unto you defolate. And the Patience Vol. VII. of God's Judgments will then determine. Why should they be fmitten any more? they will revolt more and more. Yea, Patience it felf, after a long and fruitless expectation, will expire. A Sinner may continue fo long impenitent, till the Patience of God, as I may fay, grows impatient, and then our ruin will make hafte, and deftrution will come upon us in a moment. If Men will not come to repentance, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, as it follows in the next Verfe after the Text; the Judgment of God will fuddenly furprize thofe who will not be gained by his Patience. 3. Confider that nothing will more haften and aggravate our ruin, than the abuse of God's Patience. All this time of God's Patience, his Wrath is coming towards us, and the more we prefume upon it, the fooner it will o vertake us; Luke 12. 45, 46. The wicked fervant, who faid his Lord delayed his coming, and fell to rioting and drunkenne, our Saviour tells us, That the Lord of that fervant will come in a day when he looks not for him. And And it will aggravate our ruin; the Vol. VII. longer punishment is a coming the 'heavier it will be; thofe things which are long in preparation, are terrible in execution; the weight of God's wrath will make amends for the flownefs of it, and the delay of Judgment will be fully recompenfed in the dreadfulness of it when it comes. Let all thofe confider this who go on in their fin, and are deaf to the voice of God's Patience, which calls upon them every moment of their lives. There is a day of Vengeance a coming upon those who trifle away this day of God's Patience; nothing will fooner and more inflame the wrath and displeasure of God against us, than his abused Patience, and the defpifed riches of his Goodnefs. As Oyl, tho' it be foft and fmooth, yet when it is once inflamed, burns moft fiercely; fo the Patience of God, when it is abufed, turns into Fury, and his mildest Attributes into the greatest Se verities. And if the Patience of God do not bring us to Repentance, it will but prepare us for a more intolerable ruin. After God hath kept a long indig nation in his Breast, it will at length Vol. VII. break forth with the greater violence. The Patience of God increaseth his Judgments by an incredible kind of proportion; Levit 26. 18. And if you will fill (fays God to the People of Ifrael) walk contrary to me, and if ye will not be reformed by all these things, I will punish you yet feven times more. And v. 27. I will bring seven times morè plagues upon you, according to your fins. At first God's Justice accufeth Sinners; but after a long time of Patience, his Mercy comes in against us, and inftead of ftaying his hand, adds weight to his blows; Rom. 9. 22. What if God willing to fhew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-fuffering the veffels of wrath fitted for deftruction. They, upon whom the Patience of God hath no good effect, are veffels of wrath, prepared and fit-. ted for deftruction. If ever God difplay his wrath, and make his anger known, he will do it in the most fevere manner upon those who have despised and abused his Patience; for thefe, in a more peculiar manner, do treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Το To conclude, Let us all take a review of our lives, and confider how long the Patience of God hath waited upon us, and born with us; with fome twenty, forty, perhaps fixty Years, and longer. Do we not remember how God fpared us in fuch a danger, when we gave our felves for loft? and how he recovered us in fuch a fickness, when the Phyfician gave us up for gone? and what use we made of this Patience and long-fuffering of God towards us? It is the worft temper in the World, not to be melted by kindness, not to be obliged by benefits, not to be tamed by gentle ufage. He that is not wrought upon, neither by the patience of his Mercy, nor by the patience of his Judgments, his cafe is defperate and paft remedy. Confider this all ye that forget God, left his Patience turn into Fury; for God is not flack, as fome men count flackneß; but long-fuffering to finners, not willing any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. that Vol VII. SER |