sweetness and efficacy of divine grace, which he now enjoyed-he persuaded men.

Having endeavoured to open up the terror of the Lord, we now proceed to the

II. Head, which was to speak of the apostle's knowledge of this terror, which influenced him to persuade men.

The apostle was far from having a perfect knowledge of divine wrath. As it never entered into the heart of man to conceive the blessedness of the Lord's people; the misery of his enemies, thrust into the 'bottomless pit, and the lake that burneth, is equally inconceivable. Unless we perfectly knew the debt contracted by the sinner, and the unabating claim of the divine law-unless we knew the demerit of sin, and the power and justice of God rendering to the sinner according to his work-we can never perfectly know the greatness of his punishmeut, or the vast contents of the terror of the Lord. We can neither conceive the punishment of sense, or loss; the blessedness of which they are deprived, or the misery under which they lie to eternity.

The apostle had a certain knowledge of the terror of the Lord. Though unacquainted with the greatness of divine wrath, he knew the reality of it. He learned from the Scriptures, and believed that God had appointed a day in which he would judge the world by Jesus Christ, and that all his enemies would be turned into hell. In his epistles, he de

scribes future wrath in a very affecting manner. Writing to the Thessalonians, he expresses himself thus: "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." In his epistle to the Hebrews, he describes the punishment of Gospel hearers in language which fully proves how firmly he believed, and how much he was affected with it. He calls it a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries: a falling into the hands of the living God that he may take vengeance, which he affirms to be fearful beyond expression. Without condescending on other instances, all his epistles are a standing and conclusive proof that he knew the terror of the Lord, and that the despisers of Christ treasured up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath.

After it pleased the Lord to reveal his Son in his heart, Paul was greatly affected with the evil of sin, especially unbelief and rejecting Christ. This tended to acquaint him with the punishment it deserved. The word assured him that there behooved to be a proportion between that enmity which rejected such a loving Saviour, and divine resentment when the day of grace was over. Never any had more exalted and affectionate views of salvation by free grace, or made greater exertions to ascertain an interest in it, and bring others to seek and improve

it. This partly proceeded from a certain persuasion of the infinite and unspeakable misery, which is the inevitable consequence of falling short of it.

The apostle knew the terror of the Lord, and the weight of the curse, from the astonishing method by which he, or any other sinner, could be delivered from it. None but a divine person could bear the load of wrath. The holy human nature of Christ was so affected as to make him say, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Without shedding of blood, there was no remission, and it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. The blood of Christ alone cleanseth from sin. If pardon, and the other blessings of salvation, cost Christ so dear a price; and if divine wrath was so awful when poured out upon him, the apostle would well see what sinners had to suffer.

Recollecting what he was formerly, when he blasphemed the Lord and wasted his church, he always considered himself as a miracle of mercy, and never forgot that he was the chief of sinners. Impressed with the unspeakable love of Christ in delivering his soul from the lowest hell, and affected with a sense of the wrath he deserved, he greatly pitied all who were in a similar situation.

III. The next thing in our method was to illustrate the improvement Paul made of his knowing, the terror of the Lord-" we persuade men." This phrase, in its connexion, implies,

1. That there is great force of argument from the terror of the Lord, and a knowledge of it, to use all

possible means to escape. This is the amount of Paul's declaration. It is God's end in revealing his wrath in his word, and opening it up in his ordinances, that men may be warned to fly from it. It is the end which the Holy Spirit has in his eye in convincing men of their misery. His convictions are always attended with some motions on the heart, urging the person to avoid it. These are called striving, and such as do not comply are said to resist them. Thus Stephen in pointed language addressed the Jews, Acts vii. 51, "Ye stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." The Holy Spirit is always in the church, convincing of sin and the certain danger to which it exposes; and they who do not believe, in the language of Isaiah, rebel and vex God's Holy Spirit, and harden their own hearts. Judgments and threatenings, as already mentioned, are beacons and monitors; and the Gospel warns every man and who but the veriest fool would rush upon dangers of which he is duly apprized. That men may use all possible diligence to escape the terror of the Lord, it is not only revealed, but the dreadful nature of it is pointed out by many expres sive figures, all calculated to show that it is a fearful thing to die in sin, and fall into the hands of the living God.

When a discovery is made to any person that he is in great danger, that in itself is a full, clear, and forcible argument to endeavour if possible to avoid it; and the greater the danger, the force of the argument is the greater. If the wrath of an earthly power

should make us use all lawful means to escape temporal punishment, much more should the terror of the Lord influence our hearts and awaken our endeavours to fly from it. In this manner Christ ar gued, Luke xii. 4, 5, " And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.". If we would avoid future wrath, we should try to avoid sin, the procuring cause. This can only be done by improving the righteousness of Christ for taking away the guilt, and the Spirit of Christ for breaking the power of sin, and promoting holiness.

2. That there is a way to escape the terror of the Lord which he himself approves. Had there been no way of escaping future punishment approved by Christ, to have persuaded men to fly from it, would only have been an attempt to take his enemies out of his hand, and rescue them from deserved wrath. Had this been possible, it would have been unjust. It is diametrically opposite to that love which Paul had to the Redeemer. Such an attempt would have joining league with his enemies, bidding defiance to his power, and would have argued unspeakable contempt of his law and Gospel-his authority and grace; but Paul had not so learned Christ.

The apostle persuaded men to fly from divine wrath in virtue of a special commission from Jesus of Nazareth, who appeared to him in his way to Damascus. The Lord said to Ananias, Arise, go and