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Minister of Justice, he may execute his Revenge too; that is, where there are no publick Laws and Government; but when we are incorporated into Civil Societies,private Revenge is fuperfeded by publick Justice, and to revenge our felves is an Offence againft the State; but this publick Juftice is executing Revenge ftill, tho without that partiality and paffion which men betray in their own Caufe; and tho our Saviour forbids private Revenge, it is not because Sin does not deferve to be punished, but to teach us thofe great Chriftian Virtues of Patience and Forgiveness, and loving Enemies; leaving Vengeance to God,who is the juft Judge of the world, For vengeance is mine, I will repay it, faith the Lord; which fupposes that Vengeance is due to Sin, tho Chrift requires his Difciples to leave it to publick Magiftrates, or to God who is the Judge of the world. T

As forthofe Sins which are not fo properly the Objects either of publick or private Revenge, as doing no direct and immediate Injury to any but those who commit them; fuch as Gluttony, Drunkenness, Prodigality, Sloth, Idleness, a vagrant, ufelefs, fantastical Life,and the like; befides Tome gentle Reftraints which publick Laws lay on them, they have this punishment, that they make men contemptible and infamous, neglected and difregarded, as a reproach to human Nature, and ufelefs Members of the Commonwealth, and such publick Infamy is a very great punishment, for it is one of the worst Ingredients in all publick Punishments:

This, Ithink, fhews what the fense of mankind is about the desert of Sin, that punishment is its

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just duel; and they have given very ample Teftimonies alfo to the merits of Virtues for tho there are no Laws to reward a private Virtue, as there are to punifh Vice; yet publick Honours,by the confent of Mankindy are thought the juft Rewards of an eminent Virtue: This has procured the favour of the People,and advanced fuch deferving men to the highest place of Truft and Digni ty in the Commonwealth When fuch men are advanced, it is witha publick Applause, as due to them; no man envies their greatness, or grudges to come behind them: Whereas publick Honours are thought mifplaced on bad men, and fet fo illfavouredly on them, as expofes them to publick Scorn and Envy. Let us then fum up this argument and confider the juft Confequences of it : There is an effential difference between Virtueand Vice; and according to the sense of all mankind, Virtue deferves to be rewarded, and Wickedness punished and can we think then, that if God governs the World, he will not judge Mankind, that he will not reward the good, and punish the Wicked? Has he implanted a natural Principle of Revenge and Juftice in men, and taught theme to erect publick Courts of Juftice for the •punishment of Vice, and will he not punish it himfelf? Has he given fuch a natural grace and beauty to Virtue, as attracts to it felf the love, the praife, the admiration, the rewards of men, and will he himfelf have no regard for itHas he made Vice infamous and contemptible, and will he caft no fhame, no reproach onic? Would not the very Order of Nature complain of this, fhould the God of Nature have no regard to it? ご

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For we muft obferve, that according to the general fenfe of mankind, Virtue and Vice de ferve to be rewarded and punifhed, not only by Men, but by God too: This is the foundation of that terrible Objection against Providence, That good men are many times great Sufferers in this world, and the wicked very profperous; which fuppofes, that if God govern the world, he muft punith bad men, and reward the good, because the nature of things require it, and he cannot be a juft Governor if he do not And either men ought never more to make this Objection againft Providence, or they must allow, that if there be a God, he will judge the world. And indeed there is much more reafon to expect this from God, than from Men; efpecially fince the Administration of Juftice among men is fo corrupt, imperfect, or defective, that neither Virtue nor Vice will ever have their juft rewards, unless he take it into his own hands. And this brings me to a third branch of this Argument for a future Judgment.

III. That the natural Notions we have of God, prove, that he will judge the world. All men who believe a God, acknowledge him to be the Sovereign Lord of all the world, infinitely Wife, Holy,Good and Jult; now it feems impoffible to me, [tho we had no Revelation of his Wil what he would do] that fuch a Being as this fhould not judge the world, As to confider this matter particularly, but very briefly.

1. If he be the Sovereign Lord of the world, then he has Power and Authority to judge; nay, there is no other Being has Power and Authority

to judge the world but himself; that if he will not judge the world, the world can never be judged. And yet, as I have already proved, the effential differences of Good and Evil neceffarily require that Man fhould be judged, that good men fhould be rewarded, and the wicked punithed; and if there must be a Judgment, then God who is the Sovereign Lord, and the only Judge of the world, muft judge mankind: If Judgment be neceffary, as the nature of things prove, and as the general confent and unbiafs'd reason of mankind agree it is, if we cannot hence conclude that God will judge the world, I am fure we can never know any thing certainly of God by Reafon; for there is nothing which Reafon concludes more exprefly and pofitively than this.

2. As for the other Attributes and Perfections of the Divine Nature, fuch as Wisdom, Holinefs, Goodness, Juftice, if God be the Sovereign Lord of the world, we muft confider them as the Attributes of a Sovereign; it is the Wisdom, the Holinefs, the Goodness, the Juftice of a Sovereign Lord: And therefore the proper exercise of these properexercise Attributes in God, confifts in the exercife of a Sovereign Authority and Power; that is, in governing and judging mankind wifely, holily, with Goodnefs and Juftice: And this certainly proves, that God as a Sovereign Lord does govern and judge the world; for he cannot exercife his Wifdom, or Holinefs, or Goodness, or Juftice, as Sovereign, if he exercife no acts of Sovereignty: He cannot judge wifely, holily, righteously, if he do not judge at all; and therefore though he be wife, and holy, and juft, and good, yet he is not a wife, and holy, and juft, and good-Sove

reign, for as Sovereign he exercifes none of thefe Attributes, if he does not judge the world, if he do not reward good men, nor punish the wicked; which the Wisdom, the Holiness, the Goodnefs of à Sovereign requires. And therefore if the Natural Notion all Mankind have of God joins his Sovereignty with his other Attributes, as it muft do, unless we can divide God from himfelf: that he is not only a wife, and holy, and juft, and good Being,but that he is a wife, and holy,and juft, and good Sovereign Lord of the World,we muft confefs that God does govern the world, and difplay all these Attributes and Perfections in the government of it. I might add a great deal more upon this Argument, but this is fo very plain and demonftrative, that there is no need of it. a boog to s SECT. III.

The External Appearances of Providence prove
Future Judgment. I DID

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S the Natural Notions we have of God proves that he will judge the world; fo the external Appearances, of Providence prove that God does judge the world at prefent,and that he will judge it hereafter: For the Providence of God does very often make fuch a remarkable difference between good and bad men in this world, as is fufficient to fatisfy us that God does govern and judge mankind at prefent;and yet the prefent adminiftrations of Providence do not always make a fufficient diftinction between good and bad men in this world,good men being very often afflicted,and bad men profperous; which gives us a reasonable expectation of a more juft and righteous

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