Religion & morality > Human nature in its four-fold state ... in several practical discourses

4-00 The Hopelefnefs of their State IV.
Dream. And indeed what Hope can they have ?
The Law is plain againft them, and condemns
them. The Curfes ot it (thefe Cords of Death)
are about them already. The Saviour whom they
flighted, is now their Judge; and their Judge is
their Enemy. How then can they hope ? They
have bolted the Door of Mercy againft themfelves,
by their Unbelief. They have defpifed the Re¬
medy, and therefore muft die without Mercy. They
have no faving Intereft in Jefus Chrift, the only
Channel of Conveyance, in which Mercy flows;
and therefore they can never tafte of it. The Sword
of Juftice guards the Door of Mercy, fo as none
can enter in, but the Members of the myftical Body
of Chrift, over whofe Heads is a Covert of atton-
ing Blood, the Mediator’s Blood. Thefc indeed
may pafs without Harm, for Juftice has nothing to
require of them. But others cannot pafs, fince they
are not in Cbriji: Death comes to them with the
Sting in it, the Sting of unpardon’d Guilt. ’Tis
arm’d againft them, with all the Force, the Sandi-
on of a holy Law can give it. i Cor. xv. 56. *tbe
Sting of Death is Sin, and the Strength of Sin is the
Law. When that Law was given on Sinai, the
whole Mount quaked greatlyi Exod xix. 18. When
the Redeemer was making Satisfa&ion, for the
Elcd’s breaking of it, the Earth did quake, and
the Rocks rent, Matth. xxvii. 51. What pofliblc
Ground of Hope then is there to the wicked Man,
when Death comes upon him arm’d with the Force
of this Law ? How can he efcape that Fire, whicli
burnt unto the midfi of Hea<ven r Dcut. iv. 11. How
ftiall he be able to ftand in that Smoke, that
afeended as the Smoke of a Furnace ? Exod. xix. 18.
How wiU he endure the terrible thunders and
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