A Discourse of the Judgments of God, Chapter 10
CHAP. X. Fifth Reaſon, expreſſing the uſefulneſs of Judgments to reform.
Reaſ. 5 THat they may be forcible recommendations of repentance and reformation; which account of them removes them from Mount Sinai, and places them upon Mount Sion; like thoſe precepts that were firſt given with all circumſtances of terrour, and after adapted into the mildneſs and gentleneſs of the Evangelick Law. For there is nothing wherein God is more gracious to man, then in thoſe advantages he gives him to return to a right mind: when he takes thoſe methods that are rough and ſevere in themſelves, and makes uſe of them for medicine, they loſe whatever is hard and grievous in them, & are even chuſeſable thus far, That it is more to be deſired God ſhould chaſtiſe, and not hate us, then with a greater indignation and revenge not be angry with us. It is better we ſhould paſs through his fire, then be unpurged, and even boiled in his Cauldron, melted in his Furnace, and brayed in his Mortar, then remain in our own impenitency, droſs, and folly.
God the beſt as he is the greateſt, in thoſe things wherein he is moſt potent, is alſo moſt benigne, and therefore caſts beams of his goodneſs upon his moſt dreadful diſpoſes: He made not the night without ſome beauties of the day. As the Father of Heaven and Earth, and more peculiarly of the ſpirits of men, he takes care of his off-ſpring and family with the bowels of the Father of mercies. But then as the infinite Holineſs, as the Ruler and Judge of all the world, he plants all his works, even of mercy, in righteouſneſs: from both which ariſe a diſcipline moſt conducible to the participations of his Holineſs, guiding us firſt by Rules, and after admoniſhing us by corrections, and reducing us by chaſtiſements, which are moſt proper acts of a paternal Government.
This ſweetens and mollifies thoſe more awful reſpects he carries upon the world, as ſupreme in his Dominion and Judgment, though even in thoſe, it is agreeable with increated mercy to leave nothing untryed and without its experiment, that might conduce his Creatures; much more, as he governs the world in a Mediator, all his relations to mankind are infinitely endeared and made kinder by the preſence of God with us.
While this reaſon of all others doth moſt, not only vindicate, but addulce and commend theſe ſeverities of God to us, becauſe it ſtands ſo fair with all his Attributes, and level with the good of man, we will take a freer account of the uſe of Judgments under it.
In the general we may underſtand, there is nothing in the works of God, ſo thin or volatile, as for ſight only, but would imbody & fix it ſelf in uſe. In Nature it ſelf, thoſe things which afford us only ſpeculation, becauſe we have not the Mechanicks of them in our own hand, nor any Engines to move them with, are yet in their own place full of that common labour and induſtry (Solomon ſpeaks of) to ſerve the world, and by the ſcrews of one thing upon another, faſtned on them in Creation, they are applyed more effectually to common ends, then thoſe that are elaborated by our ſelves, and carried by our endeavour and art to the private ends of our neceſſity and pleaſure.
In Religion, the moſt myſterious parts of it, and which we think furtheſt removed from action, are yet indeed the pillars of it, and richeſt ſprings of a heavenly converſation; like the ſuperior bodies, that being far above us, are yet the ſource of all the vigour and fruitfulneſs of moral precepts, that, as the Earth, are nearer us.
Judgments are yet moſt evidently deſigned for our practice; for (as we ſee) all approaches of pain quicken to ſome kind of action, and diſcuſs that lethargick humour that benummes and deads us; nothing ſtands ſtill to feel and contemplate its own miſery: and when this is underſtood to be the admenſuration of ſo knowing and juſt a hand as Gods, it calls us to acts that become us; and while it calls us, it alſo excites us, and after a phyſical manner, diſpoſes us to thoſe reſpects to his counſels and ends in adminiſtring puniſhment. According to which Notion we ſhall propoſe our following meditation herein.