SERMON I.

THE SUDDEN DESTRUCTION OF OBDURATE

OFFENDERS.

PROVERBS xxix. 1.

He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

THIS passage describes, what wicked men

ought indeed to take particular notice of, the manner in which the Lord exercises his judgments towards them. It is his way to give long warning, because he willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live. He warns by the admonitions of conscience; by his Spirit, word, and ministry; or by the dealings of his providence: therefore it is said, "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed." If the wicked remain still hardened and obstinate, then, when he becomes ripe for destruction, it is said, he "shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." So that it should seem from this description, that, notwithstanding the long train of warnings he may have had, after all, partly

through the growing hardness of his heart, and partly through the just judgment of God, when he is effectually destroyed it is quite on a sudden. Nay, he might naturally imagine himself in less danger of perishing then, when he does perish, than at any other time; his former escapes from imminent dangers, which at first he was wont to fear, having contributed to harden his neck, and make him ripe for destruction. What an awful lesson here for wicked men! Are any of you now less and less molested with a troubled conscience; can you now laugh at those religious pangs you once had in hearing the Gospel, as the effects of superstition? it is a sign you have hardened your neck: beware! you have been often reproved; when your destruction does come (which it will if you continue hardened), the text tells you it will not give warning; your destruction shall be sudden, and that without remedy.

That the lesson of the text may be the better understood, I would, before I apply it to our own times, give a few Scripture instances of it. Perhaps from them it may appear to be a common way of the Lord's dealings with the world.

Behold Ahab, king of Israel. There was none like unto him, who did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord; who did very abominably also in following idols; who had four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and

four hundred prophets of the groves, which ate at the table of Jezebel his wife. He is often reproved: the prophet Elijah by his prayers fetches down fire from heaven: his false prophets can do nothing by their prayers, but shew the vanity of the god they worshipped: yet does he harden his neck still, and, by the impulse of his wicked wife, he persecutes Elijah; and, in the case of Naboth the Jezreelite, adds theft and murder to idolatry. Here he is reproved again; and judgment also is tempered with mercy in the manner of inflicting it. Nay, he reigns prosperously, and gains two signal victories over the Syrians. Thus does he, "after his hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up to himself wrath against the day of wrath." He goes fearlessly to Ramoth-Gilead, though Micaiah, from the mouth of God, had denounced he should perish there. He enters into the midst of the battle; a certain man draws a bow," at a venture" the expression is; it had a commission, however, to execute the Lord's decree on wicked Ahab; to destroy him suddenly, who had often been reproved in vain: and "in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, did dogs lick his blood," as Elijah had foretold.

Behold hard-hearted Pharaoh. His pride and cruelty, the repeated chastisements by various plagues inflicted on him, his deceitful promises of amendment, and his growing hardness of heart on the whole, under the most

powerful reproofs, all must know who are at all acquainted with Old-Testament history. It is not enough to observe that he was at last destroyed: the peculiar manner in which he was destroyed is that which calls for our attention, according to the text. Long does God wait; full oft does he warn you, O wicked men; but when he does destroy, it is not only a full destruction, but it gives no warning. Pharaoh, pursuing the Israelites, has no idea of being drowned in the Red Sea that was a providence he never would have suspected.

But why dwell we on single persons? ? Behold Sodom and Gomorrah. No doubt they had been warned and reproved very often by righteous Lot, whom God had sent to live among them some time before their destruction. What so much awes and checks wicked men as the opposite example of the godly? No doubt Lot, though silent, must have reproved them by his righteous conduct. But was he silent? We are told that he vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds, and no doubt he would testify against their wickedness: "Nay, my brethren, do not so wickedly," was his language. Thus Sodom and Gomorrah had long warning. Were they not also suddenly cut off, according to the text? I cannot shew this in a more lively manner than in our Lord's words; "As it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they

builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all."

Were not the men of Noah's generation also warned a long season? Yes: we are told that the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing." He is called by St. Peter a preacher of righteousness. How often, and how loudly, did he in his day warn them of their wicked ways, and assure them of the speedy approach of vengeance! Uncharitable moping enthusiast, we may well suppose, was the title he got for his pains among them. Many, too, would, no doubt, vindicate their crimes, and attempt to prove that he represented God as an unmerciful Being. In sin they continued, hardening their necks: but when at length their destruction came (God gives long warning, but fully and suddenly he destroys at last), this was the manner of it, according to our Lord: "In the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and knew not until the flood came and took them all away."

What is to be learnt from these things, since it appears that this is the Lord's usual method of proceeding? Let wicked men awake out of sleep, lest sudden destruction overtake them. For I have one more instance to produce, the most important of all