Vol. VIL SERMON VIII. The Long-fuffering of God. ECCLES. VIII. II. Because fentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the fons of men is fully fet in them to do evil. N° Othing is more evident, than that the world lies in wickedne, and that iniquity every where abounds; and yet nothing is more certain, than that God will not acquit the guilty, and let fin go unpu nifhed. All Men, excepting thofe who have offer'd notorious violence to the light of their own Minds, and have put the candle of the Lord, which is in them, under a bushel, do believe, that there is a God in the World, to Q whose whofe holy Nature and Will fin is Vol. Vil. perfectly contrary, who loves righteousneß and hates iniquity, that his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he feeth all his goings, that there is no darkneß nor (ba dow of death,where the workers of iniquity may hide themfelves. All Men, except thole whofe Confciences are feared, as it were with a hot Iron, are convinc'd of the difference of good and evil, and that it is not all one whether men ferve God or ferve him not, do well, or live wickedly. Every Man from his inward Senfe and Experience is fatisfied of his own Liberty, and that God lays upon Men no neceffity of finning, but that when ever we do amifs, it is our own act, and we chufe to do fo; and fo far is he from giving the leaft countenance to fin, that he hath given all imaginable difcouragement to it, by the moft fevere and terrible threatnings, fuch as one would think fufficient to deter Men for ever from it, and to drive it out of the World; and to make his Threatnings the more awful and effectual, his Providence hath not been wanting to give remarkable Inftances of his Juftice and Severity upon notorious Offenders, ẹ ven in this life: and yet for all this, Vol. VII. Men do and will fin; nay, they are zealously set and bent upon it. Now here is the wonder; what it is that gives finners fuch heart, and makes them fo refolute and undaunted in fo dangerous a courfe. Solomon gives us this account of it, because the Punishments and Judgments of God follow the fins of Men fo flowly, and are long before they overtake the finner, Because fentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the fons of men are fully fet in them to do evil. The scope of the wife Man's dif courfe is this, That by reafon of God's forbearance and long-fuffering toward finners in this life, 'tis not fo eafie to discern the difference between them and other Men; this life is the day of God's Patience, but the next will be a day of retribution and recompence. Now because God doth defer and moderate the punishment of finners in this World, and reserve the weight of his Judgments to the next, because through the long-fuffering of God many great finners live and dye without any remarkable teftimony O 2 ftimony of God's wrath and difpleaVol. VII. fure against them, therefore the hearts of the children of men are fully fet in them to do evil. If we render the Text word for word from the Original, it runs thus, Because nothing is done as a recompense to an evil work, therefore the hearts of the fons of men are full in them to do evil; that is, because Men are not opposed and contradicted in their evil ways, because Divine Juftice doth not prefently check and controul finners, becaufe fentence is not immediately past upon them, and judgment executed, therefore the heart of the fons of men is full in them to do evil, that is, therefore Men grow bold and prefumptuous in fin; for the Hebrew word which we render, is fully fet in them, we find Efth. 7. 5. where Abafbuerus fays concerning Haman, Who is he? and where is he, that durft prefume in his heart to do fo? Whose heart was full to do fo, Fervet in iis cor filiorum hominum; fo fome render it, the hearts of men boil with wickedneß, are fo full of it, that it works over. Men are refolute in an evil courfe, their hearts are strengthened and hardened in them to do evil, fo 0 thers thers tranflate the words. The Tranf lation of the LXX is very emphatical, ἐπληροφορήθη καρδία, the heart of the fons of men is fully perfwaded and affured to do evil. All thefe Tranflations agree in the main scope and fenfe, viz. That finners are very apt to presume upon the long-fuffering of God, and to abufe it, to the hardning and encouraging of themselves in their evil ways. In the handling of this, I fhall Firft, Briefly fhew that it is fo. Secondly, Whence this comes to pafs, and upon what pretences and colours of reafon, Men encourage themfelves in fin, from the Patience of God. Thirdly, I fhall endeavour to answer an Objection about this matter. First, That Men are very apt to abufe the long-fuffering of God, to the encouraging and hardning of themfelves in an evil course, the experience of the World in all Ages does give abundant teftimony. Thus it was with the old World, when the long-fuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, white he was preparing an Ark, for the space of a hundred and twenty years, 1 Pet. 3.20. For the wickednefs of Man, which 9 3 was Vol. VII. |