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SERMON IX.

GOD'S HATRED OF SINNERS.

THOU hatest all workers of iniquity. - PSALM, V. 5.

DAVID was conscious that he loved God; which consciousness gave him confidence to believe that God loved him with complacence, in distinction from those who were the objects of his displeasure. This filial spirit prepared him to call upon God, with full assurance that he would hear the voice of his supplications. He addressed him in this free and familiar language: "Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my medi'tation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity." Here is a plain declaration, that God hates the persons of impenitent sinners. And to set this subject in a proper light, I shall show,

I. That God does hate the persons of impenitent sinners. II. Why he hates their persons; and,

III. That this is consistent with his love of benevolence towards them.

I. I am to show that God does hate the persons of impenitent sinners.

It is often said that God hates sin, but not sinners. The point now before us to be proved is, that God hates sinners themselves, as vile and odious creatures. It is universally allowed that God loves the righteous, the godly, and all that love him, with the love of complacence; and it is equally true

that he hates those who hate him. He hates the persons of sinners, as really as he loves the persons of saints. This appears not only from the character of God, but from the declarations of his word. It is asserted in the text that God hates all the workers of iniquity. God says concerning his sinful people, by the mouth of Jeremiah, "Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth against me: therefore have I hated it." Again he says by the prophet Hosea, "All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them." David says, "God is angry with the wicked every day." Moses says of Israel, that they forgot God, and provoked him to jealousy, "and when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them." The Old Testament abounds with passages too numerous to be cited, in which God expresses his displeasure, his wrath and his indignation towards sinners. John says, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him." Paul says to the sinner, whom the goodness of God does not lead to repentance, "Thou treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds to them, who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath: tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil." It appears from these passages of scripture, that God feels hatred, anger, wrath and indignation towards the souls of sinners, which comprise all their intellectual and moral powers that constitute them proper persons, or moral agents.

II. I am to show why God hates the persons of sinners. Many are fond of making a distinction between sin and a sinner; and while they allow that God hates sin, they deny that he hates the sinner himself. They consider sin in the abstract, and God as hating it in the abstract. But though they can speak of sin in the abstract, yet they cannot conceive of it in the abstract. Who can conceive of sin without a sinner? or of sin that no person ever committed? Every sin is a transgression of the law, and renders the transgressor both criminal and hateful. The transgression cannot be separated from the transgressor, any more than his reason, or conscience, or any other property or quality of his mind can be separated from him. The nature and criminality of sin consists in the free, voluntary intention, or design of the sinner, which is an essential part of his moral existence, and corrupts and contaminates the whole. The apostle represents sin as corrupting all the powers and faculties of sinners. He says, "unto the pure all

things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." And this moral corruption of sinners he represents as rendering them vile and hateful, even in their own sight. "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." Every thing that is morally evil and odious in sinners lies in their hearts, which are as essential parts of themselves, as their natural powers and faculties, or, as the apostle says, their mind and conscience. And their evil hearts render their persons morally evil and hateful in the sight of God. He hates their persons, on account of their sinful and hateful hearts; just as he loves the persons of saints, on account of their holy hearts. God hates those

who hate him, just as he loves those that love him. The holiness of saints renders their persons holy and lovely in his holy eyes. Hence he calls them his children, his friends, his heritage, his portion, his treasure, his jewels, to express his peculiar love and affection towards them. The prophet Zephaniah says to Zion, "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing." Christ said to his beloved disciples, "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." It is holiness of heart that makes God lovely, and spreads a moral beauty over all his natural perfections. And it is holiness of heart that makes saints lovely, and spreads a moral beauty over all their natural powers and qualities. The reverse is equally true of sinners. It is the depravity of heart in sinners that makes them morally corrupt and unlovely, and spreads a moral and odious blemish over their whole personal characters. In them, while they are in the flesh, there dwelleth no good thing, or moral excellence, but their mind and conscience, their whole souls, are morally vile and hateful; and God cannot look upon them with the least complacence, but with the utmost abhorrence and detestation. David says to God, "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." I now proceed to show,

III. How God's hating the persons of sinners is consistent with his loving them. This is a difficulty which seems not very easy to solve; and very few, if any, have ever attempted to solve it. Various attempts, however, have been made to evade the difficulty. Some have attempted to evade it by supposing that all the scripture says about the displeasure, the hatred, the wrath and anger of God, is to be understood figu

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ratively; and that no such exercises or emotions of heart, can exist in the mind of an absolutely perfect and immutable being. This mode of evasion has been adopted by some very learned and excellent divines. But it does not appear to be any more inconsistent with the immutability and absolute perfection of God to hate, than to love, to be displeased, than to be pleased, or to be angry with sinners, than to be delighted with saints, and rejoice over them with joy. We know that God is a moral agent, and must have a heart, as well as a rational understanding, and moral discernment. And such a being must be capable of loving what is lovely, and of hating what is hateful. To suppose, therefore, that God does not really hate sinners, is evading rather than solving the difficulty. But others take a different way of solving the difficulty. They allow that God hates sin, but not the persons of sinners. They confidently affirm that God loves sinners themselves, while he only hates their sins. But perhaps it has been sufficiently proved that God does really hate sinners themselves. And if he does, how is it consistent with his loving them at the same time that he hates them? This has been confidently asserted to be a gross absurdity. If God could hate sin without hating the sinner, there would be no difficulty in seeing how God could love sinners themselves at the same time that he hated their sins. But this it has been observed is impossible. It is abundantly evident from scripture, that God does really and literally love and hate sinners at the same time. Our Saviour said, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Paul said to the Romans, "God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." And he said to the Ephesians, "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins-and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." The apostle John also said to christians, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Thus God displayed his great and astonishing love to sinners, in sending his Son into the world to suffer and die, to make an atonement for their sin and rebellion against him.

It is certainly true, and must be universally allowed, that God does love sinners while they are totally depraved, and dead in trespasses and sins. But what kind of love does God exercise towards sinners? Does he exercise the love of complacence towards them? By no means; for he hates all the workers of iniquity. They are not proper objects of approba

tion, or complacence, but of disapprobation and hatred. It is, therefore, only the love of benevolence, that God exercises towards totally depraved sinners. He loves all his creatures, whether rational or irrational, whether holy or sinful, with the love of benevolence; that is, he really desires that all may be happy, rather than miserable, simply considered. He views sinners as capable of everlasting happiness, or of everlasting misery; and he desires their everlasting happiness, simply considered, rather than their everlasting misery, simply considered. So he expressly declares under the solemnity of an oath, "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that he turn from his way and live: Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" Here God expresses his love of benevolence to sinners, but not his love of complacence, unless they turn from their evil ways and become penitent and holy. It was true, at the moment that God made this declaration to sinners, that he both loved and hated them. And this was perfectly consistent. For if he loved them with the love of benevolence, he could not love them with the love of complacence. Benevolence hates selfish and sinful creatures, as much as it loves holy and virtuous creatures. The perfect benevolence of God produces both love and hatred. It produces love to holy creatures, and hatred to unholy, or sinful creatures. The more holy God is, the more he loves holiness in men; and the more holy he is, the more he hates unholiness, or sinfulness in men. Holiness in the Deity produces love to the holy, and hatred to the unholy. And holiness in men produces the same directly contrary effects. Holy men love holy men, and hate unholy ones. David loved saints as the excellent of the earth, in whom was all his delight, but prayed that God would not gather his soul with the wicked, whom, he says to God, he hated. "Do not I hate them O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those, that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them mine enemies." But with all this hatred to the wicked, he says he loved them with the love of benevolence, and sincerely prayed for them when in trouble and distress, as though they were his friends and brethren.

There are two things in sinners, which render them objects of both love and hatred. Their capacity to enjoy happiness and suffer misery renders them proper objects of benevolence, and their sinful character renders them proper objects of displeasure, disapprobation and hatred. God views them in both these lights; and his perfect benevolence disposes him to love and hate them at the same time. His love towards them is benevolent love; and his hatred towards them is benevolent hatred. If God's hatred of sinners arose from selfishness, it

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