644 The Roafonablenefs of afhamed, when he tometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels. And Rev. 21.8. in that catalogue of ¡inners which (hall be call into the lake offire and brimflone, the fearful andunbelievers are particularly mentioned. And indeed they who out of fear of Men offend God , are guilty of this un- reafonable. folly , they incur the danger of a greater evil, to avoid a lefs, and to fave their eftates or their lives, they plunge themfelves into Hell ; whiff' they are endeavouring to efcape the hands of men that (hall die, theyfall into the hands of the living God. Lafily, If God be the great objef of our fear, let all impenitent finners repre- fent to themfelves the terrors of the Lord, and thepower of his anger. This con- fideration, if any thing in the world will do it, will awaken them to a fenfe of thedanger of their condition, and of the fatal iífue of a wicked life. Were but Men poffeft with due apprehenfions of the power of God ; the fear of Men, and What they can do tous, would have no influence upon us, in comparifon of the fears ofdivine .vengeance. Were we fenfible what it is to difpleafe God, inwhofe hands our breath is, andwhofeare all our ways, who can make us as miferable, as we are capable of being, and more miferable thanwe can now imagine, not only inour Bodies, butin our Souls, not only inthis world, butin the other, notonly for atime, but without end; would notthis makeus afraid to offendand difpleafehim ; Can any confederation be more powerful to reftrain us fromfin, and to argue us to Repentance andObedience, than this? We mayoppofe the eternal difpleafure of God, not only to all the pleafures of fin, but to all the terrors of fenfe, which are butfor a moment. WhenMen would allure us to fin by thebaits and temptations of pleafure, or difcourage and deter us from our áuty by the threatnings of dan- ger and fufferings ; let us oppofe to thefe the anger of the great God, and the infi- nite treafures of his wrath ; and the ferious thoughts of this will blunt the edge of all temptations, and quench all motives and incentives to fin. Do we fear the wrath of Man, whofe power is fhort, and whofe breath is in his nerds, who can but ofhi& a little, and for a little while ; and is not the wrath of the eternal God much more dreadful ? Is not deflruilionfrom the Lord, a ter- ror to thee? Doft thou fear man thatfliall die, and thefon ofman that?hall be made asgrafs ? and doff thou hand in no awe of bim who lives for ever ? Is the fear of Men fo prevalent upon us, and (hall not the terrors of the Lord have a much greater effeft upon us? God is theSupreme, and indeed the only object ofour fear, in comparífon of whom nothing elfe is to be dreaded, Pfal. 76.7. Thou, even thou art to befeared, and who mayfund in thy fight, when once thou art angry? And Pfal. 90.1i. Who knoweththepower of thine anger ? As is thy fear, fo is thy wrath. No pail'ion in the Soul of Man is more infinite and unbounded than our fear, it is apt to fill our minds with endlefs jealoufies and fufpicions of what may befal us, of thework that may happen : but if we fhould extend our fears to the utmoft of what our wild and affrighted imaginations can reach to, theycould not exceed the greatnefs of God's wrath ; As is thyfear, fo is thy wrath. Let us then confiderthings impartially, and fear himmolt who bath the great- eft power, and confequently whomof all other perfons in the world it is moll dan- gerous tooffend. Let us fet before us God and Men; the fingle deathof theBo- dy, andthe forth and molt fenfible torments of Body and Soul together; tempo- ral affliftions and fufferings, and eternal pains and forrows: and when we are apt to fear what men can do unto us, let us confider how much more he can do, to whom power belongs, if for fear of Men we will venture toprovoke him. When Men threaten us with aprifon ; let us think of the chains of darknefs: when they would terrifie us with fire and faggot; let us think of the lake which burns with fire andbrimflone : when we are threatned with banifhment ; let us confider how great a mifery it will be to be banifh'd from the glorious and blifsful prefence of God for ever ; when the danger of a temporal death is prefented to us ; let us re- member the worm that never dies, and thefire that is not quenched. Ye that are fo bold as to offend God, and affront the Almighty to his face, by profane blafphemies, and impudent impiety, confider what ye do, how great a d«nger you run upon, to what fearful mifery you expofe your felves., whenever 2 you
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