2. Again, It is the way to prevent GocVs judgments, as we see in Nineveh and others. Put case we repent not : we cannot go safe in the city nor any- where, but God may meet with us, and strike us with his arrow. The only way to prevent his judgments is to meet him speedily by repentance. This is the way, not only to turn away the wrath of God concerning eternal damnation, but outward judgments, as we see Joel ii. 12, seq., and many other places.
3. Then again, should we be stricken, if we have made our peace with God,
214 god's inquisition.
if wc have repented, «// sJiall he rrrl conic, all sJiall lie turned to our f/oocL We know the sting is pulled out. If the sting of death bo pulled out, if the malignit}" and poison of an}' sickness, be it the plague or whatsoever, be pulled out, why should we fear it ? It comes in love, and shall be turned to our good ; and in the mean time God sweetens it. Here is a grand dif- ference between the children of God and others. If the judgment of God light upon a repentant person, it comes from favour and love, to correct him for his former sins. It is turned to good, and in the mean time it is sweetened with love, and mixed with comfort, and moderated, as it is Isa. xxvii. 7, ' Hath he alHicted thee as I afflicted others ?' No. He moderates his judgments to his children ; and not only moderates them, but sweetens them with comfort. If God do correct a repentant person, he is no loser by it, nay, he is a gainer. ' It is good for me that I have been afflicted,' Ps. cxix. G7. Oh the blessed estate of that person that repents and turns from his evil ways ! But if a man do not repent, but live still in sin, what a state is he in ! God cares not for his }>''(' ijers. ' If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear my prayers,' Ps. Ixvi. 18. And what a state is a man in, when his prayers, that should beg for blessings, and avoid judgments, and procure deliverance, are not heard, ' but shall be turned into sin !' "When God, that is ' a God hearing prayer,' shall not regard his prayer, what a case is this ! Yet if we regard iniquity in our hearts, if we repent not of our sins, God will not regard our pra3'ers.
Then, besides that, there is a noise of fear in the unrepentant person^s heart. Wheresoever he goes, he is afraid of the plague, afraid of sickness, afraid of death, afraid of everybody. He knows he hath his heaven here : he hath not the sting of evils pulled out, therefore he is afraid he shall go from the terrors of conscience to the torments of hell. His conscience speaks terrible things to him. What a cursed state is this ? How can he look with comfort any way '? If he look to heaven, God is ready to pour the vials of his wrath, to execute his vengeance on him. If he look to the earth, he knows not how soon he shall be laid there, or that the earth may swallow him up. If he think of death, it strikes terror to him. Everything is uncomfortable to an unrepentant sinner. Let all this stir us up to this duty of repentance. It is the end why God sends his judgments. First, he warns us by his word. And if w^e neglect that, he sends judgments, and they seize on us. That is a second warning. And if lesser judgments will not warn us, then he sends greater, and all to make us repent. If we repent, we give the judg- ments their answer, and he will either remove them or sanctify them. So much for that. A word of the generality.
' No man.'
' No man repented of his evil ways.' We see, then,
l)oct. That (jeneralitij is no jilea.
' We must not follow a multitude to do evil,' Exod. xxiii. 2. We must not follow the stream, to do as the world doth. Will any man reason thus ? Now there die so many weekly of the plague. It is no matter whither I go. I will go now into any place, without any respect to my company, &c. Will he not reason, on the contrary. Therefore I will take heed, I will carry preservatives about me, and look to my company ? Self-love will teach a man to reason so. The infection is great, therefore I will take the more heed. And will not spiritual wisdom teach us, the more spreading and infectious sin is, the more heed to take ? ' When all flesh had corrupted their way, then came the flood,' Gen. vi. 12. Generality of sin makes way
god's inquisition, 215
for sweeping judgments that takes all awaj. Therefore we have more reason to tremble when the mfection of sin hath seized upon all, when ' no man repents of his wickedness.' A man should resolve, Surely I will come out of such company, as we see Lot departed out of Sodom, and David in his time 'was as a peHcan in the wilderness,' Ps. cii. G. I will rather go to heaven alone, than go to hell and be damned with a multitude. Mul- titude is no plea to a wise man. Shall we think it a means to increase danger in worldly things ? and shall we think it a plea in spiritual things ? It hath been the commendation of God's children, that they have striven against the stream and been good in evil times. ' Redeem the time, be- cause the days are evil,' saith the apostle, Eph. v. 16. A carnal Christian saith, Do as the rest do ; but saith- David, ' Mine eyes gush out with rivers of waters, because men keep not thy law,' Ps. cxix. 13G. Do not fear that you shall pass unrespected if you be careful to look to yourselves this way. If there be but one Lot in Sodom, one Noah and his family in the old world, he shall be looked to as a jewel among much dross. God will single him out as a man doth his jewels, when the rubbish is burnt. God will have a special care to gather his jewels. When a man makes conscience of his ways in ill times and ill company, God regards him the more for witnessincr to his truth and standing for and owning his cause in ill times. It shews sincerity and strength of grace, when a man is not tainted with the common corruptions. * No man repented.'