2. The threatening of them is an ordinance of God, to call us unto the use of such means as xvherehy they may he prevented.
He foi'etells our destruction, that we may not be destroyed; as it was in the case of Nineveh. And this is the only symptom whereby "\ve find out and discern the nature of threatened impendent judg- ments. If the consideration of them be an ordinance of God, stirring us up to the dihgent use of the means whereby they may be pre- vented, the design of God is to give in deliverance in the issue. If it doth not, they are inevitable. God holds the balance yet in his hand, and we know not which way we incline. The best prognosti- cation we can take, is from the frame of our own hearts under the threatenings of them.
Here lies the trial of this poor land and nation at this day; judg-
622 THE DESIGN OF IMPENDENT JUDGMENTS.
ment is deseiTed, judgment is threatened, judgment is approacliing, — the clouds are the dust of his feet. If all sorts of men turn not to God by repentance, — if we are not humbled for our contempt of the gospel and outrage against it, — if we leave not our provoking sins, — evil will overtake us, and we shall not escape. And yet, on the other hand, by a due application unto him who holds the balance in his hand, mercy may glory against justice, and we may have dehverance.
Those great men who suppose all things pervious unto their wisdom, and conquerable by their industry, who have a thousand flattering contrivances for the safety of a nation, cannot more despise these things than I do all their counsels without them. And when they shall be at a loss, and shall find one disappointment following on the neck of another, those who attend unto the advice of God in this case shall find rest and peace in their own souls. And as for them who scoff at these things, and say, " Where is the promise of his coming?" — that is, in the way of judgment, — " for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the creation;" there needs no regard mito God in these things ; trouble us not with the fooleries of your repentance and reformation; — God will "laugh at their calamity," etc., Prov. i. 26, to the end.
This is the second thing we were to insist on, for the clearing and confirmation of the general proposition before laid dowTi.
III. Our third inquiry is, " What evidences we have at present, or what warnings we have had, of approaching judgments?" for this also belongs unto the indispensable necessity of repentance and reformation, upon the approaching of troubles. And they are the ordinances of God unto that end; which when they are despised, desolating judgments will ensue.
And we may, unto this end, observe these things : —
First, Ordinarily, God doth not bring wasting, desolating judg- ments on any jjeople, church, or nation, but that he gives them warn- ings of their approach.
I say, he doth not ordinarily do so ; for he may, if he please, s*-* ^rise a wicked, provoking generation of men with the most dreadful de- structions; as he did Sodom and Gomorrah of old. And very many daily are so surprised, as unto their o^^^l apprehensions; though, really, God had given them signs of what was coming upon them, but they regarded them not, and so perished as in a moment. But ordinarily, before he executes great and severe judgments, he gives such indica- tions, signs, and warnings of their coming, as that men should be forced to take notice of them, unless they be absolutely hardened and blinded. So he dealt with the old world, in the building of the ark, and the ministry of Noah; so he dealt with the church imder the Old Testament, in and by the ministry of the prophets, — see Amos
THE DESIGN OF IMPENDENT JUDGMENTS. 623
iii. 6-8; and so he hath done with all others, who have had any know- ledge of him or of his ways. They that are wise may discern these things, Hos. xiv. 9; Matt. xvi. 3 ; Mic. vi. 9; Dan. xii. 10. And in all heathen stories of the times that passed over them, we find re- marks of strange indications of approaching desolations. And he doth it for two ends : —
1. For the satisfaction of his own goodness and love to mankind in the exercise of patience and forbearance unto the utmost, Hos, vi. 4; as also for the manifestation of the glory of his justice, when he comes to execute the severity of his wrath. When men are sur- prised with public calamities, they shall not be able to say. Would none tell us of their approach? would none give us warning of them? — had we been told of the terror of the Lord in his judgments, we would have turned from our iniquities, that we might have escaped. In this case, it is usual with God in the Scripture to call heaven and earth to witness against men, that he did warn them, by various means, of what would befall them in the end. This is our principal reason why this weak but sincere " Testimony for God" is published. And this shall be an aggravation of their misery in the day of their dis- tress, when they shall seriously reflect upon themselves as unto their folly, guilt, and obstinacy, in despising the warnings which they had received ; — which is a great part of the punishment of the damned in hell, Ezek. xxxix. 23, 24.