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DISCOURSE VI.

THE

VAIN REFUGE OF SINNERS:

OR,

A MEDITATION ON THE ROCKS NEAR TUNBRIDGE-WELLS, 1729.

REV. VI. 15, 16, 17.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, &c. hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the rocks and mountains, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

IN the former discourse on this text, we have taken a survey of these two persons and their characters, God and the Lamb, whose united wrath spreads so terrible a scene through the world at the great judgment-day; we have also inquired, and found sufficient reasons, why the anger and justice of God should be so severe against the sinful sons and' daughters of men, who have wilfully broken his law, and refused the grace of his gospel; and why the indignation of the Son of God should be super-added to all the terrors of his Father's vengeance.

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We are now come to the third and last general head of discourse, and that is to consider, how vain will all the refuges and hopes of sinners be found in that dreadful day, when God and the Lamb shall join to manifest their wrath and indignation against them.'

These hopes, and shifts, and refuges of rebellious and guilty creatures, are represented by a noble image and description in my text: "They shall call to the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them, and to cover them from the face of him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." As this address to mountains and to rocks appears to be but a vain hope in extreme distress, when a feeble and helpless criminal is pursued by a swift and mighty avenger, so vain and fruitless shall all the hopes of sinners be, to escape the just indignation and sentence of their Judge. In order to shew the vanity of all the refuges and shifts to which sinners shall betake themselves in that day, let us spread abroad this sacred description of them in a paraphrase under the following heads.

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1. Let us consider the rocks and mountains, as vast and mighty created beings, of huge figure, and high appearance, whose aid is sought in the last extremity of distress;' and what is this but calling upon creatures to help them against their Creator? What is it but flying to creatures to deliver and save them, when their offended G od resolves to punish? A vain refuge indeed, when God, the Almighty Ma-, ker of all things, and Jesus his Son, by whom all

things were made, shall agree to arise and go forth against them, in their robes of judgment, and with their artillery of vengeance! What created being dares interpose in that hour to shelter or defend a condemned criminal? What high and mighty creature is able to afford the least security or protection?

The princes of the earth, and the captains, the kings, and heroes, and conquerors, with all their millions of armed men, are not able to lift a hand, for the defence of one sinner against the anger of God and the Lamb. They themselves shall quake and shiver at the tremendous sight, and they shall fly into the holes of the rocks like mere cowards, and shall join their outcries with the poor and the slave, entreating the rocks and mountains to befriend them with shelter and safety.

Not the highest mountains, not the hardest or the strongest rocks, not the most exalted or most powerful persons, or things in nature can defend, when the God of nature resolves to destroy: When HE who is higher than the highest, and stronger than the strongest, shall pronounce destruction upon rebels, what creature can speak deliverance? .

The rocks and the mountains obey their Maker, they shiver in pieces at the word of his wrath, and will yield no relief to criminals: But man, rebellious man, disobeys his Maker, and calls to the rocks and mountains to protect him. Vain hope, Oh sinner, to make the most exalted creatures your friends, when God the Creator is your enemy. These inanimate things have never learnt disobedience to their Maker,

and rather than screen a rebel from his deserved judg. ments, they will offer themselves as instruments of divine vengeance.

2. Rocks and mountains in their clifts, and dens, and caverns, are sometimes. considered as places of secresy and concealment.' My text tells us, that 'kings and mighty men, the rich and the free man, as well as the poor and the slave, hid themselves in dens, and in the rocks of the mountains.' They hoped there might be some secret corner, whose thick shadows and darkness were sufficient to hide them, where the Judge might not spy or find them Vain hope for sinners to hide in the holes of the rocks, and the deepest caverns of the mountains, to escape the notice of that God, who is all eye and all ear, and present at once in every place of earth and heaven! Foolish expectation indeed, to avoid the notice of the Son of God, "whose eyes are as a flame of fire," and shoot through the earth and its darkest

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Read the 139th Psalm, Oh sinner, and then think if it be possible to flee from the eye of God, and to hide thyself in the clefts of the rock, where his hand shall not find thee.-He has already beset thee behind and before,' and his hand already compasses thee round about in all thy paths. Darkness itself cannot cover thee; the night shines as the day' before him, and scatters light round about the criminal that would hide himself from the wrath of God. Ask Jeremy the prophet, and he shall tell thee, that "none can hide himself in secret places where God shall not see

him, the God who fills heaven and earth." Jer. xxiii. 4. He shall hunt obstinate sinners from every mountain, and out of the holes of the rocks; for his eyes are upon all their ways, neither their persons, nor their iniquities, can be hid from him.

And, as you can never conceal yourselves from the sight and notice of the Judge, so neither can you turn your eyes away from him: You must behold his face in vengeance, and endure the distressing sight. The rays of his Majesty; in the day of his wrath, shall strike through all the crannies of the darkest den, and pierce the deepest shade. "Lord, when thy hand is lifted up they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed." Isa. xxvi. 10. And the face of the Lamb must be seen in all its unknown terrors. Rev. i. 7. "Behold, he comes in the clouds, and every eye shail see him:" The guilty creature, and the divine Avenger, shall meet eye to eye, though the creature has hid himself under rocks and mountains.

3. These rocks and mountains' are designed to represent, not only concealment and darkness by their holes and caverns, but they are known ‘bulwarks of defence,' and 'places of security and shelter, by reason of their strength and thickness.' When the prophet would express the safety of the man who practises righteousness in a vicious age, Isa. xxxiii. 16. he says, "He shall dwell on high, his place of defence shall be a munition of rocks." These shall be a bulwark round him for his guard and safety. When sinners therefore flee to the mountains, and

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