upon them there. There they will have no opportunity to consume the fruits of divine goodness on their lusts. In hell they can prejudice or encumber nothing, upon which God sets any value. There the faithful servants and ministers of God will no longer spend their strength in vain upon them. When the barren tree is in the fire, the servants of the husbandman are freed from any further labor or toil in digging about it, and manuring it. In hell they will no more have opportunity to clog and discourage the flourishing of religion, and to destroy much good, as they often do in this world. In hell they will no more have opportunity to corrupt others by their ill example. In hell they will no more have it in their power to offend the godly; they may hurt and torment one another; but the godly will be out of their reach. In hell there will be no ordinances, no Sabbaths, no sacraments, no sacred things, for them to profane and defile by their careless and hypocritical attendance. Hell, therefore, if you remain unfruitful and cumberers of the ground, will be the fittest place for you, and there you will surely have your portion assigned you. There God will get himself honor upon you; there he will magnify himself in your ruin, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the preence of the Lamb; and will be praised upon that account by the saints, at the day of judgment; and by all the host of heaven throughout everlasting ages. SERMON XXII.* The Fearfulness, which will hereafter surprise Sinners in Zion, represented and improved. ISAIAH xxxiii. 14. WHO AMONG US SHALL THE SINNERS IN ZION ARE AFRAID; FEARFULNESS HATH "He that walketh The other kind It is to be observ THERE are two kinds of persons among God's professing people; the one is those who are truly godly, who are spoken of in the verse following the text; righteously and speaketh uprightly," &c. consists of sinners in Zion, or hypocrites. ed, that the prophet in this chapter speaks interchangeably, first to the one, and then to the other of these characters of men; awfully threatening and denouncing the wrath of God against the one, and comforting the other with gracious promises. Thus you may observe, in the 5th and 6th verses, there are comfortable promises to the godly; then in the eight following verses, awful judgments are threatened against the sinners in Zion. Again, in the two next verses are blessed promises to the sincerely godly, and in the former part of verse 17. And then in the latter part of verse 17, and in verses 18, and 19, are terrible threatenings to sinners in Zion: Then in the verses that follow are gracious promises to the godly. Our text is part of what is said in this chapter to sinners in Zion. In verse 10, it is said, "Now will I rise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself.", i. e. Now will I arise to execute wrath upon the ungodly; I will not let them alone any longer. They shall see that I am not asleep, and that I am not regardless of mine own honor. "Now will I be exalted." Though they have cast contempt upon me, yet I will vindicate the honor of my own majesty: I will exalt myself, and show my greatness, and my awful majesty in their destruction. Now will I lift up myself;" now I will no longer have mine honor to be trampled in the dust by. them: But my glory shall be manifested in their misery. In verse 11, the prophet proceeds, "Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble:" i. e. Ye shall pursue happiness in ways of wickedness, but you shall not obtain it ;. you are as ground which brings forth no fruit, as if only chaff were sowed in it; it brings forth nothing but stubble, which. is fit for nothing but to be burned. . It seems to have been the manner in that land where the corn grew very rank, when they had reaped the wheat, and gathered it off from the ground, to set fire to the stubble; which is alluded to here; and therefore it is added, "Your breath, as fire, shall devour you :" i, e. Your own wicked. speeches, your wickedness that you commit with your breath, or with your tongues, shall set fire to the stubble and devour it. 4 Then it follows in verse 12, "And the people shall be as the burnings of lime." As they are wont to burn lime in a great and exceeding fierce fire, till stones, and bones, and other things are burnt to lime; so shall the wicked be burnt in. the fire of God's wrath. "As thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire :" As briers and thorns are the incumbrance and curse of the ground where they grow, and are wont to be burnt; so shall it be with the wicked that are among God's people and grow in God's field. Heb. vi. 7, 8. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers, is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." "Hear ye that are afar off, are near, acknowledge my Then it follows in verse 13. what I have done; and ye that might." This implies that God will, by the destruction of ungodly men, manifest his glory very publicly, even in the sight of the whole world, both in the sight of those that are near, and of those that are afar off." "Acknowledge my might." Which implies that God will execute wrath upon ungodly men,in such a manner as extraordinarily to show forth his great and mighty power. The destruction and misery of the wicked will be so dreadful that it will be a dreadful manifestation of the omnipotent power of God, that he can execute so dreadful misery; agreeably to Rom. ix. 22. « What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction." : Next follow the words of the text: "The sinners in Zion are afraid Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites: Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" The sense of the text is, That the time will come when fearfulness will surprise the sinners in Zion; because they will know, that they are about to be cast into a devouring fire, which they must suffer for ever and ever, and which none can endure. This I shall make the subject of my present discourse; and shall particularly speak upon the subject, 1. By inquiring, who are sinners in Zion? 2. By showing how fearfulness will hereafter surprise them. 3. By insisting on those reasons of this fear and surprise, which are mentioned in the text. 4. By showing why sinners IN ZION will be especially surprised with fear. I. It may be inquired, who are the sinners in Zion ?......... I answer, That they are those who are in a natural condition among the visible people of God. Zion, or the city of David of old, was a type of the church; and the church of God in scripture is perhaps more frequently called by the name of Zion than by any other name. And commonly by Zion is meant the true church of Christ, or the invisible church of true saints. But sometimes by this name is meant the visi ble church, consisting of those who are outwardly, by profession and external privileges, the people of God. This is intended by Zion in this text. The greater part of the world are sinners: Christ's flock is, and ever hath been but a little flock. And the sinners of the world are of two sorts: There are those that are visibly of Satan's kingdom, who are without the pale of the visible church. Such are all who do not profess the true religion, nor attend the external ordinances of it. Beside these there are the sinners in Zion. Both are objects of the displeasure and wrath of God; but his wrath is more especially manifested in scripture against the latter. Sinners in Zion will have by far the lowest place in hell. They are exalted nearest to heaven in this world, and they will be lowest in hell in another. The same is meant in the text, by hypocrites, as sinners in Zion. Sinners in Zion are all hypocrites; for they make a profession of the true religion; they attend God's ordinances, and make a show of being the worshippers of God; but all is in hypocrisy.........I now hasten as was proposed, II. To show how fearfulness will hereafter surprise sin ners in Zion. 1. They will hereafter be afraid. Now many of them seem to have little or no fear. They are quiet and secure. |