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Pfal. v. 4. 5. Thou art not a God that haft pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foulifh fhall not stand in thy fight thou hateft all the workers of iniquity. Thou art not a God that haft pleafure in wickedness. The words are a μsis, and leis is fpoken than is meant and intended, viz. that God is fo far from taking pleasure in the fins of men, that he is highly displeased at them, and bears an implacable hatred against them.

And do not the terrible threatenings of God against fin declare him to be highly offended at it? when he fays, that he will come in flaming fire, to render venge ance to all them that know not the gofpel of his Son; and that they shall be punished with everlasting deftruEtion, from the prefence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Can we think that all the threatenings of God's word, and all thofe direful curfes which are written in his book, fhall return empty, without doing any execution? thou that now flattereft thyfelf in vain and groundless hopes, that none of thefe evils fhall come upon thee, when thou comeft to stand before the great Judge of the world, and to behold the killing frowns of his countenance, and to hear thofe bitter words of eternal displeasure from the mouth of God himself, Depart, ye curfed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the de vil and his angels; thou wilt then believe that God is heartily angry and offended with thee for thy fins. We fhall find in that day, that the threatenings of God's word, which we now hear fo fecurely, and without terror, had a full fignification; or rather, that no words could convey to us the terror of them. What the fcripture fays of the happiness and glory of the next life, is true alfo of the mifery and punishments of the other world, that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, thofe terrible' things which God hath referved for the workers of initi quity.

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But, above all, the direful fufferings of the Son of God, when fin was but imputed to him, are a demonftration of God's implacable hatred of fin; for that rather than fin fhould go unpunished, God was pleafed to fubject his own Son to the fufferings due to it: this plainly

plainly fhews, that he hated fin, as much as he loved his own Son. But,

2. God may conceive a very great displeasure against fin, and be highly incenfed and provoked by it, and yet fufpend the effects of his difpleafure, and defer the punishment of it for a great while and to imagine o therwife, argues a grofs mistake of the nature of God, arifing from our not confidering the attributes and perfections of God in conjunction and confiftency with one another. When we confider one attribute of God fingly, and feparate it from the reft, and frame fuch wide and large apprehenfions of it, as to exclude his other perfections, we have a falfe notion of God; and the reafon of this mistake is, because, among men, an eminent degree of any one excellency doth commonly fhut out others; becaufe, in our narrow and finite nature, many perfections cannot stand together; but it is quite otherwife in the divine nature. In infinite perfection, all perfections do meet and confift together; one perfection doth not hinder and exclude another: and therefore, in our conceptions of God, we are to take great heed that we do not raise any one attribute or perfection of God upon the ruin of the reft.

So that it is a false imagination of God, when we fo attribute juftice or anger to him, as to exclude his pa tience and long-fuffering: for God is not impotent in his anger, as we are; every thing that provokes him, doth not prefently put him out of patience, so that he cannot contain his wrath, and forbear immediately to revenge himself upon finners. In this fenfe, God fays. of himself, Ifa. xxvii. 4. Fury is not in me. There is nothing of a rafh and ungoverned paffion in the wife and juft God. Every fin, indeed, kindles his anger, and provokes his difpleafure against us, and, by our repeated and continued offences, we ftill add fuel to his wrath; but it doth not of neceflity instantly break forth like a confuming fire, and a devouring flame. The holy and righteous nature of God makes him neceffarily offended and displeased with the fins of men; but, as to the manifeftation of his wrath, and the effects of his anger, his wisdom and goodness do regulate and deter

mine the proper time and circumstances of punish

ment.

III. From the patience of God, and the delay of pu-nishment, men are apt to conclude, that God is not fo fevere in his nature as he is commonly reprefented. It is true, he hath declared his displeasure against fin, and threatened it with dreadful punishments; which he may do, in great wisdom, to keep the world in awe and order: but great things are likewife fpoken of his mercy, and of the wonderful delight he takes in the exercife of his mercy; fo that notwithstanding all the threatenings which are denounced against fin, it is to be hoped, that when fentence comes to be paft, and judgment to be executed, God will remember mercy in the midst of judgment, and that mercy will triumph over judgment; and that as now his patience ftays his hand, and turns away his wrath, fo, at the laft, the milder attributes of His goodness and mercy will interpofe and moderate the rigour and feverity of his juftice, and of this, his great patience and long-fuffering towards finners for the prefent feems to be fome kind of pledge and earneft; he that is fo flow to anger, and fo loth to execute punishment. may probably be prevailed upon, by his own pity and goodness, to remit it at the laft: and this is the more credible, because it is granted on all hands, that no perfon is obliged to execute his threatenings, as he is to make good his promifes: he that promifeth, paffeth a right to another; but he that threateneth, keeps the right and power of doing what he pleaseth in his own bands.

I fhall fpeak a little more fully to this, because it is almost incredible how much men bear up themselves upon vain and groundless hopes of the boundless mercy of God, and bless themselves in their hearts, faying, they fhall have peace, though they walk in the imagination of their hearts, to add drunkenness to thirft; that is, though they still perfift in their vices, and add one degree of fin

to another.

Now, for answer to this,

1. Let it be granted, that a bare threatening does not neceffarily infer the certainty of the event; and that the thing threatened fhall infallibly come to pafs: no per

fon

fon is obliged to perform his threatenings, as he is his, promises; the threatenings of God declare what fin deferves, and what the finner may justly expect, if he continue impenitent and incorrigible. But then we are to take notice, that repentance is the only condition that is implied in the threatenings of God, and will effectually hinder the execution of them: Jer. xviii. 7. 8. 9. 10. At what inftant I fpeak, fays God, concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to deftroy it; if that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what inftant 1 shall, Speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my fight, and obey not my voice, then will I repent of the good wherewith I faid I would benefit them. Now if, when God hath promif. ed to do good to a people, fin will hinder the blessing promifed, and bring down judgments upon them, much more when it is particularly threatened.

But, as to the cafe of final impenitency and unbelief, God, that he might ftrengthen his threatenings, hath added a fign of immutability to them, having confirmed them with an oath; I have fworn, faith the Lord, that they fhall not enter my rest: which, though it was fpoken to the unbelieving Jews, the Apostle to the Hebrews applies it to a final unbelief and impenitency under the gofpel, of which the infidelity of the Ifraelites was a type and figure. Now, though God may remit of his threatenings: yet his oath is a plain declaration that he will not; because it fignifies the firm and immutable determination of his will, and thereby puts an end to all doubts and controverfies concerning the fulfilling of his threatenings.

2. It is certainly much the wifest and safest way, to believe the threatenings of God, in the ftrictness and rigour of them, unless there be fome tacit condition evi, dently implied in them; becaufe, if we do not believe them, and the thing prove otherwife, the confequence of our mistake is fatal and dreadful. It is true, indeed, that God, by his threatenings, did intend to keep finners in awe, and to deter them from fin: but if he had any where revealed, that he would not be rigorous in

the

the execution of thefe threatenings, fuch a revelation would quite take off the edge and terror of them, and contradict the end and defign of them; for threatenings fignify very little, but upon this fuppofition, that in all probability they will be executed : and if this be true, it is the greatest madness and folly in the world to run the hazard of it.

3. As for thofe large declarations which the fcripture makes of the boundlefs mercy of God to finners, we are to limit them, as the fcripture hath done, to the time and feafon of mercy, which is this life, and while we are in the way. This is the day of mercy and falvation; and when this life is ended, the opportunities of grace and mercy are past, and the day of recompence and vengeance will begin. Now God tries us, and offers mercy to us; but if we obftinately refule it, judgment will take hold of us.

And then we must limit the mercy of God to the conditions upon which he offers it, which are, repentance for fins put, fincere obedience for the future; but if mes continue obftinate and impenitent, and encourage themselves in fin, from the mercy and patience of God; this is not a cafe that admits of mercy, but, on the contrary, his juftice will triumph in the ruin and deftruction of thofe who, inftead of embracing the offers of his mercy, do defpife and abufe them; He will laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear comes; when their fear comes as defolation, and their deftruction as a whirlwind; when diftrefs and anguish cometh upon them, then they may call upon him, but he will not answer: they may feek him early, but they hall not find him. If ́we despise the riches of God's goodness, and long-fuffering, and forbearance, he knows how to handle us, and will do it to purpofe; with the froward, he will fhew himfelf froward, and will be in a more efpecial manner fevere towards those who take encouragement from his 'mercy, to disbelieve and defpife his threatenings. And this God hath as plainly fold us, as words can express any thing, Deut. xxix. 19. 20. And if it come to pafs that when he heareth the words of this curfe, he bless himJelf in his heart, Jaying, I shall have peace, though, I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

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