Disc. VT.] thority they have despised, and from the wrath of a Sa- viour, whose mercy they have impiously renounced. " Look forward, Omy soul, to this awful and dread- ful hour ; survey this tremendous scene of confusion,: when sinners shall run counter to all their former princi- ples and wishes, and pass a quite different judgment upon their sinful delights from what they were wont to do in the days of this life of vanity. Learn, O my soul, to judge of things more agreeable to the appearances of that day : Never canst thou set the flattering pleasures of sense, and the joys of sin, in a truer and juster view, than in the light of this glorious and tremendous judgment." Reflection III. " How great and dreadful must the dis- tress ofcreatures be, when theycannot bear to see the face ofGod, their Creator ?" How terrible must be the circum- stances of the sons of men, when they cannot endure to see the face of the Son of God, but would fain hide them- selves from the sight under rocks and mountains ? How wretched must their state be, who avoid the face of the, blessed God with horror, which the holy angels ever be- hold with the most intense delight, and which the saints rejoice in as their highest happiness ? It is their heaven to see God, and behold the glory of his Son Jesus ; Mat. v. 8. John xvii. 24. But this is the very hell of sinners in that dismal hour, and will fill their souls with such inexpressible anguish, that they call to the rocks and mountains, to hide them from the sight. Dreadful and deplorable is their case indeed, who cannot endure to see the countenance of Jesus, the Son of God, Jesus the Saviour of men, the copy of the Father's glory, and the image of his beauty and love. They cannot hear to see, that Jesus, who is the chiefest of ten thousands, and altogether lovely ; they fly from that blessed counte- nance, which is the ornament and the joy of all the holy and happy creation : That blessed countenance is become the terror and confusion of impenitent and guilty reliels. " And what shall I do, if I should be found among this criminal number in that great day ? If I look at the wis- dom and the righteousness of God, these will reflect the keenest rays of horror and anguish upon my soul, for it is that wisdom and that righteousness that have joined to prepare the salvation which I have rejected, and there- forej now that wise and righteous God seetli it proper 2 F4 TìiE VA4N REFVGE OE SINNERS. 439
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