SERMONS. 397 



of earth. *Hast thou an arm like God ? Or canst 

 thou thunder with a voice like Him ? Wilt thou 

 set the briars and thorns of the wilderness against 

 Him in battle array ? Or canst thou -f dwell with 

 everlasting burnings ? Or despisest thou the 

 Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance ; not 

 knowing (refusing to know) ;}: that the Long-suf- 

 fering of our Lord is Salvation, and that his 

 Goodness leadeth thee to Repentance ? If not, 

 know assuredly, that thy hardness and impenitent 

 heart do but treasure up for thee yet a fiercer and 

 more insupportable wrath. 



And, therefore, let us not flatter ourselves, nor 

 think that God hath now emptied his quiver, and 

 spent all his artillery upon us; let us not come 

 forth delicately with the foolish Agag, saying, 

 § Surely the bitterness of death is past: no, the 

 dregs of the cup of fury are still behind ; God 

 grant we be not forced at last to drink them, 

 and suck them up. Great Plagues remain for the 

 ungodly, saith the Psalmist. || V^e iinum abiit; ecce 

 duo veniunt. One Woe is past, but behold there 

 come two Woes more ; for the rest of men that 

 were not killed by the former plagues repented 

 not. Apoc. ix. 12. 20. When God's rods and his 

 ferulas (the discipline of children) are contemned, 

 he hath a lash of scorpions to scourge the obsti- 

 nate. When the ten dreadful plagues are spent all 



* Isa. xxxiii, 14. f Rom.ii. 4. X 2 Pet. iii. 15. 



§ 1 Sam. XV. 32. || Psm. xxxii. 11. 



