(3.) He doth exercise his judgment in blinding and hardening of wicked men ; yet they shall not see nor perceive what he is doing, but shall have advantages to do wickedly, and prejudices to blind them therein. So expressly, Dan. xii. 10, " They shall do wickedly, and they shall not understand." There are two parts of his judgment in such a day, about and against them. First, His giving of them up to their own lusts, to do wickedly : " They shall do wickedly." Wicked they are, and they shall act accordingly; they shall do it in such a day to the purpose, Rev. xvi. 10, 11. Christ will providentially suffer occasions, advantages, provocations, to lie before them, so that they shall do wickedly to the purpose ; they shall have daily fresh occasions to curse, repine, blaspheme, oppose Christ and his interest, or to seek themselves, and the satisfaction of their lusts, which at other times
14-i PROVIDENTIAL CHANGES,
they shall not be able to do. Be tliey in wliat condition tliey will, high or low, exalted or depressed, in power or out of it, they shall in such a season do wickedly, according as their advantages and provo- cations are. And for men to be given up to their own hearts' lusts, is the next door to the judgment of the great day, when men shall be given up to sin, self, and Satan, unto eternity. Secondly, He blinds them : " None of the wicked shall understand." Strange ! Who seems so wise and so crafty as they 1 Who do understand the times, and their advantages in them, more than they ? Who more prudent for the management of affairs than they ? But the truth is, none of them, no, not one of them, shall, or do, or can understand ; that is, they understand not the work of Christ, the business anil design that he hath in hand, nor what is the true and proper interest of them who are concerned in these dispensations. There are many ways whereby Christ exerts this blinding and infatuating efficacy of his providence towards wicked men in such a day of judgment, that they shall not understand or know that he is at all concerned in the works that are in the world.
Sometimes the very things that he doth are such, and so contrary to the prejudicate opinions of men, that they can never understand that they are things which he will own. How many have been kept from understanding any thing of Christ in the world, in the days wherein we live, from their inveterate prejudices on the account of old superstitions, and forms of government which have been removed ! Tliey will rather die than believe that Christ hath any hand in these things: " They shall not understand."
Sometimes the persons by whom he doth them, keep them from understanding. " Shall these men save us?" — these whom they look upon as the offscouring of the earth. " Sure, if Christ had any work to do in the world, he would make use of other manner of instru- ments for the accomplishing of them." They are no less offended with the jjersons that do them than the things that are done. Christ worketh all this, that they should not understand.
Sometimes the manner of doing what he hath to do [keeps them from understanding,] — the darkness wherewith it is attended, the strange process that he makes, — sometimes weak, sometimes foolish, sometimes disorderly to the reasoning of flesh and blood, though all beautiful in itself, and in relation to him.
And sometimes Christ sends a spirit of giddiness into the midst of them, that they shall err and wander in all their ways, and not see nor discern the things that are before them: " None of the wicked shall understand."
By these, and many such ways as these, doth Christ in these days of his coming exercise judgment on ungodly men; — not to mention
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the outward destruction, desolation, and perdition, which usually in such seasons he brings upon them.
(4.) He exerciseth judgment at such a time even among the saints themselves. Ps. lxxxii. 1 : He is judging in the great congregation. So Ps. 1. 4-8 : All this solemnity of proceeding is for the judgment of his own joeople ; and his judging of them is in a plea about their obedience and failing therein. The sum of this his dealing with them is expressed, Rev. hi. 9.
We may, then, consider, — [1.] What it is that Christ pleadeth with his own people about his coining; [2.] What are the ways and means whereby he doth so :■ — ■
[1.] There are sundry things on the account whereof Christ at his coming pleads with his saints. One or more of them : —
1st. On the account of some secret lusts that have defiled them, and which they have either indulged themselves in, or not so vigor- ously opposed as their loyalty unto Christ required. Times of peace and outward prosperity are usually times wherein, through manifold temptations, even the saints themselves are apt to sully their con- sciences, and to have breaches made upon their integrity ; sometimes in things they do know, and sometimes in things they do not know, ■ nor take notice of. Instances may be given in abundance of such things. In this condition Christ deals with them, as Isa. iv. 4. There is blood and filth upon them ; the spirit of judgment and burning must be set at work ; which, as it principally aims at the internal effi- cacy of the Spirit in the cleansing of sin, so it respects a time of providential alterations and trials, wherein that work is effectually exerted. Christ in these dispensations speaks secretly to the con- sciences of his saints, and minds them of this and that folly and miscarriage, and deals with them about it. He asks them if things be not so and so with them? — if they have not thus and thus defiled themselves? — whether these hearts are fit to converse with him? and leaves not until their dross and tin be consumed.