But how is our testimony received by them ? Have
we not reason to take up the lamentation which was first uttered by the Prophet Isaiah, and was afterwards repeated both by the Lord Jesus Christ and his servant Paul, " Who hath believed our report ? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been re- vealed'^?" It is in vain that we bring forth either the declara- tions of Jehovah, or positive instances of their accomplishment : the prevailing idea is, that men, however they may live, have nothing to fear; for that God is too merciful to inflict punish- ment on them, and especially the punishment of everlasting torments, which no actions of ours can be reasonably supposed to merit. Full of this erroneous conceit, they become settled on their lees, and say, in their hearts at least, if not also with their lips, " The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil''."]
2. With contemptuous levity —
[This, I apprehend, was the real feeling expressed in those interrogations, " Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night ? " In the same manner was the Apostle Paul regarded as a " babbler," unworthy of any thing but derision. His discourse, which almost converted King Agrippa to the faith, brought to Festus no other conviction than this : " Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad^". And even the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who " spake as never man spake," was considered as unfit for any person of respec- tability to hear: " He hath a devil, and is mad: why hear ye hims?" Is it to be wondered at, then, if those who faithfully preach the Gospel be still at this day branded with opprobrious names, and their message be considered only as " a cunningly devised fable ? " It must be so, as long as there shall be a carnal man on earth : for " the things of the Spirit are foolish- ness to him ;" and those who live only to proclaim and propa- gate those things, can appear to him in no other light than fools. If, like Ezekiel, we have boldness to deliver God's messages to men, we shall be sure to have applied to our ministrations the same contemptuous observation as was made on his, " Ah! Lord God, doth he not speak parables''?"]
The prophet's answer to his scoffing inquirers shews us,
II. In what way they themselves should be treated — It is good, in many cases, to " answer a fool accord- ing to his folly." But there are cases (and particularly where the eternal interests of men are at stake,) in which we should " not answer a fool accordinsr to his
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^ Isai. liii. 1. John xii. 37, 38. Rom. x. 1(5. « Zeph. i. 12. f Acts xxvi. 24. e John x. 20. ^ Ezek. xx. 49.