DISCOURSE XTI 207 ?pronounces every one a fool that makes a mock at sin, or trifles with so formidable a mischief; Prov. xiv. 9. " How vain are the gay fancies of sinful men in the hour of temptation, and how shocking and dreadful will be their dis- appointment ? They think the descriptions of sin which are blown up and kindled into such terror by the lips of the preacher ,are but as mock -fire which never burns ; but the great day of ;vengeance which makes haste toward them, will terribly and eternally convince them of the fatal mischief of it by the various plagues that shall seize upon them. The living worm shall gnaw their consciences, and the fire of God will torment their spirits, and spread a raging anguish through their whole natures ; and every twinging accent of their pain shall teach then, but with a .`terrible and hopeless conviction, what unspeakable evil is con- tained ip sin. They will then find what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, who has a right, and power, and will to punish ; Heb. x. 31. " O that each of us might arrive at this holy wisdom, to learn the dreadful evil of sin from this bible, this book of the divine law and grace, and not provoke the blessed God to teach us so necessary a lesson by the rod of his vengeance ! O that we could look upon every unlawful action, and particularly every sin against conscience, as the seed of that worin which will gnaw Our souls in hell with intense pain, as part of that fuel which is kindling into a flame to torment Mir consciences for ever, and that under the powerful influences of these representations of sin we might fly to the utmost distance from it with horror, and hake our safe escape." II. If the punishments of hell, appointed by the blessed God, carry so much terror in them, " how much mistaken are the sin- ful children of men in the ideas which they form of the great and blessed God ?" This representation of the vengeance of the Lord in hell may be of use to refute such mistaken opinions. Some have framed a God for themselves not such as dwells in the heavens, not such as he has described himself in his word,` but their vain'imagination has raised up an idol made of mere goodness and mercy, without holiness and justice : It is their Own self-love which''forms this idle and foolish image of theGod that made them, because they do not like to think of falling tinder the terror of his power. They venture to affront him to his face, they dare him to vengeance; and as the writer of the book of Job expresses it, they stretch out their hands against God, they strengthen themselves against the 41mighty, they run upon 'him with insolence, and venture upon the thick bosses of his buckler'; Job xv. 25, 26. There are multitudes in our day that are arrived at such a dreadful height of impiety, as to call upon him for the damnation of themselves, as well as of their Nor
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