♦ Not given in B, C— G. § Added in B, C— G.
t ' Saith he' omitted in B, C— G. || ' Brutish ' omitted in B, C— G.
X That is, ' unconscientious.' — G. "| ' That are near him ' omitted in B, C. -G
1 ' The less ' is blunderingly omitted in C. — G.
" ' Of ' in G, another misprint. — G. VOL. IV. F
82 judgment's reason.
family* well ordered : ' You have I known of all the nations of the world,' saith he, ' and therefore I will he sure to punish and to correct you,' Amos iii. 2. Let none therefore hear themselves upon their profession, I do thus and thus, so many good things, therefore I may he hold ; nay, therefore, you may be the less bold. Moses cannot so much as murmur at the waters of strife, but he must not come into Canaan, Num. xx. 2. David cannot have a proud thought of numbering the people, but he must smart for it, 1 Chron. xxi. 2. The Corinthians cannot come irreverently to the com- munion, ' but for this cause many are weak and sick.'
I beseech you, let us take it to heart, and let no profane person take en- couragement because God so deals with his own : ' If God deal thus with the green tree, what will he do with the dry ?' ' If judgment begin at the house of God, where shall the sinner and ungodly appear ? ' 1 Pet. iv. 18. If the godly taste of the cup of God's anger, the wicked must drink off the dregs of his wi-ath. And therefore let no man take offence that God follows the church with crosses, that the cross follows the poor church in the world. Alas ! they carry corruptions about them continually. We see here,t ' you, many of you,' &c. Let us therefore labour to make an end of our salvation with fear and trembling, the best of us all.
Doct. 8. One thing more before I leave this ; that is, how God in justice remmihereth mercy. ' Many,' he saith not, ' all,' and ' many of you are u-eak ;' he takes not all away with death. It is a mercy, then, that the correction is outward in the body, weak in body, and sick. There was not a spiritual giving up to hardness of heart. Beloved ! if we consider what kind of judgments spiritual judgments are, to haA^e a seared conscience, and a hard and desperate heart, which are forerunners of hell and of eternal judgment and damnation, we would much prize mercy in judgment. Oh ! it is not so with God's church. Their visitations are in the outward man ; they are weak, and sick, and die, but God is merciful to their souls, as we shall see after. ^ And it should be an art we should learn and labour to he expert in, to consider God's gracious dealing in the midst of his connection ; I that in the midst of con-ections § we might have thankful, and cheerful, || and fruitful hearts, which we shall not have, except we have some matter of thankfulness. Consider, doth God make me weak ? He might have struck me with death, or if not taken away my mortal life, he might have given me up to a spiritual death, to a hard heart, to desperation, &c. So let us search out in the visitations that we are in, always some matter of mitigation, and we shall always find that it might have been worse with us than it is.H So much shall serve for that verse, that is, the cause and the kinds, * For this cause many are weak and sick, and many sleep.' Now I come to the cure.
* If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.'
This course, if it had been used by the Corinthians, they might have prevented their weakness, sickness, and over- timely** death ; and so we, if we take the course prescribed by the apostle here, may prevent the like ; and perhaps God will not now, in this dispensation that he useth in the latter end of the world, outwardly visit us, for now usually his dispensation and government is more inward. And therefore we should take the more
* ' Them ' in B, C— G. § ' That in them ' in B, C— G.
t ' As we see here ' in B, C. — G. Ii ' Cheerful ' omitted in B, 0. — G.
X ' Corrections ' in B, C. — G.
^ ' This shall serve for the cause ' in B, C ; and ' So much . . . sleep ' omitted. — G. ** That is, ' untimely ' or 'premature." — Ed. ^ ' Hereafter ' in C. — G.
JUDGMENT S EEASON. 83
heed to what followeth ; he may give us up, I say, to bllndnesg, to deadness^ to security. He doth not usually give men up to sickness, and to death, now, for such breaches, but his government is more spiritual. Indeed then, for the terroi' of all, his government was more outward in the primitive times of the church. To come therefore to that I mean to speak of: the cure of all is jadijimj. There is a judge set up in our own hearts. ' If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged of the Lord.' To open the words a little.*