A Discourse of the Judgments of God, Chapter 19
CHAP. XIX. Of the great Character of Judgments when they end in deſolation.
THe greateſt Criſis of Judgment is yet to be conſidered in all the courſe of it (that is) when it is to ceaſe in deſtruction; when God begins, and alſo makes ſuch an end, that affliction riſes not up the ſecond time; from which proceed thoſe reſolved changes of the world, emptied out of one veſſel into another; which by ſingle Judgments are only ſhaken, and time is ſet upon other Epoches that are to it like new hinges of motion; as in general from theſe variations it receives its curious Needle-work: In ſome parts of it, Judgments and mercies lye intermingled: others beautiful with mercies only; and laſtly, ſome wholly dark and ſad with Judgments.
This Character of Judgments ending in Ruine, is moſt diligently to be obſerved, and may be diſcerned either by the Judgments themſelves, or the ſigns of the times upon which they fall.
1. In themſelves they are remarkable, for then they are preceded by thoſe more then ordinary admonitions, from the diſturbed Courſe of Nature, which God hath made as well the Trumpet as the Inſtrument of Judgment. Signs in the Sun, and Moon, and Stars, Earthquakes, the Sea and the Waves roaring, the Powers of Heaven ſhaking, gave an Allarm to Jeruſalems deſtruction.
Theſe indications of a common Calamity are often ſtrangely inſinuated into the rational Creatures alſo, cauſing diſtreſs of Nations, perplexity, mens hearts failing for fear; there being unknown motions, and diſcompoſures of mens ſpirits, whereof no account can be aſſigned, but they are the looſning of that Bridle God keeps upon all things, before he lays the ruins on their necks, and gives judiciary ſtimulations to them. Theſe God uſually ſets as Introductions to great Calamities, as Prefaces to huge Volumes, as Portals to great Edifices, or like the muſters of the Clouds, and trepidations of the Air before a Tempeſt, or the unformed motions of diſperſed Soldiers, gathering into a body or arms before a Battle: he ſends theſe, as Elias before the great and terrible Day of the Lord, giving hereby a ſtate and pomp to thoſe monumentous Judgments, the deſcriptions of which yield a natural eloquence to the Prophets, taken immediately from things (for pomp and ſtate are the eloquence of things, and moſt eaſily paſs into words.) This is further diſcoverable, when Judgments tread on the heels of one another. For God doth not many things in vain, but intends to reach ſome height; when he is not quiet with the world, but importunes and ſollicites it to a ſenſe; when he ſpeaks once and twice, he intends ſomething great and conſiderable; for he doth not fight as one that beateth the air, but having entred into particulars, at laſt ſums up all in a perfect effect. In Amos, when Judgments hung together in ſo long a line, at laſt he reſolved, Therefore I will do this unto thee: Then leſſer Judgments are but the beginnings of ſorrows.
Laſtly, when God doth ſtrange things without precedent, things that men will not believe, though they were told them, unuſual not only in the common courſe of Providence, which is very ſmooth, but ſtrange even in his ſtrange paths of Judgment, as it is ſaid of the Plagues of Egypt, the like were not before, nor after them any ſuch: God doth not reverſe what he hath ſetled by ſo great Wiſdom and Counſel, with ſo high a hand, but when he deſigns greateſt alterations.
2. In regard of the times upon which Judgments fall, this Criſis, is then to be feared.
1. When the Age we live in ſeems the drain & ſink of the ſins, and evils of former times, where they ſettle and grow to a head. One Age rolls down upon another, and ſinks into the bottom of time, ſo wickedneſs ſhoves it ſelf on, and reſts upon a center. Of this Generation ſhall be required all the blood that was ſhed from righteous Abel to Zacharias. The iniquity of the Amorites grows full, which had been ſome Ages in filling; the Ephah is crowned, and the talent of Lead cloſes it, and by wings it is haſted to its own Baſe, that is deſtruction.
2. When we ſee people incorrigible, and inſenſible of Gods hand, keeping their Figure; it is much to be feared Judgments have ſtill more to do to accompliſh their own: when things are in a conteſt, they continue to conflict one with another, till one of them deſerts its own mode and ſtation. This cannot fall on an Almighty Juſtice; for in ſuch encounters great things cruſh little ones, till they can no longer maintain reſiſtance; and weak things that have a wiſe inſtinct or reaſon, ſhift themſelves every way to avoid the danger. A broken ſpirit, a melted heart running out of its former ſhape, ceaſe the controverſie betwixt God and Man: but Pharaohs heart hardned as the Adamant and ſteel, held Judgment play till it accompliſhed it ſelf into that abſolute portraicture we read in his Hiſtory.
3. Injuries done to the Truth and Goſpel of God, are ſad forebodes of ruinous Judgments; the Miniſtery of Chriſt diſhonoured was a juſt preparation of the way to that great deſtruction of Jeruſalem, and a higheſt juſtification of ſo ſevere a ſtroke. The Goſpel honoured is as a wall of fire for defence, and breaks outward upon the enemies of a Nation; when it is deſpiſed, it burns inward: It is a pillar of fire, and a cloud of protection when obſerved; but diſregarded, it is a cloud troubled with a Thunderbolt, rolling up and down, and at laſt flaſhing out in Lightning to deſtroy.
Nothing delivers the Hiſtory of any time ſo fair to poſterity, as an honourable entertainment of a pure and unmixed Religion, giving it the utmoſt freedom to ſhine as the Sun, to communicate it ſelf as the air, and to run like the Fountains without any interruption: For as theſe, ſo the Goſpel of Jeſus Chriſt is the common happineſs, and neceſſiety of the world, from no Nation of which wherever it had place, hath it uſed to remove, but it hath carried the honour, and peace reſiding there with it, as the Glory together with the Ark departed from Iſrael, leaving it as naked of preſent happineſs, as of the hopes of eternal.