[3.] The wicked by this forbearance of Go'd are rendered more inexcusable.
(1.) Because while they are in this life there is place for repentance. It is a great mercy that they are not presently cut off and destroyed, but that God giveth them opportunities of breaking off their sin by repentance : Rev. ii. 21, 'I gave her space to repent, and she repented not.' If God doth not suddenly execute judgment upon them, their crime is the greater. It was a favour not vouchsafed to the angels;
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they were executed quickly : 2 Peter ii. 4, * God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto the judgment.' The angels were the most glorious creatures, yet when they sinned against God they were presently in termino, in their final estate. Man is yet in via, in the way to a better estate. For God to batter to pieces vessels of gold, as soon as they had the least crack and flaw in them, and spare earthen vessels, this is the wonder of his mercy. Therefore it should be esteemed as a great favour and indulgence that he doth not pre- sently thrust down sinners to hell as soon they do provoke him ; much more that he hath provided a remedy, and offereth pardon to them, and hath not secluded them from all possibility and hopes of recovery for ever.
(2.) God provideth great helps and means of repentance for them ; for he hath sent his messengers into all parts of the earth, and com- manded every one to repent and prepare for the judgment : Acts xvii. 30, ' And the times of their ignorance God winked at, but now com- mandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day,' &c. ; so that the world now perisheth, for rejecting the means tending to recover them. The sins of the nations were not so great till God sent them the means. When the Lord giveth any people the means to repent, their sin is the more aggravated, and their judgment is the greater ; for the rejection of the means is a sin not only against our duty but our remedy, and a vile ingratitude and obstinacy, which hath no cloak and colour of excuse. For though men have an impo- tency of nature, and cannot convert themselves without the internal efficacy and power of the Holy Ghost, yet the impotency of nature doth not necessitate men to wallow in a course of sin against the light of conscience, and to put away the means by which they might be reformed.
III. What encouragement there is from God's long-suffering to induce men to repentance. And —
1. God's forbearance, and continuing of some grace to us, possesseth all men's minds with this apprehension, that he is gracious, merciful, willing to be reconciled, if we will but accept of terms agreeable to his glory and our good. Therefore it is said that ' the goodness of God leadeth to repentance,' Rom. ii. 4; for wherefore should he defer ven- geance, and forbear so long to punish thy sinful course, but only that thou mayest bethink thyself and make thy peace ? He could destroy thee in an instant ; and why doth he not, but to see if thou wilt yet repent, and love him, and serve him ? If a man were under a sentence of death, and the execution were delayed and put off from day to day, would not he think it were a fit time to interpose by supplication, and obtain his pardon ? Surely we should gather the like conclusion, and make supplication to our judge.
2. The encouragement is the greater, that we have not only time and life, but many mercies, forfeited mercies, continued to us ; such as food, raiment, friends, house, liberties, health, peace. What do all these do but invite us to God ? For whosoever hath the heart of a man would be thankful to his benefactor. Yea, the very beasts express a gratitude in their kind to them that feed them : Isa. i. 3, ' The ox
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knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib.' The dullest of the brute beasts will take notice of such as feed them and make much of them, and shall not we take notice of God, and be (»bsequious to him, from whom we have received all our supplies, our Lord and owner, who hath fed us and most kindly entreated us ? Hosea xi. 4, ' I drew them with the cords of a man, the bands of love.' Unless we renounce humanity, we cannot but look upon ourselves as having strong bands upon us, obliging us to duty and mindfulness of God.
3. These mercies do not harden in their own nature, but merely by the sinner's abuse of them ; for in their own nature they have a fitness and tendency to recover men to the love and service of God, but through our abuse they become snares, and entangle us in the service of the flesh. In the creature there is something good to lead us up to God, who is the first and chief good ; something imperfect, uncertain, and unsatisfactory, to drive us off from itself. Is there anything comfort- able in the creature ? Whence came it ? who put it there ? Common mercies point to their author, if we would recollect ourselves, and receive them with thanksgiving. Is there vanity and vexation in it ? why is it, but that the creatures may not detain us from God, that we may not sit on the threshold when we may come before the throne ? Our great fault is loving the creature above the Creator. Now the creature is embittered, and is an occasion of so much vexation and trouble, that we may not rest in itself. All the good that is in the creature is an image of that perfect good which is in God. Now, who would leave the substance to follow the shadow ? As if a virgin wooed should fall in love with the messengers of a great king, and despise the person himself. There is a sweetness in these things mixed with im- perfection ; the sweetness to draw us to God, the imperfection to drive us off from the creatures, to make us look higher. They do as it were say to us, We cannot satisfy you ; you must seek for happiness in that God that made us and you. Now men are inexcusable if, after all this, they forsake God for the creature : Jer, ii. 13, ' My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.'