of INDW ELLÍNG iSIN. 469 as he had purpofed, fo he threatned that the Lord should not deliver Je- rufalem out of -his hand, 2 Kings xviii. 35. God threatens to cut Ihort his . power, that he Ilsould not excute his intendment, chap. xix. 28. whirls he performs accordingly, by taking away the lives of his fouldiers, ver. 35 without whom it was tmpoffible that his conceived fin fhould be brought forth. This providential difpenfation in the obftru&ion of conceived fin, Mofes excellently fets forth inthe cafe ofPharaoh, Exocl. xv. 9,19. The ene- myfold, Iwillpurfue, Iwill overtake, Iwill divide the f oil, my lulls fhall befatisfied upon them : Iwill draw my (word, my handfhall defiroy them. Thoudidfl blowwith thy wind, thefea coveredthem, theyfank as lead in the mighty waters. Sin's conception is fully expreífed, and as full a prevention is annexed unto it. In like manner he dealt with the companies of fifties and their captains who came to apprehend Elijah, 2 Kings i. Io, Is. Fire came down from heaven-and confumed them, when they were ready tohave taken him. And fundry other inftances of the like nature might be record- ed. That which is ofuniverfal concernment, we have in that great providen- tial alteration, which put a period to the lives ofmen. Men living hundreds ofyears, had a long feafon tobring forth the fins they had conceived i there- upon the earth was filled with violence, injuftice, and rapine, and all fief, corrupted their ways, Gen. vi. I2, --19. To preventthe like inundation of fin, God fhortens the courfe of the pilgrimage of men in the earth, and reduces their lives to a muchthorter meafare. Befides this general law, God daily thus cuts off perfons, who had conceived much mifchief and violence in their hearts,and prevents the executionof it. Blood thisfly and deceitful men do not live out halftheir days, They haveyet much work to do, might they havebut fpace given them to execute the bloodyand finful purpofes of their minds. The Pfalmiff tells us, Pfd. cxlvi. ç. In the day that the breath of man goeth forth, bis thoughts perifh : he had many contrivances aboutfin, but now they are all cut off. So alfo, Ecclef. viii. 12, 13. Though a fin- ner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged ; yetfurely Iknow that it fhall be well with them thatfear God, whichfear befòre him ; but it fhall not be well with the wicked, neither fhall he prolong his days, which are as afhadow, becaarfe be feareth not before God. How long foever a wicked man lives, yet he dies judicially, and fhall not abide to do theevil he had conceived. But now feting we have granted, that evenbelievers themfelves may con- ceive fin through the power and the deceitfulnefs of it, it may be enquired whether Godever thus obviates its production and accomplifhment in them, by cutting off and taking away their lives, fo as thatthey fhall not be able to perform it : I anfwer, 1.) That Goddoth not judicially cut offand take away the life ofanyof his, for this end and purpofe, that he may thereby prevent the execution, or bringing forth of any particular fin that he liad conceived, and which without that taking away he would have perpetrated. For, (1. This is direlycontrary to the very declared end of the patienceof God towards them, 2 Pet. iii. 9. This is the very end of the longfuffer- ìng ofGod towards believers, that before they depart hence,they may come to the fenfe, acknowledgment, and repentance of every known fin. This is the confiant and unchangeable rule of God's patience in the covenant of grace; which is fo far from being in diem an encouragement unto fin, that it is a motive to univerfal watchfulnefs againft it, of the faine nature with all Gofpel grace, andof mercy in the bloodof Chriff. Now this dif- penfation whereof we fpeak, would lie in a dire& contradidion unto it. Cccccc (2. This
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