But now for particular sins, whereby we may know when judgment is coming. These they are :
(1.) First, Injustice and formality in religion. When men are generally unjust, destruction is near ; and indeed, how can a Christian soul look upon men's courses abroad iij these regards, ' but he shall weep in secret,' Lam. i. 16 ? Is there not a general injustice ? Will not men get any cause, so they have a good purse ? Is not innocency trodden down ofttimes ?
2. And so for religion. It is generally neglected. Indifierency and formality they are the sins of the times. Hero is a sweet progress. In Queen Elizabeth's time, we began with zeal and earnestness ; but now -we begin to stagger whether religion is the better. We will join and put them together, that God hath put an eternal difference between, ' light and dark- ness.' Is this our progress after so much teaching, to put ofl" God with formality, and deny the power ?
(3.) Again, Another particular sin foreshewing judgment, is persecution of religion and religious men. When God is worshipped with conscience as he should be, what imputations are laid on it ! I need not speak. The world knows well enough. Can God endure this, when conscience of his service shall go under the brand of opposition ? God is much beholding to the times, when there is nothing so heartily hated as that. There are many things loathsome, as deboishness,f &c. But what is so eagerly and heartily hated as the power of godliness ? That which they have been known to do * Qu. ' no care ' ?— Ed. t That is, ' debauchery.'— G.
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for conscience, liiith been matter of reproach aud ruin almost to many men. If a man will not prostitute bis conscience to a creature, to make an idol of liim, to set him highest, if he will not be buxom, and crack his conscience for a creature, he is scarce thought fit to live in the world. Will God suffer this, if these things bo not amended ? If anything be good in reli- gion, the more the better, the more exact Christian the better. Exactness in other things is best. Is to be best in the best naught, when to be best in that which is not so good carries away the commendations ? In 1 Thess. ii. IG, ' The wrath of God is come on them to the utmost ; God they hate aud they are contrary to all men.' This is a forerunner of destruction, the spiteful opposing of goodness. God will not endure it long.
(4.) And so when men will //o on incorriifibly in sin, as these here, * they rush as the horse into the battle ;' when they will not be reclaimed, it is a forerunner of destruction. Alas ! the ministers of God strive with men, ' but they break off the cords,' Ps. ii. B, and cry. Tush ! they are silly men ; shall we yield to them ? We know what is for our gain, and profit, and credit in the world better than so. Let us look to that, and not be hampered in these religious bonds. No ; we are wiser than so. Thus when men are incorrigible, aud account the wisdom of God stark folly, it is a sign of destruction. There is an excellent place for this, Ezek. xxiv. 12-14, * She hath wearied herself with Hes, and her great scum went not out of her : she would not have her filthiness taken from her. In her filthiness is lewdness ; because I would have purged thee,' with the word and the preaching of judgments, ' and thou wouldst not be purged ; therefore thou shalt not be purged till thou die, until I cause my fury to rest upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it : it shall come to pass, I will do it.' When God goes about to purge us by his word, and we will not amend our ways, wo will not stoop, but ' strengthen an iron sinew, and a whore's forehead,' Jer. iii. 3. We will not be purged, nay, saith God, thou shalt not be purged till I purge thee out of the world to hell, till my fury rest on thee. I the Lord have spoken it, it shall come to pass, Isa. xlvi. 11. Thei-e is another notable place, Prov. xxix. 1, ' He that is a man of reproof,' that is, a man that is sermon-proof, that is often reproved and yet carries himself impudently and hardens his heart, and stiffens his neck, ' he shall suddenly be destroyed.' He doth not mean but that he had warning enough ; but because after long warning he hardens his neck, he shall suddenly be destroyed, when he looks not for it, ' and that without remedy.' There is the same phrase in 2 Chron. xxxvi. IG, ' There was no remedy,' when they did not regard God's ministers, that directed them the way to heaven, but \Vould live in rebellion against the means of salvation. Then saith God, ' there was no remedy.' God sent his messengers betimes, and had com- passion on his people. He would not have had them perish. * They trifled with him and mocked his messengers,' accounted them weak men. They despised his word, and misused his prophets ; and then the Lord's wrath rose against his people, and * there was no remedy.' So when people are as those here in the text, that ' they rush as the horse into the battle,' that they are sermon-proof, that when every sermon they hear, as the hammer on the smith's anvil, makes them harder and harder, as Moses speaking to Pharaoh increased the hardness of his heart, it is a sign of destruction.