Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

SERMON II.

Of the Goodness of God.

I

PSALM CXlV. 9.

The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are

over all his works.

SHALL now more particularly confider the fe- S ER M. veral inftances before mentioned.

I. The punishment inflicted on mankind for the firft tranfgreffion containeth in it much of depth and myftery, furpaffing perhaps all capacity of man to reach; its full comprehenfion being by divine wifdom, I conceive, purpofely concealed from us; fo that I cannot pretend thoroughly to explain it; and shall not therefore fpeak much about it.

This indeed is clear, that God did in his proceedings, occafioned thereby, intend remarkably to evidence his grievous refentment and indignation against wilful disobedience; yet in the management thereof we may observe, that,

1. After the provocation (in itself so high, and liable to fo great aggravations)* God did exprefs his refentment in fo calm and gentle a manner, that

* Vid. Chryf. Ανδρ. ζ'. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε, καθάπερ εἰκὸς ἦν ὑβρισμένον εἰπεῖν, ὦ μιαρὲ καὶ παμμίαρε, &c. Ibid.

C

Adam,

II.

SER M. Adam, though abafhed upon the confcience of his fault, was not yet by the vehemency of the reproof utterly difmayed or dejected.

II.

2. God used great moderation in the infliction of this punishment; mitigating the extremity of the Gen. ii. 17. fentence juftly decreed and plainly declared to Adam, (that, in cafe of his offending against the law prefcribed him, he should immediately die) for notwithstanding his forfeiture that very day of life, God reprieved him, and allowed him a long life, almost of a thousand years after.

3. God did not quite reject man thereupon, nor did withdraw his fatherly care and providence from him, but openly continued them; infomuch that immediately after the curfe pronounced upon our firft parents, the next paffage we meet with is, that Gen, iii. 21. unto Adam and his wife did the Lord God make coats, and clothed them.

4. Although indeed man was by his fault a great lofer, and became deprived of high advantages; yet the mercy of God did leave him in no very deplorable eftate, fimply confidered, as to his life here; the relicks of his first estate, and the benefits continued to him, being very confiderable; fo that we the inheritors of that great difafter do commonly find the enjoyment of life, with the conveniencies attending it, to be fweet and defirable.

5. The event manifefts, that while God in appearance fo feverely punished mankind, he did in his mind referve thoughts of highest kindness toward us; even then defigning not only to reftore us to our former degree, but to raife us to a capacity of obtaining a far more high pitch of happiness. While he excluded us from a terreftrial paradife here, he provided a far better celestial one, into which, if we please, by obedience to his holy laws, we may certainly enter. So that in this of all moft heavy inftance of vengeance, God's exceeding goodnefs and clemency do upon feveral confiderations moft clearly fhine.

II. The

II.

II. The calamity, which by the general deluge S ER M. did overflow the world, was not (we may consider) brought upon men but in regard to the moft enormous offences long continued in, and after amendment was become defperate: not till after much forbearance, and till men were grown to a fuperlative pitch of wickednefs by no fit means (by no friendly warning, no fharp reprehenfion, no moderate chaftifement) corrigible: not until the earth was become (efpecially for perfons of any innocence or integrity) no tolerable habitation, but a theatre of lamentable tragedies, a feat of horrid iniquity, a fink of loathfome impurity. So that in reafon it was to be esteemed rather a favour to mankind, to rescue it from fo unhappy a ftate, than to fuffer it to persist therein. To fnatch men away out of fo uncomfortable a place, from fo wretched a condition, was a mercy; it had been a judgment to have left them annoying, rifling, and haraffing; biting, tearing, and devouring; yea, defiling and debauching each other; and fo heaping upon themfelves loads of guilt, and deeper obligations to vengeance. The earth, faith the Gen. vi, text, was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled 11, 12. with violence. God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth; which univerfal and extreme corruption had not in probability fprung up in a small time; for, Nemo repente fuit turpiffimus,

is true not only of fingle men, but of communities; no people, no age, doth fuddenly degenerate into extreme degrees of wickednefs; fo that the divine patience had long endured and attended upon men, before the refolution of thus punifhing them was taken up; the which alfo was not at firft peremptory and irreversible, but in God's defign and defire it was revocable; for the world had a long reprieve after the fentence paffed; execution was deferred till Noah's long preaching of righteoufnefs, and denounc

C 2

ing

11,

20.

II.

SER M. ing of judgment in a manner fo notorious and fignal (not by verbal declarations only, but by the vifible structure of the ark) could prevail nothing toward their amendment, but was either diftrufted or difregarded, and perhaps derided by them. For, as 1 Pet. iii. St. Peter tells us, they were disobedient, when once the 2 Pet. ii. 5. long fuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing; that is (as is collected by feveral interpreters from the text of the ftory) durGen. vi. 3. ing no lefs than one hundred and twenty years; a competent time for their recollecting themselves, and endeavouring by amendment of life to prevent the ruin threatened to come upon them. Yet notwithftanding that, this obftinate and incorrigible difobedience did fo much difpleafe God, as that in confiGen. vi. 6. deration thereof God is faid to have repented that be made man on the earth, and to have been thereby grieved at the heart: yet did he fo temper his anger as not utterly to deftroy mankind, but provided against its total ruin, by preferving one family as a feminary thereof; preferving the father thereof (queftionless by a special grace) from the spreading contagion, infpiring him with faith, and qualifying him for the favour, which by him he defigned to communicate unto the world; the reparation thereof, and reftoring the generations of men. So that also through this paffage of providence, how difmal and dreadful foever at firft fight, much goodness will be transparent to him that looks upon it attentively.

III. In the next place, as to that extermination and excision of the Canaanites, which carries fo horLevit. xviii. rible an appearance of feverity, we may find it qualifiable, if we confider, that for the nature of the trefpaffes, which procured it, they were infufferably heinous and abominable: moft fottish, barbarous, and base fuperftitions (cruelty and impurity being effential ingredients into their performances of religion, and it being piety with them to be exceedingly wicked), and in their other practice moft beaftly lafcivioufneffes,

« PredošláPokračovať »