God Usually Forewarns His People of Approaching Trials and Sufferings, by John Flavel. The following contains Chapter Three of his work, "Preparations for Sufferings, Or The Best Work in the Worst Times, Wherein the Necessity, Excellency, and Means of our Readiness for Sufferings are Evinced and Prescribed; our Call to Suffering Cleared, and the Great Unreadiness of Many Professors Bewailed".

But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
~ Acts 9:15-16

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
~ 2 Timothy 4:6

And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
~ Genesis 48:21

And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.
~ Deuteronomy 31:14

And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
~ Joshua 23:14

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
~ Philippians 1:23

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
~ 2 Peter 1:14-15

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
~ Philippians 3:10

And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
~ Matthew 17:22-23

Shews that it is usual with God to premonish his people of approaching trials and sufferings; with some account of the manner how, and the reason why he so forewarns them.

As Paul had many clear premonitions and fore-notices of the sufferings that should befal him at Jerusalem, that he might not be surprized by them when they came; so it is usual with God (though not in such an immediate and extraordinary a manner) to admonish the world, and especially his own people, of great trials and sufferings before-hand. Amos 3:7. "Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets unto his servants the prophets."

Thus, when he was about to bring the flood upon the world, he gave one hundred and twenty years warning of it before it came, Gen. 6:3and when he was to destroy Sodom, he saith, Gen. 18:17. "Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?" And the like discovery he made about the same judgment to Lot, Gen. 19:12, 13, 14. So when the captivity of the Jews was nigh at hand, the people had many forewarnings of it; God forewarned them both ministerially and providentially; he warned them by the prophets, Ezek. 3:17. "Hear the word of my mouth, and give them warning from me." And when the time drew nigh to execute the judgment determined upon Jerusalem, and the temple, how plainly did Christ foretel them of it? Luke 19:43, 44. "Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee."

And when the storm was just ready to fall,* their own historian tells us, a voice was heard in the temple, saying, Migremus hinc, Let us go hence. 'Which voice† Tacitus also mentions in his annals, affirming it to be more than a human voice, telling them God was departing, and that it was accompanied with a rushing noise, as of persons going out. These were extraordinary warnings.' The like signs have been given to divers other nations, by dreadful eclipses of the heavenly bodies, portentous comets, earthquakes, and other signs of judgment.

Now, though we have no ground to expect such extraordinary warnings, yet we have the most apparent and certain signs of approaching calamities; after which, if they surprize us, the fault must lie in our own inexcusable negligence; for we have a standing rule to govern ourselves in this matter, and that is this; 'When the same sins are found in one nation, which have brought down the wrath of God upon another nation, it is an evident sign of judgment at the door; for God is unchangeable, just, and holy, and will not favour that in one people which he hath punished in another, nor bless that in one age which he hath cursed in another.'

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