The Justice of Future Punishment. SERMON XX. JER. xiii. 21. What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? THAT the conduct of impenitent sinners is inexcusable, and their ruin inevitable, will appear from the question now proposed. Oh thou rebellious and hardened sinner, who art daily provoking God by thy sins! Dost thou hope for impunity? No, thou canst not, without flying in the face of all the threatenings of the divine word. God will assuredly punish thee, and pass sentence upon thee! And what wilt thou say in arrest of judgment? What plea wilt thou offer why the sentence should not be executed? Every mouth will be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.-But before we proceed directly to the subject, we shall I. Offer three general remarks. 1. That all afflictions to the wicked have the nature of punishment: they are not salutary, but vindictive. Mercy is mingled with the bitterest cup that is put into the hands of the godly; but it is not so with sinners. What is chastisement to the one, is punishment to the other. To the one, God is a com passionate Father, and his severest discipline is the fruit of love to the other, he is an inexorable Judge, and all his dealings are full of wrath. Grace turns the serpent into a rod; but sin turns the rod into a serpent. The former turns poison into a remedy; but the latter turns the remedy into poison. In the evils which God brings upon his people, he seeks their benefit: but in those which attend the ungodly, there is nothing but the curse. As his eye doth not pity, so neither shall his hand spare them; and when he begins, he will make a full end. 2. Punishment is the natural and necessary consequence of sin. Wherever the one is committed, the other must be endured, either by the party himself, or by means of a substitute. Had not Christ therefore been made a sacrifice for us, we must all have been made a sacrifice to eternal justice. The avenger of blood will pursue, will overtake and destroy the man-slayer, unless he gets to the city of refuge. Oh the dreadful evil of sin! It has the utmost malignity in its nature, and will be ruinous in its consequences. It is the Achan in the camp, the nail driven through the temples; a consuming fire, an overwhelming flood! It may be sweet in the mouth, but will be turned into the poison of asps. If we drink of the cup of abominations, God will give us the cup of trembling. For in the hand of the Lord 'there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. Psal. lxxv. 8. S. Whoever are the immediate instruments of inflicting punitive evils, God is the author of them. Is there evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? What we impute to natural and accidental causes, really proceeds from God as the disposer of all events. He is the fountain of justice as well as of mercy. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Better were it to have the whole creation against us, than to have God for our enemy. The sufferings which Christ endured from the hands of his Father were the severest of all his sufferings: these it was which extorted the bloody sweat in the garden, and the bitter cries upon the cross. It is the wrath of God that will make the future punishment of the wicked intolerable: it shall come into their bowels like water, and like oil into their bones— Tophet is ordained of old: 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-The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar he shall prevail against his enemies. Such are the ideas which the scriptures give us of the wrath of the Almighty, and the punishment which awaits the finally impenitent. Rom. xii. 19. Heb. x. 31. Psal. cix. 18. Isai. xxx. 33. xlii. 13. II. Let us now, more particularly, consider the solemn enquiry in our text-What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? 1. Wilt thou charge God with injustice, or say that the punishment is undeserved? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? Some indeed presume to think so, and others dare to say so: but the idea is to be rejected with abhorrence. God forbid! For then how shall God judge the world? To admit such a thought betrays the greatest insolence and pride, as well as an entire ignorance of all the principles of truth and righteousness. Those who are the nearest to the divine throne, and behold most of the divine. proceedings, are continually employed in proclaiming their purity and equity. Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty: just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, oh Lord, and glorify thy name?—And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty: true and righteous are thy judgments.-Sinners on earth are always punished less, and in hell, never more than their iniquities deserve. Cain might think his punishment too great, but could not say it was unmerited; and though he could not bear it, yet he knew that he deserved it. Accuse thyself then, oh sinner; but do not accuse God. Consult the records of scripture, and the testimony of thine own conscience, and they will tell thee that thine own wickedness and thine own doings have procured these things unto thee; yea, they will oblige thee to acknowledge that as the worst on the other side the grave is but justice, so the worst on this side of it is mercy. Rom. iii. 5, 6. Rev. xv. 3. xvi. 7. 2. Wilt thou say that God is severe; and that though punishment be deserved, yet it is too great for the offence? There are some indeed who venture to exclaim against eternal punishment, as if it were irreconcilable with the goodness of God, and above the demerit of sin. But are they proper judges? Have they properly considered the nature of sin; that being contrary to the greatest possible good, it inust itself be the greatest possible evil; and that even amongst men, the degree of an offence rises in proportion to the dignity of the person against whom it is committed? Have they ever thought, that though the act of sin is temporary, yet that the principle itself is not so? Could the life of a sinner be perpetuated in this world, he would sin perpetually. Do they not know also that the future misery of the sinner will make no alteration in the temper of his mind; but that he will remain for ever desperate, and for ever obdurate? Know then, oh sinner, that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation and anguish upon those who bid defiance to his laws, and trample upon the riches of his grace. 2 Thess. i. 6-10. 3. Wilt thou say that thou wast taken by surprise, without being warned; and that, therefore, judgments came unlooked for? The very heathens cannot say this; for as the creatures instruct them, so conscience warns them. Being destitute of the written law, they are a law to themselves; and according to their different conduct their thoughts accuse, or else excuse one another. Certainly then this plea will not avail for those who sit under the sound of the gospel, and enjoy the clearer light of God's holy word. The forbearance and long-suffering of God towards sinners is truly astonishing. He was longer in destroying Jericho than in creating a world. The sword is lifted up in the hand of justice, which says, as the king of Israel to the prophet, “Shall I smite? Shall I smite?" But mercy stays the stroke, The gathering clouds give previous notice of the overwhelming storm; and various means are used to rouse and awaken us, before the decree goes forth to kill and destroy. Never did one man bear with another as God bears with us all. With much long-suffering he endures the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; and he will be justified when he speaketh, and clear when he judgeth. Oh sinner, did not God plead and expostulate with thee; did he not tell thee what would be the fruit of thy doings? Did he not hew thee by his prophets, and slay thee by the words of his mouth? How often did he say, Oh do not that abominable thing which I hate! Did he not send his ministers, one after another, rising up early and sending them? Did he not stand at the door and knock? Hadst thou not at times a fearful expectation of that wrath and indignation which is ready to overwhelm thee? I appeal to thine own conscience, whether it did not often reprove thee for thy sinful ways, telling |