3. The next sin is incorrigibleness under judgments. Here the Lord taketh up a long plea against them, from the 6th to the end of the 11th verse. Several judgments are mentioned, as famine, pesti- lence, drought, blasting, mildew, the fury of war, great fires kindled ia
A FAST SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE PARLIAMENT. 25
their cities; and still this cometh like a chime at the end of every peal, ' yet ye have not returned unto me, saitli the Lord,' To take notice of every expression would spend too much time. From the whole let me note a few things.
[1.] That God hath various judgments wherewith to exercise a sinful land and nation. We have divers lusts, and God hath divers judg- ments. He cannot want instruments of vengeance, for his artillery is never spent, nor our wickedness. If it be our custom to sin, it is his custom to punish.
[2.] Judgments are not removed, but changed, till we return to the Lord. Every kind of physic doth not work on all humours, therefore God changeth his dispensation. Kich men may wear out a famine, but the pestilence maketli no distinction, and in a war they smart most ; as an oak laden with boughs is but fit for lopping.
[3.] The Lord keepeth a catalogue of his dispensations. His book of remembrance standeth charged with all the methods of grace used for the reclaiming of a people : Isa. xi. 11, ' I will arise a second time to visit Israel ; ' the first is not forgotten. ' These ten times have they provoked me,' Num. xiv. 22. A malefactor that is often in prison, his ofi'ences are upon record, and will be aggravated to his condemna- tion. When a judgment cometh, we look upon it as rain that will dry up of its own accord. But in God's book of remembrance there is a mark set upon every providence.
[4.] Observe, God is very earnest after the creature's repentance. He trieth all kinds of methods, key after key, till he hath tried all the keys in the bunch. He threateneth, that he may not punish, and he pnnisheth, that he may not punish for ever; and if one punish- ment worketh not, he trieth another, and all to bring us to return to him.
[5.] Moral means work not without special grace. Here was dis- pensation upon dispensation, and yet ye returned not unto me. Judg- ments in themselves do but stupefy, till the plague of the heart be cured. The bad thief had one foot in hell, and yet he scoffeth. It is not physic that worketh the expulsion of the disease, but the internal strength and vigour of nature ; physic is but an outward help. So here.
[G.] Multiplied signs of anger should be noted, and make men be- think themselves. It is sad when God spendeth rods in vain ; when we are often put into the fire and often pulled out, the next burning w^ill be dreadful. Men cannot endure to have two things slighted, their love • or their anger ; their love, as David to Nabal ; their anger, as Nebuchadnezzar heated the furnace seven times hotter. All this view of the context hath been occasioned by that note of inference, 'Therefore.'
I now come to the words, here is a threatening and an exhortation ; or, Israel's danger, and Israel's duty; the one inferred out of the other.
1. The threatening — Thm luill I do unto thee. ' Thus,' — how? It is not specified what God will do ; and in the immediate context there is no threatening, but a charge and expostulation. How shall we ex- pound it then ? Some expound it generally ; ' Thus,' that is, according to the merit of those actions, as thy sins deserve ; that which I will do hath a vengeance and wrath in it, a sour dispensation to be sure, for it is a threatening, though the particular kind be not mentioned.
26 A FAST SERMON PREACHED BEFOKE THE PARLIAMENT.
' Thus ; ' that is, this kind of dispensations will I continue. He had spoken all along of judicial dispensations, of cleanness of teeth, blasting, mildew, pestilence, stink of the camp, burning of cities. And then ' thus,' that is, after this manner, will 1 continue till you be des- troyed.
' Thus ; ' the judgment was so great, that the prophet was loath to utter it, and therefore draweth a veil over it, and hideth it in a general expression ; as Timanthes drew a veil over Agamemnon's sorrow, concealing that grief which he could not sufficiently express. As if the Lord had said, I am loath to tell you what I will do ; but ' thus I will do.' There is terror enough in these words.
The next are more comfortable.
Because I luill do tJms unto thee. God threateneth evil, that he may not inflict it. To save sinners, mercy itself will speak in the dialect of justice, in a rough strain and rousing language. When the Lord threateneth most sadly and severely, he would still be understood as inviting to repentance : ' I will do thus unto you,' that if it were told, you would not believe it. And because ' I will do thus to you,' what then ?