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CHAP. III.

Shews that it is ufual with God to premonish his people of approaching trials and fufferings; with fome account of the manner how, and the reafon why he fo forewarns them.

S Paul had many clear premonitions and fore-notices of the

not be furprized by them when they came; fo it is ufual with God (though not in fuch an immediate and extraordinary a manner) to admonifh the world, and efpecially his own people, of great trials and fufferings before-hand. Amos iii. 7. "Surely the Lord will "do nothing, but he revealeth his fecrets unto his fervants the "phets."

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Thus, when he was about to bring the flood upon the world, he gave one hundred and twenty years warning of it before it came, Gen. vi. 3. and when he was to deftroy Sodom, he faith, Gen. xviii. "Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?" And the like difcovery he made about the fame judgment to Lot, Gen. xix. 12, 13, 14. So when the captivity of the Jews was nigh at hand, the people had many forewarnings of it; God forewarned them both minifterially and providentially; he warned them by the prophets, Ezek. iii. 17. "Hear the word of my mouth, and give them warning "from me." And when the time drew nigh to execute the judg ment determined upon Jerufalem, and the temple, how plainly did Chrift foretel them of it? Luke xix. 43, 44. "Thine enemies fhall "caft a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee "in on every fide, and fhall lay thee even with the ground, and thy "children within thee."

And when the storm was just ready to fall, their own historian tells us, a voice was heard in the temple, faying, Migremus hine, Let us go hence. Which voice + Tacitus alfo mentions in his annals, af'firming it to be more than a human voice, telling them God was departing, and that it was accompanied with a ruthing noife, as of • perfons going out. Thefe were extraordinary warnings.' The like figns have been given to divers other nations, by dreadful eclipfes of the heavenly bodics, portentous comets, earthquakes, and other figns of judgment.

Now, though we have no ground to expect fuch extraordinary warnings, yet we have the most apparent and certain figns of approaching calamities; after which, if they furprize us, the fault muft lie in our own inexcufable negligence; for we have a standing rule to govern ourselves in this matter, and that is this; When the fame

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Jofephus de bello Jud. lib. 7. cap. 2.

† Audita major bumana vox excedere Deos, fimul ingens motus excedentium. Tacitus lib 21.

• fins are found in one nation, which have brought down the wrath ' of God upon another nation, it is an evident fign of judgment at the door; for God is unchangeable, juft, and holy, and will not 'favour that in one people which he hath punished in another, nor ⚫ bless that in one age which he hath curfed in another.' Upon this very ground it was that the apoftle warned the Corinthians, by the example of the Ifraelites, whofe fins had ruined them in the wilderness, 1 Cor. x. 6. "Now these things were our examples, to the in"tent we should not luft after evil things, as they also lufted." As if he should say, Look upon those dead bodies which are, as it were, caft up upon the fcripture-fhore for a warning to you: Follow not the fame course, left you meet in the fame curfe; if you tread the fame paths, expect the fame punishment. God is as righteous now as he was then he hates, and will punish fin in you as much as he did in them.

Let us therefore confider what those provocations were, that hastened the wrath of God upon his own Ifrael, a people that were nigh and dear unto him; a people upon whom he spent as much of the riches of his patience, as upon any people in the world; that fo we may reckon whereabout we are at this day, and what is like to be the lot of this finful and provoking generation; and we fhall find, by the confent of all the prophets, that these fins were the immediate forerunners, and proper caufes of their overthrow.

First, The great corruption of God's worship among them kindled his wrath, and haftened their ruin, Pfal. cvi. 39, 40, 41, 42. "They were defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with "their own inventions; therefore was the wrath of God kindled "against his people, infomuch that he abhorred his own inheri "tance, and he gave them into the hand of the heathen, and they "that hated them ruled over them; their enemies alfo oppreffed "them, and they were brought into fubjection under their hand." They that will not bear the golden yoke of Christ, shall be galled with the iron yoke of men: nothing more provokes the anger of God than the adulterating of his worship; a man will bear a thousand infirmities in the wife of his bofom, but unfaithfulness in the marriagecovenant breaks his heart. After the manner of men, fo abused and grieved, the Lord expreffeth himself, Ezek. vi. 9. "I am broken "with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with "their eyes that go a whoring after their idols." Men cannot invent a furer and speedier way to their own ruin, than to bring their own inventions into God's worship.

Secondly, Incorrigible obftinacy and impenitency, under gentler ftrokes and leffer judgments, make way for utter ruin and defolation, Amos iv. from the 6th to the 12th verfe. Scarcity, mildews, peftilence, and fword, had been tried upon them, but without effect; for the remnant that efcaped thofe judgments (although plucked as fo

many brands out of the fire, in which their fellow finners perifhed) were not reformed by thofe gentler and moderated judgments.

Thirdly, Stupidity and fenfeleffnefs of God's hand, and the tokens of his anger, were provoking caufes and forerunners of their national defolation; they neither faw the hand of God when it was lifted up, nor humbled themselves under it when it was laid on; the hand of God is then faid to be lifted up, when the providences of God prepare and pofture themfelves for our affliction. When the clouds of judgment gather over our heads, and grow blacker and blacker, as theirs did upon them, and do upon us at this day, but they took no notice of it, Ifa. xxvi. 11. "Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they "will not fee;" and (which is the height of ftupidity) they all remained fenfelefs and regardless, when the hand of God was laid upon them, Ifa. xlii. 24, 25. "Who gave Jacob for a fpoil, and Ifrael to "the robbers? Did not the Lord, he against whom we have finned? "for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient "to his law. Therefore he bath poured upon them the fury of his "anger, and the ftrength of battle; and it hath fet him on fire round "about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to

« heart.'

O prodigious fottifhnefs! It was not some small drops of God's anger, but the fury of his anger; not fome lighter fkirmish of his judgments with them, but the ftrength of battle: It was not fome particular ftroke upon fingle perfons or families, but it fet him on fire round about, a general conflagration; yet all this would not awaken them.

Fourthly, The perfecution of God's faithful minifters and people were another fin that procured, and a fign that foretold the deftruction of their nation, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16. " And the Lord God " of their fathers fent to them by his meffengers, rifing up betimes,

and fending; because he bad compaffion on his people, and on his « dwelling-place; but they mocked the meffengers of God, and "defpifed his words, and mifufed his prophets, until the wrath of the "Lord arofe against his people, till there was no remedy." There were also a number of upright fouls among them, who defired to worfhip God according to his own prescription; but a fare was laid for them in Mizpeh, and a net spread for them upon Tabor, Hof. v. 1. and this haftened judgment towards them: Mizpah and Tabor were places lying in the way betwixt Samaria and Jerufalem, where the true worship of God was: and in thofe places fpies were fet by the priests to obferve and inform against them; fo that it became very hazardous to attend the pure and incorrupt worship of God, which quickly haftened on their ruin.

Fifthly, The removal of godly and ufeful men by death, in more than ordinary hafte, was to them a fign of defolation at hand. Ifa. lvii. 1. " The righteous perifheth, and no man layeth it to heart; " and merciful men are taken away, none confidering that the righ"teous is taken away from the evil to come." In this cafe God acts

towards his people, as the husbandman in a catching harvest doth by his corn; he hurries it with a fhuffling hafte into the barn when be fees a storin coming: or as a careful father with his fons that are abroad at school, who fends his horfes to fetch them home speedily, when he hears the plague is begun in the place. Upon this ground the prophet Micah bewails himself, Micah vii. 1. "Woe is me, for "I am as when they have gathered the fummer-fruits, as the grape "gleanings of the vintage, there is no clufter to eat; my foul defi"red the first ripe-fruit." Q. d. Alas! alas! what miferable days are at hand what miferies muft I expect to fee! The pleafant clufters, i. e. the focieties of the faints are gathered away by the hand of death; there are but few that remain, here and there a fingle faint, like grapes after the vintage is done, two or three upon the utmost branches.

Sixthly, The general decay of the life and power of godliness among them that were left, foreboded deftruction at the door: this is both a provoking fin, and a fore-running fign of national calamity. Hofea iv. 18. Their drink is fewer. A metaphor lively expreffing the deadnefs and formality of the people in the worthip of God. It was like fower or dead drink, which hath loft its fpirit and relish, and is become flat. Such were their duties; no fpiritual life, affection, or favour in them: the heard as if they heard not, and prayed as if they prayed not; the ordinances of God were to them as the ordinances of men, of which the apoftle faith, that they perish in the uling.

Seventhly, To conclude; Mutual animofities, jars, and divifions, were to them manifest symptoms of national calamities and defola⚫tions: for then Ephraim envied Judah, and Judah vexed Ephraim, Ifa. xi. 13. Hofea ix. 7. "The days of vifitation are come, the days "of recompenfe are come, Ifrael fhall know it: The prophet is a "fool, the fpiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquities, "and the great hatred."

When fuch symptoms of God's indignation do appear upon any people, the Lord, by them, as by fo many glaring meteors and blazing comets, forewarns the world that his judgments are near, even at the door. Thefe figns all men ought to obferve, and behold with trembling. If you afk, Why doth God ufually give fuch warnings of his indignation before it comes? The reafons are,

1. To prevent the execution.

2. To make them more tolerable.

3. To leave the incorrigible inexcufable.

Firft, Warning is given, with defign to prevent the execution of judgments, Amos iv. 12. "Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Ifrael; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy "God, O Ifrael;" i. e. Prepare thyfelf to meet me in the way of my judgments, by humiliation and interceffion to prevent the execution. And what elfe was the defign of God in fending Jonah to the great

city Nineveh, but to excite them to repentance for the prevention of their ruin. This Jonah knew to be the Lord's meaning, how pofitive foever the words of his commiffion were; and therefore he declined the meffage to fecure his credit; knowing, that if upon warning given they repented, the gracious nature of God would foon melt into compaffion over them, and free grace would make him appear as a liar; for fo we must expound his words, Jonah iv. 2. "Was not this my faying, when I was yet in my country? There"fore I fled before unto Tarthith: for I knew that thou art a gra"cious God, and merciful, flow to anger, and of great kindness, and "repenteft thee of the evil." Q. d. Yea, Lord, I knew beforehand it would come to this; thou fendeft me pofitively to denounce thy judgments to Nineveh, mean time defiring nothing more than the execution of them might be prevented by their repentance. And thus thy mercy hath expofed my reputation, in faving them from deftruction.

Secondly, God forewarns his people of judgments, to make them more tolerable when they come: expected evils are nothing fo heavy as those that come by furprizal; for look, as the expectation of a mercy makes it lefs fweet, our thoughts having anticipated and fucked out much of the fweetnefs before-hand; fo the expectation of judgments before they befal us, make them lefs bitter and burdenfome than else they would be, the foul having inured and accustomed itself to them, by frequent thoughts, and prepared and made ready itself to entertain them, as Paul did in my text. To prevent the disciples furprizal and offence at thofe days of perfecution that were coming upon them, Christ foretold them, and gave them fair warning beforehand, John xvi. 4.

Thirdly, He forewarns his people of approaching dangers, to leave the incorrigible wholly inexcufable, that those who have no fenfe of fin, nor care to prevent ruin, might have no cloke for their folly when judgments overtake them. "What wilt thou fay when he shall pu

nifh thee?" Jer. xiii. 21, 22. As if he should say, What plea, or apology is left thee, after fo many fair warnings and timely premonitions? Thou canst not fay, I have furprized thee, or that thou waft ruined before thou waft warned. Thy deftruction therefore is of thyself.

CHAP. IV.

Demonftrating the excellency of a prepared heart for the worst of fufferings and what a bleed thing it is to be ready to be bound, or to die for Christ, as Paul here was.

Am ready. O bleffed frame of fpirit! how hard, but how happy is it to get a heart fo tempered! Every Chriftian can fay, I

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