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Vol. VII.

ous perfons, he would not have deftroy. M ed them for the ten's fake. Yea, when his truth feemed to have been pawn'd, (at least in the apprehenfion of his Prophet) yet even then repentance took him off, as in the cafe of Nineveh. Nay, how glad is he to be thus prevented! with what joy does he tell the Prophet the news of Ahab's humiliation! Seeft thou how Ahab humbleth himself? Because he humbleth himself, I will not bring the evil in his days.

(5.) When he punisheth, he does it very feldom rigorously, and to extremity, not fo much as we deferve; Pfal. 103. 10. He hath not dealt with us after our fins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Nor fo much as he can; he doth not let loose the fierceness of his anger, nor pour forth all his wrath; Pfal. 78. 38. Being full of compaffion, he forgave their iniquity, and deftroyed them not; yea many a time turned he his anger away, and did not ftir up all his wrath.

(6.) After he hath begun to punish, and is ingaged in the work, he is not hard to be taken off. There is a famous inftance of this, 2. Sam. 24. when God had fent three days Peftilence upon

Ifrael for David's fin in numbring the Vol. VII. People, and at the end of the third day,the Angel of the Lord had stretched forth his hand over Jerufalem to deftroy it, upon the Prayer of David, it is faid, that the Lord repented of the evil, and faid to the Angel that destroyed, It is enough, ftay now thine hand. Nay, fo ready is God to be taken off from this work, that he fets a high value upon those who stand in the gap to turn away his wrath; Numb. 25. 11, 12, 13. Phinehas, the fon of Eleazar,bath turned my wrath away from the children of Ifrael, that I confumed them not in my jealoufie; wherefore behold I give unto him my covenant of peace, and to his feed after him, because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Ifrael. That which God values in this action of Phinehas, next to his zeal for him, is, that he turned away his wrath, and made an atonement for the Children of Ifrael.

5. and Laftly, The patience of God will yet appear with further advantage, if we confider fome eminent and remarkable Inftances of it; which are fo much the more confiderable, be cause they are inftances, not only of

God's

God's patience extended to a long, time, but to a great many perfons. Vol. VII. The long-fuffering of God waited in the days of Noah upon the whole World, as is probably conjectured, for the fpace of an hundred and twenty years. God bore with the People of Ifrael in the Wilderness, after they had tempted him ten times, for the space of forty Years; Acts 13. 18. And about the space of forty years fuffered he their manners in the Wilderness. And this inftance of God's patience will be the more remarkable, if we compare it with the great impatience of that People; if they did but want Flesh or Water, they were out of patience with God; when Mofes was in the Mount with God but forty days, they presently fall to make new Gods; they had not the patience of forty days, and yet God bore their manners forty years. God had fpared Niniveh for fome Ages, and when his patience was even expired, and he seems to have paft a final Sentence upon it, yet he grants a Reprieve for forty days, that they might fue out their Pardon in that time, and they did fo; they turned from their evil ways, and God turned

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from the evil he said he would do to them, Vol. VII. and he did it not.

But the most remarkable inftance of God's long-fuffering is to the Jews, if we confider it with all the circumstances of it; after they had rejected the Son of God, notwithstanding the purity of his Doctrine, and the power of his Miracles; after they had unjustly condemned, and cruelly murdered the Lord of life, yet the patience of God refpited the ruin of that People forty Years.

Befides all these, there are many inftances of God's patience to particular Perfons; but it were endless to enumerate thefe; every one of us may be an instance to our felves of God's longfuffering.

I fhall only add, as a further advantage to set off the patience of God to Sinners, that his forbearance is fo great, that he hath been complained of for it by his own Servants. Job, who was fo patient a Man himfelf, thought much at it; Job 21. 7, 8. Wherefore doth the wicked live, yea, become old? Their feed is establisht in their fight, and their pofterity before their eyes. Jonah challengeth God for it, Ch. 4. 2.

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Was not this that which I faid when I was yet in my own country? and therefore I Vol. VII. fled before unto Tarfbish, because I knew thou art a gracious God, and merciful, flow to anger, &c. Jonah had obferved God to be fo prone to this, that he was loth to be fent upon his Meffage, leaft God fhould difcredit his Prophet, in not being fo good (fhall I fay) fo fevere as his word.

I have done with the first thing I proposed to speak to, viz. The great patience and long-fuffering of God to Mankind.

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