Maker face to face, and stand in the immediate

presence of

those flaming eyes which shall pierce the soul like a twoedged sword? If they hated him when they scarcely had even a faint idea of his holiness, how much more shall they do so when this idea shall be brightened by the awful refulgence of eternity?

Nor is this all.

Were hatred confined to the breast of man alone, the effect would be less dreadful. But sin is the "abominable thing" which the Lord hateth, and "the great day of his wrath is come." He will no longer make unto the sinner manifestations of love, but of hatred; and his wrath shall wax hotter and hotter. For, as God is infinitely holy, he supremely loves virtue in all his creatures, and supremely hates vice. Even now "God is angry with the wicked every day;" but when the dispensation of mercy shall have ended, he will more signally than ever display his hatred to sin.

Look then for a moment on the picture thus presented. Here is the eternal and holy God gazing on the sinner with supreme and unchangeable hatred to sin; laying aside all the bowels of his love, and clothing himself in the fierceness of his anger. There is the 'weak, defenceless sinner, writhing under the searching glance of infinite holiness, and driven to anguish by a hatred to that holiness; a hatred which can never be gratified, but which must for ever prey upon himself, and for ever increase in intensity. This earth can never disclose to us one such scene, but the great day shall disclose many. Time shall not witness such terrific visions, but eternity shall gaze upon them. Judge ye, my hearers, if it be not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

II. God is infinitely just. The idea of infinite justice is necessarily included in that of infinite holiness. Still it is proper to dwell upon it at length, that we may more fully comprehend the meaning of our text. And especially

is it proper to do so, since in these days God is exhibited to us chiefly in his mildest attributes of love and mercy. These should indeed lead us to repentance; but it is much to be feared that upon many they produce no such effect, but tend rather to carelessness and sluggishness, which portend wrath to come. They do not even excite feelings of reverence and love, but seal the slumbers of many a conscience which must awake to repentance in time, or to misery in eternity. Jehovah has other attributes which are calculated to excite us to activity and diligence. Such is his infinite justice; an attribute which he expressly appropriates to himself in his written word. In that account of his character which he condescended to give to his servant Moses, he emphatically calls himself one "that will by no means clear the guilty."

God's justice is not fully revealed in his dealings with man in this world, and the reason is evident; this is a state of probation, not of rewards and punishments; a dispensation of mercy, not of retributive justice. But this does not lessen the proof of his infinite justice, but rather strengthens it. There have, however, been instances, even in this dispensation of mercy, of human beings who have filled up the measure of their iniquities. The arm of justice has not only been uplifted, but has actually fallen upon the transgressor. The Most Mighty has girded his sword upon his thigh. Look into the bowels of the earth, and behold the proof of that mighty deluge which inundated it, and swept off its inhabitants! Go seek for Sodom and the cities of the plain! Inquire after the Jews, their temple, their city, and their nation. All, all have fallen by the stroke of justice. From what the human race has already witnessed, and from what God expressly declares himself to be, we may gain some idea of that infinite justice which he will exhibit at the final judgment.

The character of the sinner is precisely the reverse of the character of God; and hence the fearfulness of falling into his hands. The sinner has manifested his injustice in his dealings with his God, and with his fellow. men. Notwithstanding all the morality of which men boast, no unconverted man loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind; and his neighbour as himself. We have all actually robbed God of the gratitude, the obedience, and the love, which he rightfully demands; and if we have not robbed our neighbour of his property, his character, and his reputation, we have robbed him of the affection which God commands us to give him; and if these sins are unrepented of and unforgiven, they will lie at our door for ever.

Such, then, is the character of every sinner, and such the character of the God with whom he has to do. O! then, what will be his feelings when, with all his sins upon him, he shall stand before the Judge of quick and dead! What convulsive shuddering shall seize him as he reads in living characters, "Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne!" What anguish will rend his soul as memory shall recall the sins of a whole life, and set them before him in all the vividness of present reality! Or could memory fail in discharging her duty, a prompter, an awful prompter is at hand; for there lies the book of God's remembrance, and on its imperishable leaves are recorded the deeds he has done in the body; and for every idle word which he has spoken he must give an account. O! how shall every susceptibility of his soul be increased when, in the blazing light of eternity, he shall see, more clearly than he ever before had done, the true nature of right and wrong, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the paltry price for which he sold his soul, and the infinite majesty of the righteous God whom he has offended. How shall he tremble when the sentence of

justice shall be pronounced; a sentence which must be comprehensive enough to embrace a punishment for every sin, and severe enough to vindicate the claims of a holy law, and the dignity of an impartial lawgiver; a sentence which, however comprehensive and severe it may be, the sinner will feel does not, cannot exceed the demerit of his crimes! And what excuse has he to offer? None. What plea of extenuation can he make? None. His mouth is stopped, and he is guilty before God; for " God is justified when he speaketh, and clear when he judgeth."

And what are the feelings of the Judge as he beholds the sinner at his bar? He gave him a holy law, but this the sinner would not obey. He offered him pardon through the blood of atonement, on condition of repentance and faith, but this he would not accept. He wooed him with pity and love, but he turned away with contempt. He placed beacon-lights along his path to warn him of his danger, but these he would not regard. The sinner was bent on death. Can God then look upon him with complacency, with compassion, with love? O no! his justice forbids it, and he swears in his wrath, he shall not enter into his rest. "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." part from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." "It is a fearful thing to

fall into the hands of the living God."

"De

III. God is infinitely powerful. Were he only a holy and just being, but incapable of manifesting his hatred to sin, and of executing the demands of justice, the sinner's condition would be far more tolerable. He is, however, not only the Judge, but the executioner, clothed with the armour of omnipotence. "If I whet my glittering sword,

and mine hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me;" "neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God." It is manifest in the formation of our world, and in the formation of the wide universe. "He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." Who, but an omnipotent God, could call into existence world after world, and fill them with an endless variety of animate and inanimate objects ? Who, but an omnipotent God, could sustain these worlds in existence with all their countless inhabitants, could place them in their separate orbits, and appoint unto them their bounds, and the times of their revolutions? Who, but an omnipotent God, can destroy what omnipotence hath created? Look where you will, into the vast and the minute, both in the material and immaterial world, and you cannot but see the agency of omnipotence. "Lo, these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?"

How much more gloriously and fearfully shall this omnipotence be displayed when "the shadows of time. shall have flitted away, and the light of eternity shall break in upon our open vision!" How much of his omnipotence he will then exert we do not know; but this we know, that his power will awake the sleeper, whether in the bosom of earth, or in the unfathomed caves of ocean. It will animate the lifeless clay, and join bone to bone, limb to limb, and soul to body, and bid the man arise, and come to judgment. The sinner may have turned a deaf ear to the voice of an entreating Saviour, but he cannot turn a deaf ear to that Saviour when he appears as Judge. He may have slighted the invitations of mercy, but he cannot slight the summons of the judgment-trumpet.