Hugh Binning, Works, p. 399:
It is strange to think what mercy is mixed with the most wrath-like strokes and threatenings. There is no prophet whose office and commission is only for judgment; nay, to speak the truth, it is mercy that premises threatenings. The entering of the law, both in the commands and curses, is to make sin abound, that grace may superabound, so that both rods and threatenings are the messengers of Jesus Christ, to bring sinners to him for salvation. Every thing should be measured and named by its end; so, call threatenings promises, call rods and judgments mercies; name all good, and good to you, if so be you understand the purpose of God in these.
It is strange to think what mercy is mixed with the most wrath-like strokes and threatenings. There is no prophet whose office and commission is only for judgment; nay, to speak the truth, it is mercy that premises threatenings. The entering of the law, both in the commands and curses, is to make sin abound, that grace may superabound, so that both rods and threatenings are the messengers of Jesus Christ, to bring sinners to him for salvation. Every thing should be measured and named by its end; so, call threatenings promises, call rods and judgments mercies; name all good, and good to you, if so be you understand the purpose of God in these.
