Page:AceticLibraryV2PreparationForDeath.djvu/157

 men .... have tempted Me now these ten times ..... Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers." (Num. xiv. 22, 23.) In another place Job says, " My transgression is sealed up in a bag." (Job xiv. 17.) Sinners keep no account of their sins, but God does, strictly, that He may punish when the harvest is ripe; that is, when the number is completed. "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe." (Joel iii. 13.) Again, " Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin." (Ecclus. v. 5.) Which is as much as saying, Sinner, you should fear for the sins which have been forgiven you, for if you add another sin, it may be, that the new sin with those pardoned will complete the number, and then there will remain no more mercy for you; and this Holy Scripture plainly declares, " The Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall arrive, He may punish them in the fulness of their sins." (2 Mace. vi. 14.) So that God waits until the day in which the measure of sins is filled up, and then He punishes.

Of this delayed punishment, there are many examples in Holy Scripture, and especially in the case of Saul, who was forsaken by God for his last disobedience, and who prayed that Samuel would intercede for him, saying, " I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord." (i Sam. xv. 25.) But Samuel answered, " I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee." (Ib. xv. 26.)

There is also the example of Belshazzar, who, when he was feasting, prepared the vessels of the temple, and there saw a hand which wrote on the wall, " Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin." Daniel coming and explaining these words, said, amongst other things, " Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." (Dan. v. 25-27.) He gave him to understand, that the weight of his sins had already weighed down the scale of Divine justice; in fact, that same night he was slain.

Oh, to how many miserable sinners does it not happen, that they live for many years in their sins, but when their number is filled up, they are seized by death and are sent to hell. " They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave." (Job xxi. 13.) Some apply themselves to searching