ftands and keeps off the lmprefiions of it from the other. Indeed there is a \V' all that ftands betwixt God and every wicked Man, b).lt it is a Wall of Partition, as the Apojlie calls it, Ephef 2. 14- It is a Wall that feparates them from the Love and Favour of God, and hides his Face from them. A Partition of dry and rotten Boards may keep off the Light and kindly Influences of the Sun, but it is no Fence againft the Rage of Fire, but rather encreafeth and augments it. So wicked Men are feparatcd from the Love and Favour of God by their Sins, lfa. 59· 2. Your l11iquiteJ have feparated betwixt )'(IU l"nd your God; yea, and they keep off his ch~rifhing Influences, but they contribute to his fiery Wrath. Why now Chrift IS a Wall of Defence, that feparatcs his from the Wrath and Indignation of God. A Wall of Cryjlal is a fafe Defence againft the force of Fire, yet it is no obftruCUon to the warm Be.1ms and cheriJbing Light of the Sun. Such a Cryfral Wall is Chrifr~ that l<cc psof God's fiery Indignation from us, but yet conveys to us the ch.enfl:ung and reVLvmg Influences of his Love. Let me now perfuade and preva1l with you (O betake your felves to this Ihelter. The fame Storm of Fire and Brimftonethat dcftroyed Sodom hovers over all the Wicked of the VJorld, and we are as Let, Itilllingring behi'nd ; let me therefore haften you, as the Angel did him, to your Zoar, to get under the ProteCtion of Chrift, whether the fiery Indignation of God c?nnot pur· fue you. In the former lnftancc, when the J{rariites faw fo many of ~heir Fellows . fiaia
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