The Doom of the Wicked
The wicked shall he turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
Men and Brethren, if religion were only a cunningly-devised fable, if that Hell of which you read in the Bible were only an invention of crafty deceivers, you might despise their threatenings, and go on in sin. Moreover, if it were only the drunkard, the murderer, the adulterer, the sabbath-breaker, or the common swearer, that was to find his portion in hell, then the sober and moral among you might please themselves with the hope of escape. But if the Almighty has himself thundered out of heaven, and made known to all men, not only that he hath prepared a place of torment for the wicked, but that all who forget God shall be turned into it, it behoveth every one of ufito hear, believe, and tremble.
iJO FIFTH SERMON.
Brethren, let the words of our text convince you that the Word of God speaks plainly. Certain vain and ignorant persons are shocked at the coarseness of this subject; but you now hear God speaking for himself. This, then, is the threatening of Jehovah, which his justice and truth engage him to execute, that the wicked shall he turned into Jiell, and all the nations that forget God.
At the very recital of these words, some of you must be convinced that they are in danger: their consciences must testify, that, if they die as they are now living, they must perish. But by far the greater number are saying to themselves, “Whatever others may be, I have no reason to believe myself to be wicked, or that I forget God.” Now, my Brethren, you that speak after this manner, may perhaps be right; but it is possible you may be wrong. If you are right, you need not fear to inquire into your reasons for thinking so: if you are wrong, it will be but a poor exchange to obtain a false peace for a little while in this world, at the expense of awakening from delusion in the next. It is, therefore, far wiser to ascertain the point. Let us then, for this purpose, first inquire, who are the Persons described in the text; and, in the second place, declare their Final Doom.
THK DOOJI OF THE WICKtD. Bl
1. We shall inquire, who are THE PERSONS DESCRIBED IN THE TEXT.
We apprehend that the wicked, and all the nations that forget God, are the same persons. In the sight of God, all are wicked who forget him: yet, in compliance with the usual sense put upon these words, let us suppose two sorts of persons spoken of — the wicked, those who are openly immoral; and the other, those who are more decent in their conduct.
1. The WICKED, or immoral, are those whose sins carry the sentence of their condemnation along with them. To call these sins into a particular review, were unnecessary. Deeply marked with the character of Hell, they proclaim to every beholder to what place they are tending. Let it suffice to adduce certain passages of Scripture, in which God has summed up these workers of iniquity, in one complete catalogue, and assigned one doom to them all. Know ye not, that the unrighteous shall 7iot inherit the kingdom of God? Se not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. vi. 9, 10). Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, drvnkenitess, and such like: of the which / tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. v. 19,21). Would there were none such in the present assembly!
2. Leaving these texts to their consideration, we proceed to incjuire who they are that forget God.
God hath commanded us to remember him in ALL our ways. Not to do this, is to forget him.
“What then,” you ask, “is it possible for any man to be always thinking of God? Is there not a time for all things? Is it not sufficient that we think of him at proper seasons: such as on the sabbath, or at morning or evening prayer?” No, Brethren; it is not sufficient. God says, My son, give me thy heart (Prov. xxiii. 26) — thine affections: love me, and you will think of me. The good man may, through infirmity, lose sight of God; but he always accounts it a loss, and longs to regain it: but it is a sign of WICKEDNESS if we foTgct God, wilfully and deliberately, in any part of our conduct. God requires all the heart and all the life to be devoted to his service. And, indeed, there is as much reason why we should remember him in ALL our ways, as in any one of them: if it were lawful to forget him, that is, to have no regard to his authority in on§ particular, it would be lawful also to forget him in another: thus the rule of right would be left to every man’s own choice, and God would be no longer the Governor of the World.
It is, therefore, trifling with Scripture to urge that you do not forget God, merely from this circumstance, that you sometimes think of him; for you may now certainly perceive, if God be wilfully excluded from any one of your thoughts, you are so far wicked.
But we need not strain this point to prove your guilt. It is easy to shew, concerning a great part of you, that he is scarcely in any of your thoughts: you forget his Laws — you forget his Mercies — you forget his Presence.
(1) There are some who forget God, as a Law-giver, to such a degree, that they never inquire what laws he has given; nay, disobey those laws which they know.
Ask yourselves, whether you are not living in the daily habit of seeking your own pleasure — whether it be not your daily question, not •’ What is the will of God?” but “What is MY will?” — not ‘* What does God command me to do?” but “What do I think fit to dot what will gratify the flesh, or secure most pleasure to myself? what will promote my honour or advance my interests in the world?” Are not these the considerations, that tacitly G 2
84 lirTH SF.RMOy.
suggest themselves; and these the principles, that move us to action? We do not ask whether you run the road of dissipation, and are known in the circles of fashion: perhaps many of you have not the means of following your own humour, and the bent of your own inclination, except in a few instances. Do you not find, that, whenever you have the means of enjoyment, you immediately set about inquiring how you may gratify yourself to the utmost? When you have now and then leisure, do you send up a petition to God, that he would direct you to pass your time to his glory and the good of your soul? or do you not rather waste your hours in idle conversation, and employ them according to your own humour? But is not this neglect of inquiring about His will, a forgetfulness of God your Maker? What must be said of that servant, who m ould not take the trouble so much as to know his master’s will? Indeed, A son honour eth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a Father, where is mine honour? and if I be a Master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of Hosts unto you (Mai. i. 6).
Further, Consider whether you do not through forgetfulness of God, disobey those laws which you know to be his. You call yourselves Christians: there is probably, therefore, not one here who does not know that God has commanded all men, everywhere, to repent — to be born again — to renounce the world and its vanities — to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts — to be poor in spirit — to mourn for sin — to hunger and thirst after righteousness — to be pure in heart — to be constant and earnest in prayer — to be laying- up treasures in heaven — to enter in at the strait gate, and to walk along the narrow way that leadeth unto life — and, in fine, to be looking for the day of God, in all holy conversation and godliness: and yet are you not conscious that you do not put one of these into practice, but that you live in the habitual neglect of some or all these duties, every one of which you know God has commanded?
(2) You forget God in another particular namely, by forgetting his Mercies.
On this head let me ask you, whether you acknowledge his mercies — whether you bow your knees, in fervent and affectionate thanksgiving, for having been blest with health; for having been fed by his bounty; for mercies personal, social. Do you confess that every thing which you receiveat the hand of God is mere mercy? If he were to afflict you with disease and strip you of all your comforts, would he give you no more than yt)u deserve? If he were to condemn you to everlasting misery, would he be just? Do you believe that you deserve it? “No,” you say: ‘* what have I done to deserve it?” You think God would be unmerciful, if he were to destroy you!
And, above all, my Brethren, what think ye of Christ, who is, according to Scripture, God’s unspeakable gift? Do you shew that you bear due regard to God’s mercy in sending Christ, by believing in him, coming to him, casting yourself upon him as a lost and ruined sinner? Have you ever devoted yourself to him — becoming his disciple, esteeming his reproach, and saying, in short, with a true heart, “Henceforth I will not live unto myself?” (2 Cor. v. 15). Ask yourselves whether you ever thought of Christ, with real pleasure and genuine satisfaction of heart. When you speak of him, or of God’s mercy in giving him, as you sometimes do in the public prayers, is it not rather a forced or thoughtless acknowledgment, than the grateful tribute of a broken heart? Christ has said, He that loveth father or inotJier more than 7ne, is not worthy of me; atid he, that loveth son or (laughter more than me, is not worthy of me; and he, that taketh not his cross and folloiceth after ‘me, is tiot worthy of me (Matt. x. 37, 38). Do yon thus love and obey him, counting all things but dung and dross to win him, and forsaking all to follow him? Alas, my friends! you know it is no such thing; and what is worse, you do not even desire that it should be so. You start at the thought of unceasing self-denial! You would think yourself miserable in a life of godliness! You seek your happiness, not from God, but the world. You could, in your own opinion, be as happy as you are, if there were no God — no Saviour, I may say to you, as our Lord to the Jews, Ye have not this Love of God in you! (John v. 42).
Thus you slight and neglect the rich mercies of God, either by not counting the cost, or by determining not to pay it; thus proving that altogether you undervalue the blessing to be bought!
(3) Let us proceed to remark, in the third place, that you forget God by forgetting his Presence.
It is God’s presence which made and upholds the universe, and which directs every event of our lives. It is this, therefore, that makes the frame of Nature sacred, and hallows the varying turns of Providence. We do not ask whether you admire the marks of his creating finger, and trace his footsteps as they are seen when he goes to and fro over the earth. Let us come nearer home. God’s eye pierces into our hearts. All things are naked mid opened unto
88 FIFTH SERMOiV.
the eyes of him, with whom ive have to do! (Heb. iv. 13) — He knoweth our thoughts afar ojff: (Ps. cxxxix. 2.)
Do you thus remember his awful presence? Are you anxious that your hearts should be a pure and living temple to his praise? Do you love to walk with God; to cry to him, with holy confidence, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me? (Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24).
On the contrary, do not you know that if you were to profess to have any such secret communion with God, you would lie to the Holy Ghost, and would almost expect the fate of Ananias? Do you not know that you securely indulge the lustful thought, and secret vanity, and covetous desire of gain, and bitterness of revenge and anger; and freely give the reins to those appetites, which the eye of man cannot scrutinize? God sees them, and sees them with anger; but you are not concerned! What you would be ashamed and shocked for man to know, that you commit before God without fear and without remorse! You say, in excuse, that you are not aware of God’s presence; that you forget that his eye is fixed upon you: but, by so saying, you confess what we aimed at proving, namely, that you forget his presence.
Thus, then, we have described a character, not difficult to be drawn. Let not such persons expect that they shall dwell with God: forgetting- his laws, they cannot join in the blessed obedience of angels: forgetting his mercies, they could not sing praises to the Lamb: forgetting his presence, they shall be banished from his presence for ever!
But it is not a negative suffering only, which they are to undergo; for we know him that hath said. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord (Rom. xii. 19) — They have paid me contempt: I will repay them vengeance.
IL Hear, therefore, their FINAL DOOM — 7%e wicked shall he turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God!
Men, in general, do not wish to hear this place so much as mentioned, much less described as the portion of the wicked: but it is better to hear of it than to dwell in it; and it is by hearing of it, that we must be stirred up to escape it. It is degrading to human nature, that we must draw an argument from such a source — that we must dip our shafts in the lake that burneth with fire. It is painful and humiliating: to reflect that beings, capable of being constrained by love, should require to be driven by an iron scourge! Hell is often
90 FIFTH SEIlMOy
described by our Lord Jesus Christ. He was too compassionate and serious to excite groundless terrors. As he said to his disciples, hi my Father s house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you (John xiv. 2); so we may say of Hell: there, then, are many mansions, if it were not so he would have told us. Hell is often described by him as a place in which both body and soul are tormented for ever. To one of these descriptions we will refer you In the Ninth Chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel, the eternity of torment is six times described! The file and the worm are such images of the causes of suffering as are addressed to the senses. Christ describes hell as a place of inconceivable torment and everlasting misery. He describes it by saying, their fire is not quenched. Fire, a dreadful element, is a scorching thing, and enters deep into the senses: yet Hell is represented to be a lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. xix. 20). But if there were any period set to their sufferings — if, after millions of years, they were to be reduced to nothing, they might bear it: but this is their misery, that it is for ever! Think how tedious is the motion of time w hen you are in pain — how you wish the hours away! What must it be to suffer such pain as will make every moment appear an age? and yet there must be an eternity of those ages!
Our Lord also compares it to the gnawing of a uann, which preys on the vitals: by which is signified that anguish of spirit and remorse of conscience which they must for ever feel, and keen disappointment at having lost for ever past opportunities: their tvorm dieth not. They have fallen into the hands of the Living God: therefore, so long as He liveth, that is, for ever, so long must they be subject to the execution of his wrath! These things are within the apprehension of all — it is a very plain thing of which we speak. Whoever do go to a place of torment continue there for ever!
This place will be the portion of them that forget God. Here, foolish and ignorant men scoff at eternal torments: they say, within themselves, of Sin — “Is it not a little thing? Will a merciful God, who knows Our weakness, punish so dreadfully what we can scarcely help doing?” But what says God? “Thott thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself (Ps. i. 21). Because thou didst smile at sin, thou thoughtest I should do so too. Because I forgave the sins of my penitent people, thou thoughtest I should forgive thine without repentance.” They will find that God was in earnest, when he warned them to fke from the wrath to come (Matt. iii. 7)- He said to them on earth, iff ye live after the flesh, ye shall die (Rom.
viii. 13): they did live after the fleh; hoping-, no doubt, that God would not be true to his word. But do not they find, now that they feel the pains of hell get hold upon them, now that they have actually died and are in hell, that God is faithful? Though we believe not, but deny him, yet he cannot deny himself. Believe it, Brethren, God is not a 7)ian, that he should lie; neither the sou of man, that he should 7’epent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Num. xxiii. 19).
Some are so weak as to sappose that the numbers who must perish, if all this be true, will secure them against the threatened vengeance; or, at least, move the commiseration of the Judge. But we read in the text, that though they be whole nations, they cannot withstand his almighty arm: however numerous, or however strong, he can in a moment hurl the mightiest criminals into endless ruin: thus he speaks by his Prophet — Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it (Is. v. 14); and. As the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff”, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go upas dust: becausB
THK Door OK THE WiCKF.D. they have cast away the law of the Loid of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel (Is. v. 24). And Irath not this dreadful threatening been fulfilled? hath not our Lord told us of a rich man, who, in hell lifted up his eyes, being’ in torment? it was not said that he was sent thither for being a drunkard, or a fornicator, or an extortioner: but he had forgotten God. That narrative, I mean of Dives and Lazarus, exhibits realities. Is there such a place as hell? Does any one descend into it, and find himself actually there? The rich man did!
Let it, then, be established as an awful truth, that they who wilfully neglect to obey any of God’s laws which they know, or who live without Christ, that is, ignorant of him — do not follow him in the regeneration, or who indulge the secret sins of the heart, thus disregarding the divine presence, are those that forget God, and shall be turned into hell.
Now pause awhile, and reflect! Some of you perhaps by this time, instead of making a wise resolve, have begun to wonder that so heavy a judgment should be denounced merely against Forgetfulness.
But look at the affairs of common life, and be taught by them. Do not neglect, and want of attention, and not looking about us to see what we have to do — do not any of these bring upon us consequences, as ruinous to our worldly business as any active misbehaviour? It is an event of every day, that a man, by mere laziness and inattention to his business, does as certainly bring himself and family to poverty and end his days in a goal, as if he were, in wanton mischief, to set fire to his own house. So it is also with the affairs of the soul: neglect of that — forgetfulness of God, who only can save it, will work his ruin, as surely as a long and daring course of profligate wickedness.
When any one has been recollecting the proper proofs of a future state of rewards and punishments, nothing methinks can give him so sensible an apprehension of punishment or such a representation of it to the mind, as observing, that, after the many disregarded checks, admonitions, and warnings, which people meet with in the ways of vice, folly, and extravagance — warnings from their very nature, from the examples of others, from the lesser inconveniences which they bring upon themselves, from the instructions of wise and good men — after these have been long despised, scorned, ridiculed — after the chief bad consequences (temporal consequences) of their follies have been delayed for a great while — at length they break in irresistibly like an armed force: repentance is too late to relieve, and can serve only to aggravate their distress: the case is become despei’ate; and poverty and sickness, remorse and anguish, infamy and death, the effects of their own doings, overwhelm them beyond possibility of remedy or escape. This is an account of what is, in fact, the general constitution of nature.
But is the Forgetfulness of God so light a matter? Think what ingratitude, rebellion, and atheism there is at the bottom of it! Sirs, you have a carnal mind, uhich is enmity against God (Rom. viii. 7). Do not suppose that you have but to make a slight effort, and you will cease to forget him: it is your nature to forget him: it is your nature to hate him: so that nothing less than an entire change of heart and nature, will ever deliver you from this state of enmity. Our nature is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. They, that are in the flesh, cannot please God (Rom. viii. 7, 8). From this state, let the fearful menace in the text persuade you to arise! Need we remind you again of the dreadfulness of hell — of the certainty that it shall overtake the impenitent sinner? Enough has been said; and can any of you be still so hardened, and such enemies to vour souls, as still to cleave to sin? Will you still venture to continue any more in the hazard of falling- into the hands of God? Alas! TVho among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who amovig us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? (Is. xxxiii. 14). Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that 1 shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it! (Ezek. xxii. 14). Observe, that men have dealt with sinners — ministers have dealt with them — apostles, prophets, and angels have dealt with them: at last, God will take them in hand, and deal with them! Though not so daring as to defy God, yet, Brethren, in all probability you put off repentance. Will you securely walk a little longer along the brinks of the burning furnace of the Almighty’s fury? As the Lord liveth, arid as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between thee and death! (1 Sam. xx. 3). When you lie down, you know not but you may be in it before the morning; and when you rise, you know not but God may say, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee! When once the word is given to cut you down, the business is ole You are cut ofl’ from your lying refuges and beloved sins — from the world — from your friends — from the light — from happiness — from hope, for ever! Be wise then, my friends, and reasonable: give neither sleep
•4he doom of the wickkd. 97
to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, till you have resolved, on your knees before God, to forget him no more. Go home and pray. Do not dare to fly, as it were, in the face of your Maker, by seeking your pleasure on his holy day * but if you are alarmed at this subject, as well you may be, go and pray to God that you may forget him no more. It is high time to awake out of sleep. It is high time to have done with hesitation: time does not wait for you; nor will God wait till you are pleased to turn. He hath bent his bow, and made it ready: halt no more between two opinions: hasten — tarry not in all the plain, but flee from the wrath to come. Pray for grace, without which you can do nothing. Pray for the knowledge of Christ, and of your own danger and helplessness without which you cannot know what it is to find refuge in him. It is not our design to terrify, without pointing out the means of safety. Let us then observe, that if it should have pleased God to awaken any of you to a sense of your danger, you should beware of betaking yourselves to a refuge of lies.
But, through the mercy of God, many among us have found repentance unto life — have fled for refuge, to the hope set before them — have seen their danger, and fled to Christ. Think with yourselves what it is now to have escaped J)8 FIFTH SF,RMOX>
destruction; what it will be to hear at the Last Day our acquittal, when it shall be said to others, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. Let the sense of the mercy of God gild all the path of life. On the other hand, since it is they who forget God that are to bear the weight of his wrath, let us beware, Brethren, how we forget him, through concern about this world, or through unbelief, or through sloth. Let us be punctual in all our engagements with him. With earnest attention and holy awe ought we to hear his voice, cherish the sense of his presence, and perform the duties of his worship. No covenant relation, or Gospel grace can render him less holy, less jealous, or less majestic. Wherefore let us have grace, whereby ice may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear; for our God is a C07isumingfire.