Nahum i. 2, 6. God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord tvill take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth tvrath for his enemies .... Who can stand before his indignation ? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
MEN have such ideas of God's mercy, that they cannot persuade themselves he will ever execute judg- ment on impenitent transgressors. In fact, it is the hope of this which encourages men to go on in their sins : for, if once they could believe that they shall soon become monuments of God's righteous indigna- tion, they would consider their ways, and labour by all possible means to avert his displeasure.
About one hundred and forty years before this was written, the Prophet Jonah had been sent to warn the Ninevites of their impending destruction. But they had repented of their wickedness ; and God, in his mercy, had withheld his threatened judgments. But now he warns them, that since they had filled up the measure of their iniquities, his wrath should come upon them to the uttermost. Now, I would ask, supposing God to be determined to convince men that he would execute vengeance on the impenitent, what could he add to what is here spoken ? Methinks there is here such an accumulation of words, as must defy incredulity itself to question the truth contained in them. It is not a pleasing subject that we are now called to insist upon : but it is necessary ; and the more necessary, because of men's backwardness to