1163 this was like to be a very fore and dreadful judgement; yet he foretells, that this would not stay God's hand, nor fatisfy his anger; because he forefaw, that they would ftill grow worfe, and continue impenitent: For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is Stretched out ftill. For the people turneth not unto him that fmiteth them, neither do they feek the Lord of hosts.

In which words there are thefe two things very useful at all times, but at this time especially most proper and feasonable for our confideration.

1. The defign and intention of God in fending judgements upon a people; and that is, to reclaim them from their fins; implied in these words, For the people turneth not to him that fmiteth them: which intimate to us, that this is the end which God aims at in his judgements, to take us off from our fins, and to bring us to himself.

2. The reafon of the continuance of God's judgements; because the people were not reclaimed by them. And this is fully expreffed in the text that therefore God's anger is not turned away, but his hand is ftretched out ftill; because the people turneth not unto him that fmiteth them, &c.

Of these two I crave leave to speak, as plainly and briefly as I can.

I. The defign and intention of God in fending judge ments upon a people; and that is, to reclaim them from their fins. This indeed is the intention of all God's difpenfations towards us in this world. The end of all his mercies and benefits is, to take us off from fin, and to oblige and win us to our duty. So the apoftle tells us, Rom. ii. 4. that the defign of God's goodness, and long-fuffering, and forbearance towards us, is to lead us to repentance.

And this is the way wherein God delights to deal with us. The way of judgement and feverity is that which he is more averfe from; a course which he unwillingly takes with us, and not without fome difficulty and reluctancy. He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men and were it not that we are fuch perverfe creatures, as not to be wrought upon by kind nefs, fo wild as not to be tamed by gentle ufage, God would not handle us in any other way. It is our obfti

nacy

nacy and untractableness to the methods of his goodness which conftraineth, and almoft forceth him, against his inclination, to take the rod into his hand, and to chaftife us with it. He would draw us with the cords of love, and the bands of a man, as he expreffeth himself in the prophet; but we will not follow him: and therefore we provoke him to turn those cords into whips, and to change the gentle methods of his kindnefs into ways of harfhnefs and severity.

And yet, when he comes to take this courfe with us, he ftill, like a kind and tender-hearted father, aims at our benefit and advantage. He defigns kindness to the fons of men, by all thofe judgements which do not kill them, and cut them off from the opportunity and poffibility of improving them. If he fends evils upon us, it is that thereby he may do us fome greater good: if he afflicts us, it is not because it is pleafant to him to deal harfhly with us, but because it is profitable and neceffary for us to be fo dealt with: and if at any time he imbitter our lives by miferies and fufferings, it is becaufe he is loath to fee us perifh in pleasant ways, and chufeth rather to be fomewhat fevere towards us, than fuffer us to be utterly undonė.

This Mofes declares to have been the great end of all the fevere providences of God towards the people of Ifrael, in their long wandering in the wilderness, and all the difficulties and hardships they were there exercised withal for the fpace of forty years: Deut. viii. 15. 16. Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery ferpents and Scorpions, &c. that he might bumble thea, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end.

So that the afflicting providences of God are not only apt in their own nature to do us good, but, which is a more exprefs argument of the divine goodness, God intends and aims at this end by them: he does not fend judgements upon this theatre of the world for his fport and paftime, nor fet on one part of his creation to bait another for his own diverfion he does not, like fome of the cruel Roman Emperors, take pleasure to exercise men with dangers, and to fee them play bloody prizes before him.

Nay,

Nay, he does nothing that is fevere out of humour and paffion, as our earthly parents many times do. Indeed he is angry with us for our fins; but yet fo as still to pity our perfons: and when his providence makes ufe of any fharp and cutting inftruments, it is with this merciful defign, to let out our corruption; if he cafes us into the furnace of affliction, it is that he may refine and purify us from our dross.

So that though the judgements of God be evils in themselves, yet, confidering the intentions of God in them, they are no real objections against his goodness, but rather arguments for it; as will appear, if we confider these three things.

1. That the judgements of God are proper for the cure of a far greater evil of another kind.

2. They are proper for the prevention of far greater evils of the fame kind.

3. They are not only proper to thefe ends, but in many cafes very neceffary.

I.

The judgements of God are very proper for the cure of a far greater evil of another kind; I mean the evil of fin. We take wrong measures of things, when we judge thofe to be the greatest evils which afflict our bodies, wound our reputation, and impoverish our eIftates. For thofe certainly are far the greatest which affect our nobleft part; which vitiate our understandings, and deprave our wills, and wound and defile our fouls. What corrupt humours are to the body, that fin is to the fouls of men; their difeafe, and their death. Now, it is very agreeable with the goodness and mercy of the divine providence, to adminifter to us whatever is proper for the cure of fo great an evil. If we make ourselves fick, that is our own folly, and no fault of the phyfician: but we are beholden to him, if he recover us, though it be by very bitter and unpleafing means. All temporal judgements which are fhort of death, are properly medicinal: and if we will but fuffer them to have their kindly operation upon us, they will work a cure ; and how grievous and distasteful foever they may be for the prefent, they will prove mercies and bleffings in the iffue. Upon this account David reckons afflictions among the happy bleffings of his life: Pfal. cxix. 71. It is

good

good for me (fays he) that I have been afflicted; and he gives the reafon of it in the fame Pfalm, ver. 67. Ber fore I was afflicted, I went aftray; but now I have learned thy precepts.

So that though all afflictions are evils in themselves, yet they are good for us; because they discover to us our difeafe, and tend to our cure. They are a fenfible ar gument and conviction to us of the evil and danger of fin. We are commonly fuch fools as Solomon fpeaks of, who make a mock of fin; and, like children, will be playing with the edge of it, till it cut and wound us. We are not fufficiently fenfible how great an evil it is, till we come to feel the difmal effects and confequences of it. And therefore, to rectify our apprehenfions concerning it, God makes us fuffer by it. Thus Elihu describes to us the happy effect of afflictions upon finners, Job xxxvi. 8. 9. 10. If they be bound in fetters, and held in cords of affiction; then God Jheweth them their work, and their tranfgreffion that they have exceeded. He openeth alfo their ear to difcipline, and commandeth that they return from their iniquity. God doth but invite and intreat us by his mercies; but his judgements have a more powerful and commanding voice. When he holds men in cords of affiction, then he openeth their ear to difcipline. In profperity, we are many times incapable of counsel and inftruction; but when we are under God's correcting hand, then we are fit to be spoken withal.

2. The judgements of God are likewise proper for the preventing of far greater evils of the fame kind; I mean further punishments. In fending of temporal judgements upon finners, God ufually proceeds with them by degrees. First, he lets y feveral fingle fhots at them; and if upon these they will take warning and come in, they may prevent the broadfides and vollies of his wrath.

But the great advantage of all is, that temporal judgements may prove to us the opportunities of preventing the miferable and unfpeakable torments of a long eternity. For all judgements which are not final, leaving men a space for repentance, have in them the mercy of a reprieve; which, by a ferious and timely return to God, may be improved into a pardon.

Befides that adversity and a fictions do usually difpofe

men

men, and put them into a fit temper for repentancé. They fix our minds, and make us ferious; and are apt to awaken us to confideration, and fuggeft to us fuch thoughts and meditations as these. If temporal evils be fo grievous, how infupportable then will be the extreme and endless torments of the next life? If in this day of God's grace and patience we sometimes meet with fuch feverity, what may we not look for in the day of vengeance ? If thefe drops of God's wrath which now and then fall upon finners in this world, fill them with fo much anguish and affliction, how deplorably miserable will thofe wretches be upon whom the storms of his fury fhall fall? Who would venture to continue in fin, when the greatest miferies and calamities which we feel in this life, are but a small and inconfiderable earnest of those woeful wages which finners fhall receive in the day of recompence.

3. The judgements of God are not only proper to thefe ends, but in many cafes very neceffary. Our condition many times is fuch as to require this fevere way of proceeding; becaufe no other courfe that God hath taken, or can take with us, will probably do us good. God does not delight in the miseries and calamities of his creatures; but we put him upon these extremities; or rather his own goodness and wifdom together do prompt and direct him to thefe harsh and rigorous ways. May be we have brought ourselves into that dangerous ftate, and the malignity of our diftemper is fuch, that it is not to be removed without violent phyfic, and that cannot be administered to us without making us deadly fick.

So that the judgements of God, which are many times abroad in the earth, are nothing else but the wife methods which the great phyfician of the world ufes for the cure of mankind. They are the rods of his fchool, and the difcipline of his providence, that the inhabitants of the world may learn righteousness. They are a merciful invention of heaven, to do men that good which many times nothing elfe will, and to work that bleffed effect upon us which neither the wife councils and admonitions of God's word, nor his milder and gentler dealings with us, can ufually attain.

Thus we find in the parable, Luke xv. that the providence of God makes ufe of hunger and extreme neceffity

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