460 / 674
440
THE
VAIN REFUGE
OE
SINNERS.
DISC.
VI.
and
necessary, to
punish
'me
with everlasting
sorrows.
If
I
look
at
the power
of God,
it
is
a
dreadful
sight:
Eternal
and
almighty power,
that
can break through
rocks and mountains
to
inflict
vengeance upon the
guilty,
and stands
engaged
by his
honour
to
break
my
rebellious
spirit
with
unknown torments.
If
I
look
at
his
goodness
or
his love,
it
is
love and goodness
that
I
have despised
and-
abused,
and
it
is
now
changed into divine
fury.
If
I
look
at
the face
of
Jesus,
and
find
there
the
correspond-
ent features of
his
Father,
I
shall
then
hate
to
see
it
for
this very reason, because it bears
his
Father's image,
who
is so
terrible to
my
thoughts.
I
shall
neither
be able to
bear
the
sight
of
God, or
of
his
fairest
copy,
that
is,
Je-
sus
his Son,
because
I
am
so
shamefully unlike
them
both, and
besides,
I
have affronted
their majesty, and
despised
their
mercy.
"
How painful
and
smarting
will be
the reflection
of
my
heart
in
that
day, when
I
shall remember,
that Jesus
called
out
to me
from heaven, by the messengers
of
his
grace and
said,
"
Behold
me,
behold
me,
look unto me
from the ends
of
the earth, and be
saved
;"
Is.
xlv.
22.
But
now he
is
armed
with
a
commission
of
vengeance,
and
he
strikes
terror
and exquisite pain into
my soul
with
every
frown,
so
that I
shall wish to be
for ever
hid from
the
face
of
the Lamb, for the
great
day
of
his
wrath
is
come, and who shall be
able to
endure
this wrath, to
stand
before
his
thunder, or bear
the lightning
of
this
day
?
Alas, how
miserable must
I
be, by
an
everlasting
necessity,
if
I cannot bear the countenance
of
God and
Christ,
which
is
the spring
of
unchangeable happiness
to
all
the saints and the
blessed
angels
?
Oh
may
I
timely
secure
the love
of
my
God, and gain an
interest
in
the
favour and
salvation
of
the
blessed
Jesus
!
Here, Oh
Lord, at thy
foot I
lay down
all
the weapons
of
my
former rebellions
;
I
implore
thy
love through
the
interest
of
thy Son,
the
great Mediator
:
Let
me see
the light
of
thy countenance,
and
the smiles
of
thy
face
:
Let
me
see
a
reconciled God, and
let
him tell
me,
that
my sins
are
all forgiven
;
then shall I
not
be
afraid
to
meet
the
coun-
tenance of
him
that
sits
upon
the
throne, or
the Lamb,
when'Christ
shall 'return from
heaven
to
punish
the
impe-
nitent
rebels against,diviue grace."
Reflection
Iv.
"
IIow
hopeless, as
well as
distressed,
5