336 A Sermon on Occaficn of a public Pail. SER M. men, God fays, it repented him, and grieved XIII. his heart, that he had made man upon the ""earth, and he determined to overthrow their foundation with a flood ; yet he refpited the infliction of that dreadful judgment for an hundred and twenty years, for a farther trial, or as the apoftle Peter * expreffeth it, in the days of Noah the long fuffèring of God waited, that is, to fee if that perverfe generation could poflibly be prevailed with to reform, and fo prevent their utter deftruEion. So when the iniquities of Sodom and Gomorrah were rifen to fuch a height as divine patience itfelf could fcarce any longer bear, and juftice required that at laft they fhould be fet forth as ex- amples, -j- fuffèring the vengeance of eternal fire, that is, a ruin by fire never to be re- paired ; yet, before that final excif'ion, to fhow his longanimity and de ire to the work of his bands, God was pleafed to enter into a fo- lemn treaty with Abraham upon the fubjeek, wherein he offered to fpare thofe wicked cities upon fuch terms as the utmoft human corn- paffion was almoft afhamed to afk 11. Such divine long- fuffering is univerfal ; that is, extends itfelf to all nations. It was indeed * i Pet. iii. 20. -I- Jude 7. Gen xviii. 23. fignally
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