2. They have a due sense of the wrath of God. The prophet that threatened it saith, that ' rottenness entered into his bones, and his bowels quivered,' Hab. iii. 16. A lion trembleth to see a dog beaten before him. It is a trouble to the godly to think of the horrible punishments of the wicked, which they dread not, nor dream of ; but the saints have a reverence for their Father's anger. Search the scriptures, and you shall find that the godly are more troubled at God's judg- ments than the wicked themselves who are to feel them : Dan. iv. 19, ' Daniel was astonished for an hour, and his thoughts troubled him,' when he was to reveal God's judgments against Nebuchadnezzar. So the prophet, Jer. iv. 19, ' My bowels, my bowels ; I am pained at the A^ery heart;' ver. 22, 'But my people are foolish, tliey are sottish children ;' they, that brought the evil upon themselves, are senseless and stupid : Ps. xc. 11, 'Who knows the power of thine anger ? according
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to thy fear, so is thy wrath.' Few lay to heart the terrible effects of God's heavy wrath ; but the righteous do ; they are truly affected with it, and with the cause of it, which is sin. God's wrath affects men according to the reverence and fear wherewith they entertain it, but to the wicked it is but a vain and empty terror.
3. The certainty of the threatenings. God's people see wrath and judgment in the face of sin, whereas those who are drowned in sensuality and carnal delights scoff at God's menaces and jest at his judgments, neither crediting the one nor expecting the other, as if it were but a mere mockery : Isa. v. 19, ' Come, say they, let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it.' In their security they will believe nothing but what they feel.
4. The bane which cometli to communities and societies from the increase of the wicked, especially when their wickedness groweth to an height ; that is, when it is committed with boldness : Isa. iii. 9, * They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not ;' when men have lost all shame and modesty, and will not be restrained by any law. Surely if we know the evil. of sin, the terribleness of God's wrath, believe the truth of his threatenings, and then consider the danger that will come to our dearest country, we cannot but be greatly moved. If a man were sailing in a bark, and see it guided so that it must necessarily run against a rock and suffer shipwreck, he would be sorry and deeply affected.
Thirdlv, It cometh from a good cause.
1. In the general it argueth a good constitution of soul : 2 Peter ii. 8, ' For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hear- ing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.' Passively he was vexed with the impurity of the Sodomites, and actively he vexed himself. So far as we are carnal we are pleased with sin, so far as we are spiritual we are vexed with it : Isa. Ixiii. 10, ' They rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit.' The better any are, the more affected with public sins and judgments. Christ vreepeth over Jerusalem for their impenitency and approaching desolation : Luke xix. 41, 42, ' As he came near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying. If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes.' This was in the midst of the acclamations and hosannahs of the multitude, when he was welcomed with a triumph. Paul telleth the Corinthians, 2 Cor. xii. 21, ' I am afraid, when I come among you, my God will humble me, and I shall bewail many which have not repented of the fornication, lasciviousness, and uncleanness which they have committed.' The more holy any one is, the more he is affected and struck at heart with the sins of others.
2. A deep resentment of God's dishonour. "When his glory is obscured, it is a wound to the hearts of his children ; as a child can- not endure to hear or see his father disgraced. Surely God's glory is dear to the saints : Ps. Ixix. 9, ' The reproaches of them that reproaclied thee are fallen upon me.' Injuries done to God and religion affect them no less nearly than personal injuries which are done to them- selves. So affectionately zealous are they for God"s honour, which is obscured by the wickedness of the wicked., who forsake the perfect
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righteous law of God, and, iisurpiag God's authority, make a new law to themselves.
3. Compassion to men. Though they are wicked men, yet they are men, made after God's image, remotely capable to know and love God, and live with him for ever, whom they should otherwise embrace as brethren ; to see them treasure up wrath against the day of wrath should be a grief and a trouble to us ; to think of the everlasting destruction which they will bring upon themselves should afflict us. Thus the apostle : Phil. iii. 18, 19, ' Of whom I have told you often^ and now tell you weeping, that they are enemies to the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction.' To see men go by droves to hell, it should work on our bowels. If this brought Christ out of heaven to die for sinners, surely this should make us sadly resent their condition.