for this comfort through Christ, for thou will show mercy unto thousands of them that love thee, and keep thy commandments. But after these things Hezekiah the king of Judah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did, and the Lord was with him, and showed him great kindness, and comforted him in the time of his distress and affliction. (2 Kings xix. 6, 7. -chap. xx. 5.) For the king of Assyria had sent a great host against Jerusalem, which spoke many blasphemous words against the Holy One of Israel, and it appears that the Lord had borne with his cruel acts and deeds for a long time, therefore because the judgments of God delayed, and did not come upon him, he began to fight against the God of heaven: but what could thou do, O thou wretched man? Was thou not like a feather against the wind and storm ? And so it was, for the Lord arose up, and by his mighty power, it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. (chap. xix. 35.) Now, behold what a good and profitable thing prayer is, and what advantage we gain by it, for by prayer through grace Hezekiah and his people were delivered out of the hands of their enemy; see my little Book called The Book of Prayer; now observe the boasting of the king of Assyria, and then observe the prayer of Hezekiah, and then look into the Book of Job, and see what that saith, Surely O Lord thou setteth up on high these that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. Thou disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. Thou taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. (chap. v. 12.) For the ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. (Psalm i. 4.) O Lord, at thy time the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. (Prov. ii. 22.) And he that rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. (chap. xvii. 12.) And again, you may read in my little Book called The Cruelty of the Wicked, and there you may see the cruel acts of the king of Babylon, and how he compelled the people to worship his idol, and how he cast the righteous into the burning fiery furnace, but after this the judgments of God came upon him, and caused his dwelling to be with the beasts of the earth, he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles feathers, and his nails like birds claws. (Dan. iv. 33.) And it appears that his son was very proud and wicked, for he profaned the most holy vessels of the Lord, that had been taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, and used them common, and he and his princes, and his wives, and his concubines drank in them, to their wicked lust and pleasure, they drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron, of wood, and of stone; but the power of God came against him, for he saw the part of a hand that wrote against the wall, which made his flesh tremble, and his knees smote one against another; and it appears that in that night, the Lord cut him off from the earth. (Dan. v. 30.) Ah! surely It is dangerous to provoke our God, His power and anger none can tell; May send a sinner soon to hell. -And the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile; for behold the word of the Lord, by Jeremiah the prophet, Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, saith he, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. (chap. iv. 4.) And again, we should always mind how we act with things that pertain unto God, for remember how Ananias and Sapphira his wife were struck dead for their transgression. (Acts v. 5, 10.) And we see that Herod the king took upon him too much, for he stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the Church of God, and he killed James the brother of John with the sword, and he persecuted the people of God. (Acts xii.) And upon a set day, Herod arrayed in royal apparel set upon his throne, and made an oration unto the people, and the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man, and immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost; therefore we see sin cannot go unpunished. (Acts xii.) Now, because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke, then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. (Job xxx. 18.) For the wicked are driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death. (Prov. xiii. 32.) And I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a fire brand plucked out of the burning, yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord. (Amos iv. 11.) If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name saith the Lord of Hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings, yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. (Mal. ii. 2.) And the destruction of the transgressors, and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord, shall be consumed. (Isash v. 18.) There is no peace saith the Lord, unto the wicked. (chap. xlviii. 22.) And again, was not their blessing a curse unto them that brought an evil report of the land of promise, and did not they die by the plague before the Lord? (Num. xiv. 37.) And behold the wrath and power of God against Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, which rebelled against Moses and Aron, and did not the Lord cause the earth to clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses and all their goods, and they went down alive into the pit and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation. (Num. xvi. 33.) And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. (verse 35.) But still the children of Israel murmured against Moses, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord; and the Lord was wrath with the people, and there died by the plague fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. (verse xlix.) Therefore I say unto all those that read these lines, if you see a man whose works and life do correspond with the Gospel and law of God, condemn him not, neither despise him, for the prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (Num. xvi. 15.) little Book called by this name, and behold the power of prayer by the mouth of Elisha the prophet, did not he look back upon those children that mocked him, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came two bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two of them. (2 Kings ii. 24.) But yet our God is a faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. (Deut. vii. 9.) See my And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. (verse 10.) Look, and behold the curses pronounced against the children of Israel, if in case of their disobedience. (Deut. xxvii. 28, 29.) And look into the Book of Joshua, and see how Achen coveted after gold and silver, and by so doing he was stoned, and after they were stoned they were burnt with fire. (Joshua vii. 21. 25.) And again, in another place we see how that Gehazi the servant of Elisha, he coveted after money, and by so doing a curse came upon him, for he went out from the presence of his master, a leper as white as snow. (2 Kings v. 22. 27.) And Solomon also saith, that the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the just. (Prov. iii. 33.) And Isaiah saith, Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. (Isaiah. xxx. 11.) David also saith, If he turn not, he will whet his sword: he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. (Psalm vii. 12.) And again, he saith, Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. (Psalm ix. 5.) And the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (verse 17.) And upon the wicked, he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest, this shall be the portion of their cup. (Psalm xi. 6.) O Lord, thine hand shall find out all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee, thou shalt make them as a fiery oven, in the time of thine anger, the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. (Psalm xxi. 8, 9.) O God thou shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction, bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. [Psalm lv. 23.] Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded: but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof, Ialso will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh: then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer they shall seek me, but they shall not find me: for they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. (Prov. i.) Wo to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they deal not treacherously with thee! When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled: and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. (Isaiah xxxiii. 1.) For behold the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. (Isaiah lxvi. 15.) And I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling of his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of Hosts. (Mal. iii. 5.) And in another place we see by what our blessed Lord saith, that the wicked are compared as the tares among the wheat, or the filth on the land, which are gathered together, and burnt in the fire, and so shall it be in the end of this world, the son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. xiii. 42.) The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. (Job xxi. 30.) But there are some that do not observe the ways of the Lord, neither regard the operation of his power, and they say, what is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit should we have if we pray unto him; and yet at the same time, their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them, and they say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. (Job xxi.) But know ye this O man, and understand, and be wise; I say, A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this; when the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever. (Psalm xcii. 7.) And the people of God are sometimes exceedingly tried, when they see the prosperity of the wicked, and they themselves are exposed to slavery and cold, hunger and distress, and many afflictions, and are chastened every morning: and at the same time, they see the wicked in great prosperity; therefore the Psalmist saith, My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipt, for I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, for there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm, they are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men, and they are full of pride and fatness, they have more than heart could wish, they set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through arth, and they say, how doth God know, and is there know |