SERMON XX.

THE DREADFUL SOUND.

JOB XV. 21.

man.

A dreadful sound is in his ears.

ELIPHAZ describes to Job the miserable condition of a wicked He demands Job's particular attention to what he was going to say; for he assures him, it was founded in his own personal knowledge, and in the observation of wise men, and in the instructions of the fathers who had in their day seen the same and told it to their children. "I will shew thee; hear me, and that which I have seen will I declare; which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it; to whom alone the earth was given, and no strangers passed among them. The wicked man travelleth with pain all his days, and the number of his years is hidden, or secretly exposed to the oppressor. A dreadful sound is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. He believeth not, that he shall return out of darkness-he is waited for of the sword. Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid. For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the almighty."

These and several circumstances of terror and wretchedness Eliphaz enumerates, as attending the condition of a wicked and

ungodly man-one who stretches out his hand against God, and by a wicked life contemns his supreme authority. All wilful disobedience, all determined iniquity is stretching the hand against God. It is treating him with insolence and defiance.

But that circumstance of his misery, to which we shall now particularly attend, is the dreadful sound that is in his ears. In the margin it is rendered, a sound of fears in his ears. A sound which awakens painful and terrifying apprehensions-a sound that disturbs his rest, and destroys his peace and embitters his enjoy

ments.

We will consider what this sound is-how the wicked man usually treats it--and what is the use which he ought to make of it. I. We will consider, first, what is that fearful sound, which is often in the ears of the wicked man.

1. The first sound, which Eliphaz mentions as dreadful to a wicked man, is the sound of worldly adversity.

In the day of prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. The day of darkness is ready at hand. Trouble and anguish make him afraid.

The wicked man's heart is wholly in the world. His hope and happiness-his enjoyments and prospects are here. He knows nothing-seeks nothing, and looks for nothing beyond. Deprive him of his earthly treasures and expectations, you take away his gods; and what has he more? Go to him in the day of his prosperity, and tell him of the vanity and mutability of the world, the uncertainty of every thing he possesses-how soon the frowns of Providence, or the injustice of men-his own incaution, or the pride and profligacy of his sons, may reduce him to a condition the reverse of the present; he will hear you with a cold, reluctant assent; but he does not at all like your subject. The sound is unpleasant. If you would speak in flattering terms of his worldly wisdom, successes and prospects, you would please him much better. But does he not believe the mutability of the world? Yes; and for that reason he hates to hear of it; and hates to think about it; and when adversity comes, it always finds him unprepared to meet it.

The temper of the good man is the reverse.

His heart is fix

ed, trusting in the Lord; and he is not afraid of evil tidings. He has in heaven an enduring substance, and he can spare his earthly goods. He knows that Divine wisdom orders his condition, and he acquiesces in its allotments. He feels a consciousness of his love to God, and rests secure in the promise, that all things shall work together for his good.

The world brings the wicked

as his heart is more set upon it.

man more trouble in proportion

And what is an additional unhappiness, he can draw no comfort from religion. For,

2. To him the law is a dreadful sound. I do not mean human law; though indeed this may sound terribly to a man, who by atrocious crimes has exposed himself to its penalties.

This however will give him no disquietude, as long as he thinks his crimes are concealed from the eyes of men. And if iniquity is so framed by law, that under its protection he can acquire property by trampling on the rights of other men, it gives a pleasant sound to his ears.

But it is the Divine law of which I now speak-that law which was delivered in thunder from Sinai. From this he hears a dreadful sound-more dreadful than the thunder of the mount. "Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." The law of God is perfect. It is exceeding broad. It forbids all sin both of action and neglectboth open and secret.

And God who has given the law knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart, as well as the outward acts of the life. He remembers sins that are past, as well as sees those which are present. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves. This law denounces a curse against every transgressor. Every wicked man, who is, in the least, acquainted with himself, must see that he falls under its dreadful sentence. This sentence he hates to hear. It is to him a dreadful sound-and the more dreadful because it is just. It comes from the mouth of God. It is uttered by his voice. Conscience is awakened by its terror, and repeats the sound. If

the man would speak out his inward conviction, his own mouth would condemn him, and his lips would testify against him.

3. To the wicked man death is a dreadful sound. Death has a painful sting.

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. There are those, who through fear of death, are all their life-time subject to bondage. Death is called the king of terrors. It is a terror to nature, and eminently so to the corrupt nature of the wicked man. It strips him of all the possessions for which he has labored. It separates him from every thing, on which his heart is placed. It puts an end to all the enjoyments with which he is acquainted. It breaks all the purposes, which he has been pursuing. It lays his body in the dust, there to lie unregarded and forgotten. It sends his immortal spirit into unknown regions, there to exist in a new manner, and to mingle with beings with whom he has never been conversant-but beings too much like himself to afford him any satisfaction.

Such harsh sounds as these grate upon his ear, if death ever is the subject of his meditation—and, alas! poor man, he has nothing in hand, or in hope, which can give a new, a soft, or a pleasing tone to these ungrateful sounds. He has laid up no treasures in another world to compensate his losses in this. He has formed no friendships there to come in the place of those, which must cease forever here. Nothing remains for him, but a fearful expectation of a state once so dreadful to him, that he would not even indulge the thought of it. Death must be a fearful sound to the man who has every thing to lose, and nothing to gain by it. 4. Judgment is a dreadful sound in the ears of the wicked man. As God has appointed to men once to die, so after this the judgment. Hence the principal terror of death. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive according to the things done in the body. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, says the apostle, we persuade men.

Death is a solemn change. Judgment is more solemn. This will determine every man's condition for eternity. God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing-not only the outward actions, but the imaginations of the heart. These are

all written before him, and the book of remembrance will be opened; and the dead will be judged out of the things written in it, according to their works. They who have sinned and have not repented will be sentenced to everlasting punishment—to that punishment which was prepared for the devil and his angels. This punishment, to give us some impression of its horrors, is metaphorically called a lake of fire, burning with brimstone, where the worm, the miserable sinner, dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

To the wicked man, if at any time he will hear and attend, this must be a dreadful sound. God's word condemns him-his own heart condemns him-God is greater than his heart and knoweth all things-death is near-judgment will follow. Well may he tremble at the dismal prospect before him. Will he be able to contend with God, and stretch out his hand against the Almighty? Can he harden himself and prosper? Can his heart endure, or his hands be strong in the day when God shall deal with him according to his deserts, and judge him for all his sins?-Sinners in Zion are afraid-fearfulness surprizeth the hypocrites-who can dwell with devouring fire-who can dwell with everlasting burnings?

5. Hell is a dreadful sound; but a sound, which, if we attend, we shall often hear from the scripture.

Though we should turn away, or even stop our ears, yet the sound is there. If we will exclude it from our ears, yet we cannot suppress it in the book of God. Though the king of Judah burnt the prophet's roll, because it contained threatenings against him and his people; yet he did not defeat the threatenings denounced. These still remained, when the book was burnt. And another book was written, which contained the same threatenings; and there were added besides many like words.

If God is a moral governor, he has a right to punish sinners. That he will punish those who die impenitent in their sins, he has expressly declared in his word. This punishment is described in terms of awful import. But awful as it is, none have any cause to be afraid, but the wicked and impenitent. All but such will be delivered from the wrath to come. But for such there is no