An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

If he spake out of a whirlwind to a Job a gracious godly man, what will that whirlwind be, out of which he will speak to a Pharaoh, to profane and hard-hearted sinners! As our Lord Jesus Christ said of himself in the Gospel, If it be thus done to a green tree, what shall be done to the dry? If God hath whirlwinds for his Jobs, for his own people, who are as green flourishing trees in grace and holiness; what will he do with the dry sticks of the world? And I may argue it as the Apostle doth (1 Pet. 4.13.) If judgment begin at the house of God, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel? what shall their end be? no man is able to say, no nor to conceive how sad it will be. Judgment begins at the house of God; God will not spare his own house, not his own household, he will not spare his Servants and Children when they sin; he is no cockering Father, he will correct his own Children; he will not only sweep his house, but he will shake his house; and he shakes it, because it is no better swept, nor kept more cleanly. And if for these, and such like reasons we at any time see judgment beginning at the house of God, we may say with astonishment, What will the end of those be who obey not the Gospel! What will become of the wicked and ungodly, of those who openly profane and blaspheme his Holy Name! O what appearances shall they have of God, and how shall they appear before God! We read, in the 25th of Jeremiah; of a Bowl of blood given him to carry about to the Nations: A terrible message he is sent about; he carries a Cup of blood about, and bids the Nations drink, they must drink it; and saith the Lord, If they shall refuse to take the Cup at thy hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, ye shall certainly drink: Why? For lo, I begin to bring evil upon the City which is called by My Name; and shall ye be utterly unpunished? As if the Lord had said, I have brought evil upon Jerusalem, upon my own people, and they have drunk very deep of that bitter Cup; and do you, O ye uncircumcised nations, think that you shall escape? We may conclude, the Lord hath a ⟨p. 535⟩terrible storm to bring upon the wicked and ungodly of the world, when we hear him speaking to his own people in whirlwinds. Consider this ye that forget God (as such are admonished Psal. 50.22.) lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.