The deserved judgments that belong to these inhumane offenders of mercy, will be threatened with unalterable certainty. Thus you may see them denounced against an incorrigible people, Ezech. 24.13, 14. Because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged till I have caused my fury to rest upon you. Because I have purged thee, q. d. I have endeavoured to persuade thee, and oblige thee to leave thy filthy sins: Verba quae effectum notant, saepe de conatu intelliguntur: Estius. So God is said to do what he requires, desires, permits, or persuades to be done. Thus God had been inducing of them to obedience, reducing of them from sin; but under all, they were unspeakably ⟨p. 63⟩obstinate; which caused these desperate resolutions in God against them. He would make his fury rest upon them: and their doom is confirmed with the highest asseverations conceivable, v. 14. I the Lord have spoken, i. e. I that am of undoubted faithfulness, and cannot lye; of infinite power, and can execute my pleasure; I have spoken it, and it shall come to pass; whatever evasions you think to make, however secure and careless you are, it shall come to pass, and I will do it. I will undertake the ruin of such as rebel against my mercies, and abuse the greatest instrument of raising my honour, viz. my patience; I will not go back, neither will I spare or repent. When I begin, I will carry on my work; I will not break off my judgments, since ye will not break off your sins; the sentence is irrevocable, you must expect no reversion of it, nor deliverance from it. Now surely vengeance threatened with thus much certainty, will fall upon a people with intolerable severity. When judgments are thus punctually determined, it cannot be expected they should be a long while delayed. What hopes now can we have, if persisting in sin after our many merciful escapes? Will ⟨p. 64⟩not this grave-stone be laid upon us? Will not a consumption be decreed from the Lord of Hosts against us? What though we are spared this once, after all our former evasions? Are we now out of danger? Are there no instances to be found of a people preserved, delivered, as often as we, and at last the Writs of destruction were issued forth? What think you of that example, Amos 7. In the vision of the Prophet, the judgments of God on that people were shadowed by various destructive things: v. 1.
The deserved judgments that belong to these inhumane offenders of mercy, will be threatned with unalterable certainty. Thus you may see them denounced against an incorrigible people, Ezech. 24.13, 14. Because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged till I have caused my fury to rest upon you. Because I have purged thee, q. d. I have endeavoured to perswade thee, and oblige thee to leave thy filthy sins: Verba quae effectum notant, saepe de conatu intelliguntur: Estius. So God is said to do what he requires, desires, permits, or perswades to be done. Thus God had been inducing of them to obedience, reducing of them from sin; but under all, they were unspeakably ⟨p. 63⟩obstinate; which caused these desperate resolutions in God against them. He would make his fury rest upon them: and their doom is confirmed with the highest asseverations conceivable, v. 14. I the Lord have spoken, i. e. I that am of undoubted faithfulness, and cannot lye; of infinite power, and can execute my pleasure; I have spoken it, and it shall come to pass; whatever evasions you think to make, however secure and careless you are, it shall come to pass, and I will do it. I will undertake the ruine of such as rebel against my mercies, and abuse the greatest instrument of raising my honour, viz. my patience; I will not go back, neither will I spare or repent. When I begin, I will carry on my work; I will not break off my judgments, since ye will not break off your sins; the sentence is irrevocable, you must expect no reversion of it, nor deliverance from it. Now surely vengeance threatned with thus much certainty, will fall upon a people with intolerable severity. When judgments are thus punctually determined, it cannot be expected they should be a long while delay'd. What hopes now can we have, if persisting in sin after our many merciful escapes? Will ⟨p. 64⟩not this grave-stone be laid upon us? Will not a consumption be decreed from the Lord of Hosts against us? What though we are spared this once, after all our former evasions? Are we now out of danger? Are there no instances to be found of a people preserved, delivered, as often as we, and at last the Writs of destruction were issued forth? What think you of that example, Amos 7. In the vision of the Prophet, the judgments of God on that people were shadowed by various destructive things: v. 1.
