shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever*. Everlasting joy shall indeed be upon the righteous, but there is NO PEACE, saith my God, to the wicked↑. Twice is this sentence solemnly repeated; whilst they are elsewhere warned, Your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. For Tophet is ordained of old, yea for the king it is prepared. He hath made it deep and large, the pile thereof is fire, and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. Well might such general and tremendous threatenings appal the hearts of the rebellious; nor was it otherwise:-The sinners in Zion, saith Isaiah, ARE afraid; fearfulness hath surprized the hypocrites: Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting ¶ burnings? Behold my ser vants shall sing for joy of heart, but YE shall cry for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit, and YE shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen tt. They, my redeemed, shall be glad and rejoice IN the new heavens and new earth which * Ch. xxxiv. 1 to 10. + Ch. lvii. 21, and xlviii. 22. Ch. xxviii. 18. § A fiery pyre, and abundance of fuel.-Bp. Lowth's trans. || Ch. xxx. 33. The Chaldaic paraphrase, "The gehenna of everlasting fire." ** Ch. xxxiii. 14. †† lxv. 14, 15. #2 Peter iii. 13, "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."-This promise is to be taken then literally, and not figuratively. See also the Revelations. I will make. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. Figurative as some of these expressions may be, and applied to temporal as well as æternal meanings, is not there here enough to persuade all but the most hardened in unbelief? Precisely in the same manner does our Saviour mingle temporal and æternal threatenings in foretelling the fall of Jerusalem, and his own advent to judgment. Precisely in the same manner does St. Peter bid us, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Precisely in the same manner does St. John describe the passing away of the heavens and earth that now are, the new creation, the heavenly city, and the blessedness of the faithful who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. it observed, also, that scarcely one of the innumerable allusions to the Redeemer scattered throughout all these Scriptures has been brought forward. How then, you will urge, was it possible that the Jews should have so pertinaciously adhered to their opinions of a temporal Messiah, and of mere earthly deliverance? Look around you, and gather your answer from self-evident facts; from your own every day's experience of the world, and of man's fallen and corrupted nature. * Ch. lxvi. 24: Be With far greater light is the case now widely altered? One general sentiment pervades, as it ever has pervaded, mankind; a determination to follow their own will in decided preference to that of their great Creator. What blessings are we chiefly looking for; what motives now actuate our exertions; to what end are we now mainly labouring; what liberty do we most earnestly desire; what deliverance are all the energies of our souls bent upon securing? Are they not all perishing, temporal, and earthly, to the almost entire exclusion of the one thing needful? What are nations, what are individuals in the christian world, for the duty of man, whether nationally or individually, must and shall be, at his æternal peril, guided by the self-same rule and principle, what are they, most strenuously, occupied in? The heart of man is the same throughout all the gradations of society,—where then are their hearts, for there are their treasures also? No earthly duty should, it is true, be neglected or despised. Whether we have one or ten talents we must occupy therewith till the Lord come. No station should be deserted, nor should we shrink from the exercise of enlarged powers to perform the will of our Maker. Let every man wherein he is called, (and he may be called from the sheepfold to the throne,) therein abide; but let him abide WITH GOD-that is, let his motive be in all his actions to do His will. The blessing of Providence is still most undeniably bestowed upon the mind and hand of labour, and the servant who H is diligent will be advanced in his master's service, whether at our own peril we seek chiefly, a perishing, or, an imperishable reward. No station, no circumstance, no diligence, need preclude the one right motive; or our fixing our main hope upon the one right end, even on the promises of our God; and nations as well as individuals ARE subject to the fiat of the Almighty; their policy, and the conduct of the meanest individual, are to be equally guided on the principle of love to God and man. Whatever the station of man may be, be he king or peasant, he MUST direct his daily labour by ONE ONLY principle, the love of God; and to the end of seeking a country wherein alone, his Creator hath promised to bless him, with æternal life, with an imperishable inheritance, and with everlasting bliss. Look around you, and say, are our hearts elevated to these pursuits; do we labour here on earth to this end? No; temporal good sways us; fame, or power, or wealth, or some other perishing IDOL, is our motive and our end! To these the Redeemer, and His will, are postponed, and earth, however we may deny the fact, still prevails and triumphs over heaven, to our own æternal destruction! Let us not condemn the Israelites, for in so doing we condemn ourselves; let us only be wise enough to take example from their fate. He, whom they rejected, because he brought not temporal deliverance and earthly glories, because he taught His followers to look far beyond all these things for their happiness, may still be made, unto each of us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. The earth, and all therein, 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. 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 Him? Who, amongst us, proves by his steady and undeviating daily labour in the Lord's 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, my brethren, 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 Re |