his own children, even fo is the Lord mer- SER M. ciful unto them that fear him; For be XV. knoweth whereof we are made, he remembreth that we are but duft. And Pf. lxxxi. 12, My people would not hear my voice, and Ifrael would not obey me; So I gave them up unto their own hearts lufts, and let them follow their own imaginations. O, that my people would have hearkned unto me; for if Ifrael had walked in my ways, I fhould foon have put down their Enemies, E&c. The particular Inftances which the

"

Scripture gives us of this Patience and
Forbearance of God towards Sinners, are
very remarkable: and fuch as may give
us a truer Notion of this divine Attribute,
than can be done by any verbal Defcription.
When God had threatned to Adam, that
in the day he eat of the forbidden Fruit,
he should furely die; he did indeed accord-
ingly, in that very day, become inevita-
bly fubject to Mortality; being from
thenceforward excluded the Benefit of the
Tree of Life. But the actual execution
of That fentence of Death was deferred
for many years, that by Repentance and
better obedience for the future, he might
escape the much feverer Punishment of

Death

SERM. Death eternal. When the whole World XV. had corrupted themselves in the days of Noah, and God refolved to deftroy them all with a Flood; yet St Peter obferves, 1 Pet. iii. 20. that the Long-fuffering of God waited, while the Ark was preparing; in all which time, Noah was unto them a Preacher of Righteousness, to have deterred them (if poffible) from their difobedience. After this, in the cafe of Sodom and Gomorrha, God fent Lot into thofe Cities, to be unto them a Teacher and an Example of Righteousness: Whose righteous Soul when they had vexed day by day with their Impieties, and the Cry of their Wickedness was become exceeding great before God; yet, to fet forth the Greatnefs of the Divine Patience, God represents himself to Abraham, as refolving to respite the Destruction of thofe Cities, if he could find even but ten righteous Perfons therein. The meaning of which is not that God will always fpare a wicked Nation, whenever there fhall be found therein a certain determinate Number of good men; but only to fhow in general God's unwillingness to deftroy, where-ever there appears Any

Hope

Hope, or

Foundation of Amendment, SER M. And because thefe Cities, when deftroyed, XV. were set forth to Us as an Example, fuffering the Vengeance of eternal Fire, that is, of That Fire which finally confumed them, fo that they never were built again: therefore 'tis reasonable to believe, that his Willingness to have faved them from That Deftruction, was intended as a Type, to show us how unwilling he is, that Sinners should finally fall under That condemnation, of which the Fire of Sodom is fet forth as a Refemblance. In following Ages: When the feven Nations of Canaan were to be difpoffeffed before the children of Ifrael, in order to bring Them into the promised Land which he had fworn to their Forefathers; one reafon why they entred not in fooner was, not only because the Jews were not worthy to be fo blessed, but because the Canaanites had not yet made it neceffary for themfelves to be fo curfed. The iniquity of the Amorites, fays the Scripture, was not yet full; and the Patience of God towards them, was not yet worn out. He who even out of the Stones, if need were, could have raised up children unto Abraham;

VOL I.

A a

could

XV.

SER M. could much more, if he had so pleaseds have provided a Country for the children of Abraham to dwell in, without difpoffeffing for them any other people. But herein was difplayed the Wisdom of the Great Governour of all things, that when the fulness of the iniquity of the Amorites, made it neceffary for them to be difpoffeffed; then, and not till then, did he bring the Ifraelites to the borders of the promised Land. At the fame time, did the Divine Patience bear with the provocations of the Jews in the Wilderness, forty years: Pf. lxxviii. 41, 38, 39. cvi. 23, 42, 43, 44. Many a time did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the defert: But he was fo merciful, that be forgave their misdeeds, and deftroyed them not: Yea many a time turned he his wrath away, and would not fuffer his whole difpleasure to arife: He jaid, be would have deftroyed them, had not Mofes his chofen flood before him in the gap. Many a time were they brought down in their wickedness; nevertheless, when he faw their Adverfity, he heard their Complaint; He thought upon his Covenant, and pitied them. In following Ages; That fevere,

and

SERM.

and as they had Then reafon to apprehend, unalterable sentence against Nineveh; yet forty days and Nineveh shall be deftroyed; was on the contrary intended in the wife Counfels of Providence, to be a ftanding Example of God's Patience towards Sinners. For the Ninevites, in that time of refpite, turned from their evil deeds; and the Lord alfo repented him of 5 the Evil which he faid he would do unto them, and he did it not, Jonah iii. 10. Laftly, in the Cafe of Jerufalem, that #perpetual Type of the whole Church ; I how affectionately and with what a moving = eloquence does our Saviour exprefs the Patience, and the Long-fuffering of God. O Jerufalem, Jerufalem, thou that killeft the Prophets, and fioneft them which are fent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Matt. xxiii. 37. And with what a mixture of tender compaffion and forbearance, is that Threatning denounced against all wicked men in general, Rev. ii. 21. I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and fhe repented not: Behold, I will caft her into a bed, and them that com

XV.