453 / 674
bise.
vi.]
THE VAIN REFUGE
OF
SINNERS:
433
of
the
rocks, for his eyes
are upon
all
their
ways,
neither
their
persons,
nor their iniquities, can
be
hid
from him.
And
as
you can
never conceal yourselves from
the
sight
and
notice
of
the
judge,
so
neither
can you
turn
your
eyes away
from
hirn:
You must behold
his
face,
in
vengeance,
and endure'
the distressing
sight.
The
rays
of
his
Majesty, in
the day
of his
wrath, shall
strike
through
all
the
crannies of
the
darkest
den, and pierce
the
deepest
shade.
Lord,
when
thy hand
is
lifted
up,
they
will
not
see,
but
they
shall
see,
and
be
ashamed,
Isa.
xxvi.
1
1.
And the
face
of
the Lamb
must
be seen
in
all
its
unknown terrors. Rev.
i.
7.
Behold, he
comes
in the
clouds,
and
every
eye
shall
see
him: The guilty
creature, and
the divine avenger, shall meet
eye
to
eye,
though
the
creature
has hid himself
under
rocks
and
mountains.
3.
These rocks and mountains are designed
to
repre-
sent not
only
concealment
and darkness,
by
their holes
and
caverns,
but
they
are
known bulwarks
of
defence,
and
places
of
security
and
shelter,
by
reason
of their
strength and
thickness.
When
the
prophet
would
ex-
press the safety
of the
man,
who
practises righteousness
in
a
vicious
age; Isa.
xxxiii.
16.
he
says,
He shall
dwell
on
high, his place
of
defence
shall
be
the
muni-
tions
of
rocks.
These
shall be
a
bulwark
round
him
for
his
guard and
safety.
When
sinners,
therefore,
flee
to
the
mountains and
to
the
rocks,
they may
be
supposed to
seek a thick covering,
or a
shield
of
defence, to
secure
them, where the strokes
of
divine
anger
shall
not break
through, and reach
them
:
They
trust
to the
solid
pro-
tection of
the rocks,
and the strength
of
the
mountains
to guard
them
;
but
these, alas,
can yield no
shelter
from
the
stroke
of
the arm
of
God.
Should the rocks, Oh
sinner
!
attempt
to befriend
thee, and
surround thee
with
their thickest'fortification,
his
wrath
would cleave
them
asunder,
and pierce thee
to
the
soul with
greater
ease,
than thou canst break through
a
paper
-wall with
the
battering
engines
of
war.
Ask
the prophet Nahum,
who was
acquainted
with the majesty
of
God, and he
shall tell
thee, how
it
"
throws down the
mountain,
and
tears the rock
in
pieces
:
When
his fury
is
poured
out
like fire,
the mountains
quake
at
him,
the
hills
melt,
the
earth
is
burned
at
his
presence,
with all
that
dwell
V
O
L.
I
I.
:r