Genesis 7

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. VII.—Behold, my soul, the goodness and severity of God! His goodness—in saving the man whom his own grace had qualified for that mercy—in saving others, even the wicked part of his family, for his sake!—in saving the brute animals in proportion to their serviceableness to an!—in adding seven days space of repentance to the wretched profligates who had abused the former reprieve of 120 years! and, after all, bringing the good gradually on them, for their awakening, and to give them still further space to repent! But let me tremble at his righteous judgments! How the clouds from above, the wells from below, so long beneficial to mankind, now concur to destroy them! What multitudes, who had despised his warnings, now perish by his hand! And how ineffectual is every attempt to escape! While the ark of God’s testament, his new covenant, is open, let me escape thither for my life, and bring with me, of my fellow sinners, all whom I can. The day is at hand when the earth and the works thereof shall be burnt up, and the door of mercy for ever shut. God forbid that I should be among those multitudes who shall then be shut out into outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth!