still be made, unto each of us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption'. The earth, and all therein, as the universal word proclaims, shall be removed, and the nations shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and as the thistle down before the whirlwind 2. In that tremendous hour, for each individual now around me must live to see it for himself, and his eyes shall behold and not another's, where, will be, your refuge? Whither will you flee from the wrath to come? In Christ, and Christ alone, can we be saved. This, you exclaim, we believe; yet, who amongst us, sets his affections on things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God? Who amongst us, flies in earnest repentance towards God, and in faith toward the Lord Jesus, to the sheltering mercies of that Almighty Redeemer, who will in NO WISE cast out him that cometh unto Him1. Who, amongst us, proves by his steady and undeviating daily labour in the Lord's 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 Isaiah xvii. 13. 4 John vi. 37. vineyard that he knows he cannot serve two masters? Why, do we put all such reflections from our minds, and judge ourselves unworthy of everlasting life'? Our day of trial, is not yet closed, let us then wisely exert all our powers to lay hold of the blessed hope that is set before us, and we shall reap, if we faint not, and are not weary in well-doing. Let us watch and pray always; resting, in singleness of heart and hope, upon the blood and merits of our Redeemer. Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp, bearing his reproach, for HERE we have NO continuing city, but WE SEEK ONE TO COME 2. Let us approve things that are excellent; that we may be sincere, and without offence, till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Yet, not so will it be with many; they will not hear all these warnings; they will not labour to enter into this rest; they will not watch, Acts xiii. 46. Philippians i. 10. 2 Heb. xiii. 13, 14. day of which As it was in they will not pray, they will not consider their latter end. Behold, the Son of God hath foretold us how it shall be, with an unbelieving world, in the Isaiah speaks unto us all. the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed'. 1 Luke xvii. 26-30. NOTES. SERMON II. VI. The Apocrypha, &c. p. 51. The History of the Maccabees, is allowed, on all sides, to be authentic; and the accounts, which it renders of the Jews freely sacrificing their lives, rather than sin against, God's Covenant of Everlasting Life, (for such it was then considered,) under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, is too marked, and too diffuse, to permit denial. Nearly two centuries before Christ, then, Eternal Life was evidently revealed: but so, also, of course, was Eternal Death. The book of Jesus, the Son of Sirach, is supposed to have been written during the High Priesthood of Onias II., or, about two hundred and fifty years before Christ;-and that of Judith is considered to be still more ancient. But, the reader's attention, should be directed, to the verses given from these books, representing the vengeance of the ungodly, in a future state, under the imagery of fire and worms. The Greek copy of Ecclesiasticus runs thus, C. viii. v. 19 : Ταπεινῶσον σφόδρα τὴν ψυχήν σου Μνήσθητι ὅτι ὀργὴ οὐ χρονιεῖ. "Ότι ἐκδίκησις ἀσεβῶν, πῦρ, καὶ σκώληξ. That of Judith xvi. 20. ; Κύριος Παντοκράτωρ ἐκδικήσει αὐτοὺς, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως, δοῦναι πῦρ καὶ σκώληκας εἰς σάρκας αὐτῶν, καὶ κλαύσονται ἐν αἰσθήσει ἕως αἰῶνος. Now there is an exact, and unquestionable coincidence, in this description, not only with our Saviour's threatenings in the ninth chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, but also, with Isaiah lvi. 24: and, there can be no doubt, that the writers of these Books of Judith and Ecclesiasticus, must have taken their information, with regard to the punishment of a Future State, from the Prophet. |