into his immediate presence. Shall we, then, deny the righteousness of God, or the omnipotence of his Christ? Will we indulge the heart in its unbelief, or the eye with its vanities, or the mouth in its foolish or hard speeches? No. The universe contains no object so interesting by its terrors or its allurements as to avert the steadfast gaze from that eye of flame, which is the index of the mind of God towards us, from those lips which are about to seal our everlasting misery,-from that fire which is issuing from the throne of the eternal, to enwrap the earth and the material heavens in one dread conflagration.

II. There, if we die in our sins, we must, like Adam, acknowledge our guilt.

The eye of him, before whom we must stand, will be as a flame of fire; the light of that flame will pervade our whole man, will exhibit the most secret deformities of our nature and character, to the astonishment and loathing of neighbours and friends and of ourselves. The veil of hypocrisy will be torn asunder, the vapoury delusions of selflove will flee before the stream of light, the deeds of retirement and darkness will be set forth in the glare of noonday, the thoughts of folly, and even the words of idleness scattered over the tide of time and to all the winds of heaven, will be collected, and the overwhelming catalogue recited in the hearing of an assembled universe.

Denial would be vain, confession will be no virtue, and yet is indispensable. What now we conceal from the friends of our bosom, what our tongues have not dared to pronounce, what we blushed or shuddered to think of, even in the thickest shades of night, that must we openly acknowledge, and out of our own mouths shall we be condemned,—if we die in our sins.

III. Like Adam, if we live and die in sin, we shall make this confession, with all the horror of criminals, in the view of immediate and eternal death.

In vain have we persuaded ourselves that the mercy of God might be relied on, even when we departed from the paths in which mercy is promised ; for now we perceive that God will not suffer the sinner to go unpunished, and his own majesty unvindicated. In vain have we' persuaded ourselves that the terrors of the Lord consist in threats of awful sound, but of little real danger; in figures of formidable aspect, but of little real significance; for now God is seen to be a consuming fire to his adversaries, a fire which shall never be quenched. Then, "the sinners in Zion shall be afraid; fearfulness shall surprise the hypocrites: for who among us shall dwell with devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" Is. xxxiii. 14.

IV. As in Adam, so in us too, shall guilt extin

guish benevolent affection, and convert us into bitter accusers of our dearest friends, if we live and die in our sins.

If our first father, endowed with original righteousness, whose conscience was not seared by the habit of sinning, who was in the body, and possessing a capacity of being restored to the exercise of the benevolent affections; if he accused his beloved Eve and his Maker, of what will not we, born, living, dying, and sealed in sin, be capable in the paroxysm of inflamed terrified self-love?

In a state of reigning sin, self-love is predominant. Howsoever a mild or indolent temper, the restraints of civil society, or the strength of merely human affection or of imagined piety, may control its movements; in that state self-love is supreme, and secretly genders envy, and malice, and revenge. This doctrine, against which ignorance and self-love vociferously exclaim, is verified by him who keepeth his heart with diligence, and is confessed by an inspired writer of high moral reputation, Titus iii. 3: "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another." Thus it is, in reality, with every man retaining the image of the first Adam, however suppressed, and concealed, and varnished over his self-love may be; and no sooner are the external and accidental restraints removed, no sooner is the mind racked with the apprehension of personal

punishment, than the airy semblance of piety and friendship, yea, than natural affection itself, dissolves, and self-love endeavours to vindicate or to revenge itself at the expense of whomsoever.

In the last day, we shall accuse God of being a hard master, Matth. xxv. 24, and Christ of the want of veracity, v. 44; and what wonder that we should accuse our dearest relatives and friends? Of what crimes stand foremost in our arraignment, and to the commission of which our best beloved among the children of men led the way, by their invitation, their example, their negligence, of these shall we accuse them, and God who gave them. Of these the neighbour will accuse his now courteous and obliging neighbour; the servant, the master who heaped temporal favours upon him; the hearer, the minister who won affection by his humanity, but lost souls by his unfaithful distribution of the word of life, or by an example conformed to the world; the friend, his friend whose heart was his own; the child, the parent who reared him with tenderness, and plentifully provided for his earthly comfort; and of these sins will the consort accuse his consort, whom he cherished as his own flesh, for whose worldly benefit he hath smiled at toil, and braved death. Of these affections nothing remains save the exasperating recollection of what a snare they formed to inveigle and entangle the soul in sin, and involve in ruin inevitable. The countenances which now beam benignity on us will then become hideous with

rage, and distorted with revenge against us,-the lips on which we now hang with delight, will then pour forth execrations on our devoted head. Thus will our dearest, most exquisite enjoyments, if not used for the purposes for which they were bestowed, if employed to oppose the purpose of grace, be converted, most justly, most awfully, into empoisoned, inexhaustible sources of torment. Aware of this, aware of the excruciating augmentation of his tortures by the arrival in the abode of wretchedness of his younger brethren, seduced or confirmed by his example in wickedness, Dives earnestly requests Abraham to send some one from the dead, to prevent their sharing and increasing his misery now, as they had done his luxury, hard-heartedness, and impiety on earth.

Of what comparative importance is it that we now live harmoniously in our neighbourhood, in our families, or in our congregational relations; if all these affections are tainted by our common sins, are to be converted into mutual hatred and revenge, mutual accusations and curses,-are to become ingredients in the cup of gall, the cup of trembling, the inexhaustible cup of wrath? Of what comparative importance is it that we now bear the name, enjoy the outward privileges, and perform many of the outward duties of the children of God; if we still bear on our souls the image of Adam in sin, and if with him we must, in this

16