III. We will endeavor to reconcile the doctrine we preach to day with that which we preached last Lord's day; the justice of God with his goodness; and by this mean to engage you to love and adore God as much when he threateneth as when he promiseth, as much when he presents his justice as when he displays his mercy. This is the whole plan of this discourse..

I. We will endeavor to give you distinct notions of that which the scripture calls the wrath, the anger, the vengeance of God.

Recollect a remark, which we have often made, that is, that when the scripture speaks of the perfections and operations of God, it borroweth images from the affections and actions of men. Things that cannot be known to us by themselves, can be understood only by analogy, as it is called, that is, by the resemblance they bear to other things, with which we are better acquainted. Divine things are of this kind.

From this remark follows a precaution, which is necessary for the avoiding of error whenever we meet with an emblem of this kind descriptive of God in the holy scriptures; that is, that we must carefully lay aside every part of the emblem, that agreeth only to men from whom it is borrowed, and apply only that part to the Deity which is compatible with the eminence of his perfections.

Sometimes the part that ought to be laid aside is so obvious that it is impossible to mistake it. For example, When the scripture attributeth to God hands, or feet, sorrow, or tears, or jealousy, it is very easy, methinks, to separate from emblems of this sort all that can only agree with the natures of frail, or with the conditions of sinful men.

But sometimes it is not quite so easy. The dif ficulty may proceed from several causes, of all which

I shall mention but one at present, and to that I entreat your attention. Some men have false notions of grandeur, and none are more likely to entertain such notions than those divines, who have breathed only the air of the study, and trodden only the dust of the schools. Such divines, having never sweetened their manners by a social intercourse with rational people in the world, have often contracted in that way of life, a sour, morose disposition, and their tempers have tinged their ideas. of grandeur and glory. I am greatly inclined to believe that some ideas, which several school-men have formed of the liberty and independence of God, have arisen from this disposition. Divines, who had sweetened their manners by associating with rational people in the world, would have attributed to God a noble and magnanimous use of his liberty and independence. They would have said, God is free and independent, then he will always do justly and equitably; then he will require of mankind only that which bears a proportion to the talents he hath given them; then misery will be the consequence of nothing but vice, and felicity will always follow virtue. If the scriptures sometimes represent God by emblems, which seem opposite to these notions, sensible men would have considered, that one part of them ought to have been cautiously separated from the other, because it was incompatible with the eminence of the perfections of God. But these school-divines have attributed to God such a conduct as their own savage tempers would have observed, had they been vested with divine power. To each of them the prophet's reproach may be very properly applied, These things hast thou done, and thou thoughtest that. I was altogether such a one as thyself, Psal. 1. 21. They said, God is free, therefore he may appoint

men, who have done neither good nor evil to eternal flames. God is free, therefore he may create men on purpose that they may sin, and that he may display his wrath in their punishment.

II. Here let us stop, and let us keep to the subject in hand, by observing that those emblems of wrath and vengeance, under which God is repre- sented to us, have one part that cannot be attributed to him, because it is not compatible with the eminence of his perfections, and another, that must be applied to him because it is.

1. It is a consequence of the frailty or of the depravity of men, that their anger inclines them to hate those whom they ought to love, and in whose happiness they ought to interest themselves, as far as they can without violating the laws of equity. Such a hatred cannot be attributed to God; he loves all his intelligent creatures, and when we are told that the Lord hateth a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, Prov. vi. 17. when he is represented as refusing some real blessings to mankind, as hardening their hearts, Exod. iv. 21. as sending them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie, 2 Thess. ii. 11. All these descriptions mean that he dislikes sin, and all those who commit it; that it is not always consistent with the eminence of his perfections to work miracles for their conversion; and that it is not fit to reform by a physical power, which would destroy the nature of vice and virtue, men who refuse to be reformed by a moral power, which is suited to intelligent beings.

2. It is a consequence of human frailty or depravity, that men's wrath makes them taste a barbarous pleasure in tormenting those who are the objects of it, and in feasting as it were on their miseries. This is incompatible with the eminence of the

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perfections of God. When he saith to impenitent sinners, "I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh," Prov. i. 26. when he saith, "Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries," Isa. i. 24. when Moses saith to the Jews, "It shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought," Deut. xxviii. 63. all the meaning of passages of this kind is, that the wisdom of God approveth the judgments which his justice inflicts; that the punishments of sinners cannot affect his happiness; and that when he hath not been glorified in their conversion, he will be glorified in their destruction.

3. It is a consequence of the frailty or of the depravity of men, that their anger disorders their bodies, and impairs their minds. See, the eyes sparkle, the mouth foams, the animal spirits are in a flame; these obscure the faculties of the mind, and prevent the weighing of those reasons that plead for the guilty offender; anger pre-judgeth him, and in spite of many powerful pleas in his favor, his ruin is resolved. All these are incompatible with the eminence of the perfections of God. God is a spirit, John iv. 24. he is not subject to revolutions of sense; reasons of punishing a sinner never divert his attention from motives of pardoning the man, or of moderating his pain. When, therefore, God is represented as shaking the earth, and moving the foundations of the hills, because he is wroth; when we read, that, there went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth, Psal. xviii. 7. 8. when he, who is called the word of God, is described as treading the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty God, Rev. xix. 13. 15. we understand no more than that God knoweth how to proportion the punishment to the sin, and that

he will inflict the most rigorous penalties on the most atrocious crimes.

4. It is a consequence of the frailty and depravity of men that their anger makes them usurp a right which belongs to God. An individual who avengeth himself, assumes the place of that God who hath said, vengeance is mine, Rom. xii. 19. at least, he assumes the place of the magistrate, to whom God hath committed the sword for the preventing of these disorders, which would subvert society, if each were judge in his own cause. This is incompatible with the eminence of the divine perfections. God useth his own right when he punisheth sin, agreeably to the doctrine of St. Paul, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. What is this wrath, to which we are required to give place? It is the anger of God. Avenge not yourselves, but give place unto wrath; that is, be not hasty in revenging injuries, your self-love may magnify them, and the punishment which you inflict may exceed the offence; leave vengeance to God, who knoweth how to weigh the injuries you have received in an impartial scale, and to inflict such punishments on the guilty as their crimes deserve.

5. It is a consequence of the frailty and depravity of men, that time doth not abate their resentment, and that the only reason which prevents the rendering of evil for evil, is a want of opportunity; as soon as an opportunity offers they eagerly embrace it. This is incompatible with the eminence of the perfections of God; he hath at all times the means of punishing the guilty. When we are told, therefore, that he sets our iniquities before him, our secret sins in the light of his countenance, Psal. xc. 8. when, having reprieved the Israelites at the re