288 THP, WORLD TO COÁhE. cause I have called a nd ye refused, ye have set at naught all my- counsel and would none of my reproof I will laugh at your" calamity, I will mock when your fear comet h. ; when your fear corneth as desolation, and your destruction as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cornet/: upon you. Then shall ye call upon me, but I will not answer ; ye shall seek me early, hut ye shall not find me ; for ye hated knowledge, and did not chaise the fear of the Lord : Ye would none of my counsels, ye despised a l my rebukes ; therefore shall ye eat of the fruit of your own' way, and be ,filled with your own devices ; Prov. i. 2.4 -31. Take them` angels, bind them hand andfoot, and cast them into everlasting' fire and utter darkness ; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; Mat. xxii. 13. Let us cease then to murmur against the threatenings and the transactions of the great God, till we are become fitterjudges of his perfections and their demands. Let us cavil no more against his conduct and government, till we can teach him how far his punishing justice shall go in the execution of his threatenings, and till we can assign to him the point and limit where his goodness challinterpose and restrain that justice. Objection IV. The fourth objection is derived from the rec- titude of the nature of God, or his common equity and mercy United, which has been represented in this manner. Suppose one of the damned spirits among mankind should address himself to the great God in such sort of language as this, " Lord I was created by thy sovereign pleasure without my own will, I did not desire to be made, much less to be born in such a relation to Adam, whereby I brought a sinful nature into the world with me But I was united by thy power and pleasure to a body which had the seeds of sin and misery in it : There were strong appetites and violent passions mingled with my flesh and blood, which I myfelf had no hand in procuring ; they fermented in me with much ve- hemence, and I was tempted to many excesses : I made some re- sistance at first, and many times tried to subdue them, butI was overcome : At last I. suffered myself to be carried away by the stream of these sinful affections and appetites which I could not possibly avoid, nor easily subdue. Is it agreeable to thy equity, O blessed God, to punish such a poor wretch with everlasting torments ? And can thy mercy continue to see this my misery for ever and ever, and not help me ? I intreat thee, O thou almighty Author of being, to destroy and annihilate me utterly soul and body ; take away this being which I never asked nor desired ; ray, which I would not have consented to accept among the sin- ful race of mankind, because in this tract of generation, and existence I stood much more likely to be miserable than:to be happy." Answer I. As for the reasonableness and equity of the
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