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THE VAIN REFUGE
OF
SINNERS.
DISC.
VI.
receive
him as
a
Saviour
?
"
Behold,
.
he cometh
in
flaming fire,
with
ten thousand
of
his angels,
to render
vengeance
to
them
that
resisted
his grace,
and
disobeyed
the invitation of
his
gospel
;"
2
Thess.
i.
7,
8.
Time
was,
when the
" Father
sent forth
his Son,
not
to condemn the
world,
but that
through
him
the
world
might have
life
;"
John
iii.
17.
But the
time
is
coming,
when
God
shall send him
arrayed
with majesty and with
righteous indignation,
to
condemn
the rebellious
world,
and
inflict
upon
them the pains
of eternal
death.
Hast
thou seen
him,
Oh
my
soul
!
in
the
discoveries
of
his
mercy
?
Fly
to
him with all
the
wings
of
faith
and love,
with all the speed
of
desire and
joy
fly
to
him,
receive
his
grace,
and accept of
his
salvation, that,
when
the
day
of
the
wrath
of
the Lamb shall
appear, thou mayest
behold
his
countenance without
terror
and
confusion.
Reflection
IL
"How
very different will the thoughts
of
sinners
be in
that
day
from
what they are
at present?
How different
their
wishes
and
their inclinations
?"
And
that
with
regard
to
this one
terror
which
my
text,
de-
scribes, viz.
that
they shall address themselves to the
rocks and mountains for shelter, and
fly
into the
dens
and caverns
of
the
earth
for concealment and
safety.
Let
us survey this in
a
few
particulars
:
Sinners, whose looks were once lofty
and
disdainful,
whose eyes were
exalted
in pride,
their mouths
set
against
the
heavens,
and their hearts haughty and
full
of
scorn,
they
shall
be
humbled
to the
dust of
the earth,
they shall
creep into the
hiding-places
of
the
moles
and the
bats,
and
thrust their
heads into
holes,
and
caverns, and
dens
of
desolation,
at
the
appearance of
God,
their
Creator,
in
flaming
fire,
and
the Son
of
God, their
Judge
:
for
he
is
the avenger,
of
his
own
and
his
Father's injured
ho-
nours.
Sinners, who were once
fond
of
their
idols
and their
sen-
sual delights,
who
made
idols to themselves
of
every agree-
able creature, and
gave
it that
place
in
their hearts
which
belongs only to
God,
they shall
be
horribly
confounded
in
that
day,
when God
shall
appear
in
his majesty,
to
shake the
earth
to
the centre,
and to
burn the surface of
it
with all its
bravery.
This
is
nobly
described
by
the
prophet
Isaiah,
chapter
the
second, from
10
-21.
In
that
day shall a man cast
his idols'
of
silver,
and
his
idols
of
gold, which they made,
each one for himself
to
wox-