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imperfect nature, where we fhall eafily difcover, that the fmall fhare of knowledge and power which men have when they are not under the guidance of this nobler perfection, only ftain and corrupt that character which they

were meant to adorn.

The ftrength and wifdom of the Almighty, had of themfelves been fufficient to have made the univerfe, but it must be his juftice alone, which could fo long fuftain and preferve it, as it is this which holds the due balance, prefides over the powers of nature, and keeps together the various parts of the great structure in their proper harmony and proportion.

And the fame invariable rules, which the Creator hath himself obferved, did he propofe alfo to his creatures; he hath commanded man to be just as he is juft, and pure as he is pure; and the more effectually to perfuade him to the imitation of his own divine conduct, he hath ordered that his happiness or mifery shall totally depend upon it; he hath declared it as his fixed and unalterable decree, that as we behave towards each other, he will act towards us; or, as it is expreffed in my text, that with the fame measure that we mele withal, it fhall be measured unto us again.

But though the juftice of God is fo manifeft, though it is fo effential to his nature, that it is impoffible to diveft him of it; it is notwithstanding an attribute which from the unaccountable perverfenefs of human nature, even the good and pious have fometimes been weak enough to diftruft, and the evil very frequently wicked enough to call in question.

To

To vindicate, therefore, the ways of the Almighty towards his creatures, to direct the path of the wanderer, to fix the refolutions of the doubtful, and turn the hearts of the dif obedient to the wifdom of the juft; let us endeavour, as far as the light of reafon can guide us in our inquiries, to defend the juftice of God through fome of its various operations, and to convince the unbeliever that it is diffufed, like his mercy, throughout all his works.

And to this end it may not be improper to confider,

First, In what manner, and to what degree the divine juftice is exerted in this life:

And fecondly, What portion of it is reserved to fulfil the divine appointment in that which

is to come.

And first then, with regard to that measure of the divine juftice which is meted to us in this life, we may observe, that

As much as men generally repine at the unequal diftribution of things, the good even here are the happieft, and the evil the most miferable, for virtue is in a great measure its own reward.

If health, honour, peace, reputation, and truft, are pleasures, they are pleasures which the good man is feldom a ftranger to. Health is the true and genuine offspring of temperance, and tranquillity the infeparable compa nion of innocence: the good man is always honoured, though not imitated, even by the most abandoned. Men will, in all their affairs, repofe truft and confidence in those whofe reputation

putation is unblemished, and their behaviour upright. Wisdom always repayeth her children. Length of days is in her right-hand, and in her left, riches and honour. Great peace have they, fays the pfalmift, that love thy law; a peace which paffeth all understanding; this peace which adds variety to wit, and grace to wifdom; that health of the foul which pours its enlivening influence over every faculty, heightens the bloom of youth, imparts cheerfulness to sickness and anguish, and gives vigour, fimiles, and activity, even to age, poverty, and affliction.

But as virtue is faid, and in many cafes truly faid, to be its own reward, fo is vice alfo in fome measure its own punishment. It is the character of Satan, who is the father of fin, that he is firft the tempter and then the tormentor; and the features of his offspring bear the strongest resemblance to him. Many of our faults and follies carry with them their immediate and unavoidable confequences; they walk hand in hand, and the guilt is no fooner incurred, but it is fucceeded by the reward. Thus, when intemperance walks forth to the banquet, ficknefs feldom fails to attend her fteps, and to adminifter the wholesome draught of forrow and repentance: when the haughty and felf-fufficient man boafts of his imagined fuperiority, he generally meets with contempt and averfion: whilft the covetous man withholds his morfel from the poor, doth he not ftarve himself alfo? and whilft the angry and revengeful endeavours as much as lies in his

power

power to destroy the peace and tranquillity of others, does he not at the fame time deftroy his own?

But this manifestation of the divine justice is not, it seems, fufficient to ftop the clamours of the discontented, and reprefs the pride of the infolent. The good (for fo they call themfelves) are grieved to fee the wicked in profperity. Such is their impatience and indignation, that they will not wait to fee the end; because the debt of the wicked is not immediately demanded, they are too apt to conclude them utterly discharged of it; and because the blow is fufpended for a time, they fay it will never fall upon them; because sentence against an evil work is not executed fpeedily, therefore the heart of the fons of men is fully fet in them to do evil; and yet were we as careful to obferve the judgments of God, as we generally are to watch the faults of men, what frequent reafons fhould we meet with to adore his impartial juftice, and the execution of it! Have we never feen those who were, in their youth, ungrateful to their parents, punished themselves by the difobedience of their children? Have we never feen the plentiful harveft of fraud and rapine blafted on a fudden, and undeferved affluence and fuccefs, changed to penury and decay? Have we not fometimes feen the deceiver deceived, the contemptuous man funk into contempt, and the magnificent ftructures of the proud and haughty, drop down in a moment and moulder into ruin? Can we not all of us call to mind difcoveries

of

of long-concealed guilt, fuch as no human means could detect, and fuch convictions of injured innocence, as nothing but the interpofing hand of divine juftice could ever have produced?

One would indeed be inclined to think a few ferious reflections on the judgments of God against the wicked, even in this life, would be fufficient to alarm and terrify those who had no belief in another; but if the meafures of divine juftice, as it is exerted here, hath no effect on the thoughtless and disobedient, let him reflect on what I propofed fecondly to confider, namely, what portion of it is reserved to fulfil the divine appointment hereafter.

The unequal diftribution of things in this world, is doubtless a very ftrong and powerful argument in favour of that which is to come: it is impoffible that God, who is the fountain of perfection, fhould leave any thing imperfect; imperfect however muft be his dif penfation towards men, if that virtue which is here neglected, doth not meet with its reward, and that vice which is here fuccefsful, doth not inherit its deserved punishment hereafter; but in this point the holy Scriptures are fufficiently plain and explicit. God hath there promised that he will one day reward every man according to his works, and that with the fame measure we mete withal, it fhall be measured unto us again. How dreadful muft be the apprehenfions of the finner, when he hears this folemn, this tremendous fentence pronounced against him! when at the laft and

great

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