Practical Reflections on the Late Earthquakes, Chapter 5
CHAP. V.
Of God's Unwillingneſs to deſtroy a People. Hoſea 11.8, 9. explained, paraphraſed, and applied to our Nation and City: How ſhall I give thee up, Ephraim? &c. Abraham's Pleading with God for Sodom and Gomorrah, Gen. 18. Moral Cauſes why we may expect, and fear National and Publick Calamities.
IT is the Language of Divine Providence to us, as to his ancient People, Hoſ. 11.8, 9. How ſhall I give thee up, Ephraim? How ſhall I deliver thee, Iſrael? How ſhall I make thee as Admah? How ſhall I ſet thee as Zeboim? Mine Heart is turned within me, my Repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the Fierceneſs of mine Anger, I will not return to deſtroy Ephraim; for I am God and not Man, the Holy One of Iſrael, in the midſt of thee. He denounced dreadful Judgments for their Ingratitude, ver. 5, 6, 7. but when it comes to the Execution, he is loth to deſtroy; How ſhall I give thee up? To which it is anſwered, My Heart is turned within me, my Heart is turned againſt that Determination of Judgment I ſeemed to reſolve on; or my Heart is returned to Pity and Compaſſion, that I cannot execute my threatned Vengeance. How ſhall I deliver thee up, O Iſrael?To which it is anſwered, My Repentings are kindled together, that is, my Bowels yearn towards you ſtill: As little as you deſerve any Favour, or Compaſſion at my Hands, I am inclined to reprieve and ſpare you a while longer, to give you ſpace and time to repent. How ſhall I make thee as Admah, one of the Cities of the Plain, that was utterly deſtroyed with Fire and Brimſtone from Heaven, with Sodom and Gomorrah? Unto which it is anſwered, I will not execute the Fierceneſs of mine Anger, as I did againſt that wicked City. How ſhall I ſet thee as Zeboim? another of thoſe wicked Cities, which the Lord overthrew in his Anger and his Wrath, Gen. 19.24. To which it is anſwered, I will not return to deſtroy Ephraim, I will not make a full end of him, for I am God and not Man; not of an haſty, paſſionate, revengeful Temper, as Men who are injured and affronted, and provoked by one another. I delight in Mercy, I have the Patience of a God as well as the Power; and therefore you are not conſumed, Mal. 3.6. I am the Holy One of Iſrael, a God in Covenant with your Fathers, and have promiſed to be ſo with their Poſterity: I am the Holy One of Iſrael, in the midſt of thee: You are called by my Name, and I am yet amongst you by the Tokens of my Preſence; I am therefore loth to leave you, utterly to leave you to Deſtruction.
You have the like Expreſſion, Hoſ. 6.4. O Iſrael, what ſhall I do unto thee? O Judah, what ſhall I do unto thee? for your Goodneſs is as the Morning-Cloud, and the early Dew, that paſſeth away: that is, I am loth to puniſh you with deſtructive Judgments, but what ſhall I do to prevent it? O Iſrael, O Judah, what would you have me to do? Would you have me neglect the Honour of my Government, and be an idle Spectator of all the Affronts that you have offered me? Muſt I repeal my Law, and throw aſide my Scepter, and tamely ſuffer the Rights of my Throne to be incroached on, and trampled under Foot? Muſt I reſolve to ſuffer you to go on in your Hypocriſy, and Idolatry, and ſhameful Backſlidings, without teſtifying my Diſpleaſure? I have done much to warn you, to awaken you, to reform you, to prevent your Ruine. I am inclined to Pity, I am unwilling to deſtroy: But, O Iſrael, what ſhall I do unto thee? You will not be purged, you will not be healed, you will not be gathered, you will die. And yet Mercy interpoſes again, before the Stroak is given; How ſhall I give thee up, O Ephraim? Muſt I, after all, give Orders for thy Deſtruction? How ſhall I do it? Though thou deſerveſt to be forſaken by my Mercy, which thou haſt abuſed, and ſeized by my Juſtice, which thou haſt provoked, yet how ſhall I find in my Heart to permit it? Though I can hardly tell how to bear with thee any longer, or with Honour to my Name and Government, to delay the Execution of that deſtructive Vengeance, threatned on my part, and deſerved on thine; yet, O Ephraim, my dear Son, how ſhall I give thee up? O Iſrael, the Poſterity of my ancient Friend Jacob, how ſhall I deliver thee over to final Ruine?
In anſwer to this, ſays God, My Heart is turned within me, my Repentings are kindled together: i. e. I find ſuch Struglings of Compaſſion in my Heart towards thee, that I know not how to execute what I have threatned: My Repentings are kindled, I begin to repent of the Evil that I had threatned to inflict: Or my Repentings are kindled together; that is, all the Thoughts and Arguments that might perſuade me to repent of my threatned Wrath, and keep back Deſtruction, they are all muſtered together, to prevent the Stroke.
Thus does the bleſſed God condeſcend, to beſpeak us after the manner of Men; and like a tender-hearted and compaſſionate Parent, who is loth to diſinherit even a rebellious, and diſobedient Son. His Kindneſs contends againſt his Anger; his Mercy pleads againſt his Juſtice; the one denounceth Wrath, the other begs a Reprieve; the one threatens Deſolation, the other interpoſes to prevent it: My Heart is turned within me, and my Repentings are kindled; therefore I will not give thee up, I will not execute the Fierceneſs of mine Anger, I will not return to deſtroy Ephraim, I will not make a full end of him; for I am God, and not Man, &c.
God has evidenced this to us, and others by undeniable Proofs; in that notwithſtanding the Provocations of a People, he is ready to Repent of his threatned Judgments upon their Repentance, and Return to him; and likewiſe in that, before he gives up ſuch a People to Deſtruction, he gives them frequent Warnings by his Meſſengers, and by his leſſer Judgments; yea though his Warnings are ſlighted, and his Calls rejected, yet he doth not preſently deſtroy, but waits with much Longſuffering, giving them Time and Space to Repent; and ſometimes appears to give unexpected Deliverance, even for his own Name ſake; and doth alſo ſpare and preſerve a Remnant, in the moſt general Deſtruction: And even at laſt doth not willingly abandon ſuch a People to utter Ruine, but with Reluctancy and Regret, ſo far as is conſiſtent with the unchangeable Purity, and Bleſſedneſs of the Divine Majeſty.
Like a compaſſionate Judg, who doth not willingly paſs the Sentence of Condemnation: If you will not repent, you muſt periſh: If you will not be reformed, you muſt be undone: If you will not take Warning, you muſt be forſaken. But, O Ephraim, how ſhall I give thee up? O Iſrael, what ſhall I do unto thee? O that they knew the things that belong unto their Peace, before they be hid from their Eyes! He ſigns the Warrant, as it were, for their Execution; and then he retracts the Order again: He gives Commiſſion for their Deſtruction, and then recalls it, and proves them yet a little longer. If that will not do, but Juſtice renews her Plea for Vengeance, then Mercy interpoſes for a Delay.
It was on this Account God permitted Abraham to plead with him ſo familiarly for Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Cities of the Plain; God lets him ſay all that he could, be grants him every thing he would have: If there be but fifty righteous Perſons, wilt thou not ſpare them? Gen. 18. Yes, ſaith God, I will: But, Lord, peradventure there be forty, is not that Number ſufficient? Yes, ſays God, that ſhall do, if there be but forty. But, Lord, it may be there are but twenty, wilt thou not ſpare them for their ſakes? Yes, for the ſake of twenty I will, ſays God. Once more let me beg, Lord, if there be but ten: Ay, if there be but ten righteous Perſons, I will ſpare them. God was willing to hear the utmoſt Abraham could urge on their Behalf, as if he would have been glad to have met with an Argument, that might diſſwade him from ſo unpleaſing a Work. God grants him ſo often, and ſo long, till the holy Patriarch was aſhamed to ask any further, or plead any longer. So backward was God to deſtroy, and ſo unwilling to give up a People to utter Ruine; and that too, though ſuch a wicked People as Sodom and Gomorrah.
In the 4th of Amos you find God impeached the Impenitence of that People under various Warnings, and leſſer Judgments; and mentions the Aggravation of each Affliction, five ſeveral times, Yet have you not returned unto me, ſaith the Lord. Thereupon, to awaken them to Repentance, to prevent their Ruine, he pronounceth the Riddle of a Doom, Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Iſrael; not mentioning what he would do, Thus will I do unto thee. Thus, as I have done unto other Places, or worſe than I have ever done to Any; Thus will I do unto thee. It is a Relative without an Antecedent; It is a locked Cabinet, and Treaſure of Judgment, without a Key to open us a View of Particulars. No Judgment is expreſſed, that All may be feared; and All to be feared, that None may be felt: Therefore prepare to meet thy God, O Iſrael.
We have a great deal of Reaſon not to be Secure, notwithſtanding God's Ʋnwillingneſs to deſtroy. National Judgments are deſerved, and threatned, and may be juſtly feared; and nothing but Repentance, Reformation, Prayer, and Ʋnion, and ſuch other Methods as are deſpiſed and neglected, can ſecure, or preſerve us.
This is certain, that no Situation of our Country, (or any Country, whether an Iſland, or Continent) can be our Safety, if God be againſt us. For what can preſerve us from an Earthquake, or a thouſand other Methods of Judgment, which God can employ? All that Men expect Succour, and Deliverance, and Protection from, is in vain, if God be not engaged on our behalf. All thoſe things that we can truſt to, are but ſo many Ciphers, if God be not on our ſide.
The Aſſyrian truſts in his mighty Army, numerous enough to drink up a River, Iſa. 37.24. and yet the next News we hear of him, is, that God ſends an Angel, and cuts off near two hundred thouſand in one Night. No Courage or Valour, Numbers or Strength, can avail in a time of War: No Skill or Policy, (of the Truth of this every Age affords Inſtances:). No external Relation to God by Church-Privileges, whereof the Jews are a ſad Example; No, nor any former Deliverances God hath wrought for us, are a Ground of Security for the future, without a thankful, and a holy Improvement of them. Not many Years after the Preſervation of the City of Niniveh, that City and People were deſtroyed. So it is threatned, Joſh. 24.20. If you forſake the Lord, he will turn againſt you, and do you Hurt, and conſume you, even after he hath done you Good. The like is threatned, Deut. 28.63. If you forſake the Lord, he will rejoice over you to Deſtroy you, as he rejoiced over you to do you Good. Though a City be defended by Rocks and Mountains, as Edom was; yet the Strength and Situation of a Place, is no Preſervative againſt Divine Judgments.
In two or three Moments many thouſand, yea many hundred thouſand People may be ſwallowed up by a ſudden Earthquake, tumbling alive into one common Grave, buried before they are dead, with miſerable Cries, and Groans, and Shrieks, till their Breath be ſtopped. And whatever the Wickedneſs of other Places may have been, who have ſmarted by ſuch Judgments, the Aggravations of our Sins in England, and London are ſuch, as may make us fear the like, or worſe.
If there were nothing but the Miſimprovement of our paſt Mercies, we had reaſon to fear it: For what Bleſſing is there more than ordinarily valuable, but we have had? If Peace, if Plenty, if Victory, if the Goſpel, we have had it. But what unanſwerable Returns have we made, under all ſuch Obligations? All the Ways by which Eminent Mercies are abuſed, and God provoked, we have practiſed. Some of theſe we have not valued at all; Others we have ſoon forgotten: As to ſome, we have given the Praiſe and Glory, not to God, but to our ſelves, or our Friends, or the Inſtruments of Conveyance; Some (I fear the moſt) of theſe Bleſſings we have miſimployed to the Diſhonour of God, and therefore our very Mercies may make us tremble.
Yea further, that Drowſineſs and Security, and Spirit of Slumber, that hath ſeemed to ſeize the Generality of Profeſſors amongſt us at this Day, is a juſt Ground for our preſent Fears; i. e. The general Unconcernedneſs about the State and Poſture of things amongſt us, with relation to God's Preſence or Departure. It cannot be well with ſuch a People, they cannot but be in exceeding Hazard, who when their Neighbour's Houſe is conſumed to Aſhes, or is yet on Fire, are faſt aſleep on their Beds. For this God threatens to ſearch Jeruſalem with Candles, to puniſh the Men that are ſettled on their Lees, who ſaid in their Hearts, the Lord will not do Good or Evil, Zech. 1.12.