through all and prospered their endeavours with great success Now they had all humane encouragements and God only opposes them and makes them desist with the loss of their workmen and materials and perpetual dishonour to themselves for attempting to fight against God in building him a Temple against his will From which we see that in all the senses the Jews undeâ—stood the Kingdom of God it was remaâ—kably taken â—rom them within so many years after Christ the true Passover was slain by them as had passed from their first Passover after their going out of Aegypt to their entrance into Canaan The Difficulty will be far less and the concernment not so great as to the Jews to prove that the Kingdom of God in the sense our Saviour meant it for the Power of the Gospel was taken from them For the event it self is a clear proof of it Instead of that therefore I shall now prove that this taking away the Kingdom of God from them was the effect of their sin in crucifying Christ. Therefore I say c. To make this clear I shall proceed by these following steps 1. That it is acknowledged by the Jews themselves that these great calamities have happened to them for some extraordinary sins For to these they impute the destruction of the City and Temple their oppressions and miseries ever since and the deferring the coming of the Messias For some of them have confessed That all the terms prefixed for the coming of the Messias are past long ago but that God provoked by their great sins hath thus long deserred his appearance and suffered them in the mean while to lye under such great calamities 2. The sin ought to be looked on as so much greater by how much heavier and longer this punishment hath been than any inflicted upon them before For if God did in former captivities punish them for their sins when they were brought back again into their own land after 70 years we must conclude that this is a sin of a higher nature which hath not been expiated by 1600 years captivity and dispersion 3. The Jews have not suffered these calamities for the same sins for which they suffered before For then God charged them with Idolatry as the great provoking sin and it is very observable that the Jews were never freer from the suspicion of this sin than under the second Temple and particularly near their destruction They generally pretended a mighty zeal for their Law and especially opposed the least tendency to Idolatry insomuch that they would not suffer the Roman Ensigns to be advanced among them because of the Images that were upon them and all the History of that time tells us of the frequent contests they had with the Roman Governours about these things and ever since that time they have been perfect haters of Idolatry and none of the least hindrances of their embracing Christianity hath been the infinite scandal which hath been given them by the Roman Church in that particular 4. It must be some sin which their Fathers committed and continues yet unrepented of by them to this day Their Fathers committing it was the meritorious cause of the first punishment their Châ—ldren not repenting of it is the cause why that judgment lies still so heavy upon them And now what sin can we imagâ—ne this to be but putting to death the true Messias which they will acknowledge themselves to be a sin that deserves all the miseries they have undergone and it is apparent that in all this long captivity they never have had the heart to repent of the Sin of crucifying Christ other sins they confess and say they hearâ—ily repent of but why then hath not God accepted of their repentance and brought them back into their own Land according to the promises he long since made unto their Fathers Which is a certain argument it is some sin as yet unrepented of by them which continues them under all their sufferings and what can this be but that horrid sin of putting to death the Son of God with that dreadful imprecation which to this day hath its force upon them His blood be upon us and our Children and this sin they are so far from repenting of that they still justifie their Fathers in what they did and blaspheme Christ to this day in their prayers where they think they may do it with safety And to all this we may add that the ensuing calamities were exactly foretold by that Christ whom they crucified and if no other argument would convince them that he was at least a Prophet yet the punctual accomplishment of all his predictions ought to do it as will appear by comparing Matth. 24. with the series of the story And it is observable that the very place where our Saviour foretold these things viz. the Mount of Olives was the first wherein the Roman Army encamped before Hierusalem And as they had crucified the Son of God and put the Lord of glory to open shame mocking and deriding him in his sufferings so when the Romans came to revenge his quarrel upon them they took the captive Jews and crucified them openly in the view of the City 500. oft-times in a day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in different forms for sport sake as Iosephus tells us who was then in the Roman camp and withal adds their numbers were so great that there was no room left for the crosses to stand or wood enough to make crosses of And they who had bought the blood of the Son of God for Thirty pieces of silver had this sin of theirs severely punished when such multitudes of the Jews 2000 in one one night had their bowels ript up by the Roman Souldiers in hopes to have found the gold and silver there which they were supposed to have swallowed And what greater argument can we have to believe that such judgments fell upon them upon the account of their sin in crucifying Christ than that they were so punctually foretold so long before and had all things so exactly answering in the accomplishment of them For when Christ spake those things the Jews thought their destruction as incredible as that he was the Messias but what greater evidence could there be to them that he was so than that God did so severely avenge his blood upon them and continues to do it for their unbelief and impenitency to this very day But it may be some will say What are all these things to us we are none of those who crucified Christ or justifie the doing it Thanks be to God the Kingdom of God is not taken from us but we enjoy what was taken from them To which I answer If we really were what we pretend to be these things are of great consequence to be considered by us 1. For is it nothing to us to have so great an argument of the truth of our Religion as the sufferings of the Jews to this day is for the sin
so the ratification of the Covenant must be consequent to that oblation which he made of himself upon the Cross. Besides how incongruous must this needs be that the death of Christ the most innocent person in the World without any respect to the guilt of sin should suffer so much on purpose to assure us that God will pardon those who are guilty of it May we not much rather infer the contrary considering the holiness and justice of God's nature if he dealt so severely with the green tree how much more will he with the dry If one so innocent suffer'd so much what then may the guilty expect If a Prince should suffer the best subject he hath to be severely punished could ever any imagine that it was with a design to assure them that he would pardon the most rebellious No but would it not rather make men afraid of being too innocent for fear of suffering too much for it And those who seem very careful to preserve the honour of God's Justice in not punishing one for another's faults ought likewise to maintain it in the punishing of one who had no fault at all to answer for And to think to escape this by saying That to such a person such things are calamities but no punishments is to revive the ancient exploded Stoicism which thought to reform the diseases of Mankind by meer changing the names of things though never so contrary to the common sense of humane nature which judges of the nature of punishments by the evils men undergo and the ends they are designed for And by the very same reason that God might exercise his dominion on so innocent a person as our Saviour was without any respect to sin as the moving cause to it he might lay eternal torments on a most innocent Creature for degrees and continuance do not alter the reason of things and then escape with the same evasion that this was no act of injustice in God because it was a meer exercise of Dominion And when once a sinner comes to be perswaded by this that God will pardon him it must be by the hopes that God will shew kindness to the guilty because he shews so little to the innocent and if this be agreeable to the Justice and Holiness of God's nature it is hard to say what is repugnant to it If to this it be said That Christ's consent made it no unjust exercise of Dominion in God towards him it is easily answered that the same consent will make it less injustice in God to lay the punishment of our sins upon Christ upon his undertaking to satisfie for us for then the consent supposes a meritorious cause of punishment but in this case the consent implyeth none at all And we are now enquiring into the reasons of such sufferings and consequently of such a consent which cannot be imagined but upon very weighty motives such as might make it just in him to consent as well as in God to inflict Neither can it be thought that all the design of the sufferings of Christ was to give us an example and an encouragement to suffer our selves though it does so in a very great measure as appears by the Text it self For the hopes of an eternal reward for these short and light afflictions ought to be encouragement enough to go through the miseries of of this life in expectation of a better to come And the Cloud of Witnesses both under the Law and the Gospel of those who have suffer'd for righteousness sake ought to make no one think it strange if he must endure that which so many have done before him and been crowned for it And lastly to question whether Christ could have pity enough upon us in our sufferings unless he had suffer'd so deeply himself will lead men to distrust the pity and compassion of Almighty God because he was never capable of suffering as we do But the Scripture is very plain and full to all those who rack not their minds to pervert it in assigning a higher reason than all these of the sufferings of Christ viz. That Christ suffered for sins the just for the unjust that his soul was made an offering for sin and that the Lord therefore as on a sacrifice of atonement laid on him the iniquities of us all That through the eternal Spirit He offer'd himself without spot to God and did appear to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself that he was made a propitiation for our sins that He laid down his life as a price of Redemption for Mankind that through his blood we obtain Redemption even the forgiveness of sins which in a more particular manner is attributed to the blood of Christ as the procuring cause of it That he dyed to reconcile God and us together and that the Ministery of Reconciliation is founded on God's making him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and that we may not think that all this Reconciliation respects us and not God he is said To offer up himself to God and for this cause to be a Mediator of the New Testament and to be a faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people and every High-Priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God not appointed by God in things meerly tending to the good of men which is rather the Office of a Prophet than a Priest So that from all these places it may easily appear that the blood of Christ is to be looked on as a sacrifice of Atonement for the sins of the World Not as though Christ did suffer the very same which we should have suffer'd for that was eternal death as the consequent of guilt in the person of the Offender and then the discharge must have been immediately consequent upon the payment and no room had been left for the freeness of remission or for the conditions required on our parts But that God was pleased to accept of the death of his Son as a full perfect sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the World as our Church expresseth it and in consideration of the sufferings of his Son is pleased to offer pardon of sin upon sincere repentance and eternal life upon a holy obedience to his will Thus much for the things we are to consider concerning the contradiction of sinners which Christ endured against himself Nothing now remains but the influence that ought to have upon us lest we be weary and faint in our minds For which end I shall suggest two things 1. The vast disproportion between Christ's sufferings and ours 2. The great encouragement we have from his sufferings to bear our own the better 1. The vast Disproportion between Christ's sufferings and our own Our lot is fallen into suffering times and we
here delivered as the course God used to reclaim the Israelites but to what is â—eported by the most faithful Historian of those times of the degrees and steps that God made before the ruines of the British Nation For Gildas tells us the decay of it began by Civil Wars among themselves and high discontents remaining as the consequents of them after this an universal decay and poverty among them after that nay during the continuance of it Wars with the Picts and Scots their inveterate enemies but no sooner had they a little breathing space but they return to their luxury and other sins again then God sends among them a consuming Pestilence which destroyed an incredible number of people When all this would not do those whom they trusted most to betrayed them and rebelled against them by whose means not only the Cities were burnt with Fire but the whole Island was turned almost into one continued flame The issue of all which at last was that their Country was turned to a desolation the ancient Inhabitants driven out or destroyed and their former servants but now their bitter enemies possessing their habitations May God avert the Omen from us at this day We have smarted by Civil wars and the dreadful effects of them we yet complain of great discontents and poverty as great as them we have inveterate enemies combined abroad against us we have very lately suffered under a Pestilence as great almost as any we read of and now the great City of our Nation burnt down by a dreadful Fire And what do all these things mean and what will the issue of them be though that be lockt up in the Councils of Heaven yet we have just cause to fear if it be not our speedy amendment it may be our ruine And they who think that incredible let them tell me whether two years since they did not think it altogether as improbable that in the compass of the two succeeding years above a hundred thousand persons should be destroyed by the Plague in London and other places and the City it self should be burnt to the Ground And if our fears do not I am sure our sins may tell us that these are but the fore-runners of greater calamities in case there be not a timely reformation of our selves And although God may give us some intermissions of punishments yet at last he may as the Roman Consul expressed it pay us intercalatoe poenoe usuram that which may make amends for all his abatements and give us full measure according to that of our sins pressed down shaken together and running over Which leads to the third particular 3. The Causes moving God to so much severity in his Iudgements which are the greatness of the sins committed against him So this Prophet tells us that the true account of all Gods punishments is to be fetched from the sins of the people Amos 1.3 For three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof so it is said of Gaza v. 6. of Tyrus v. 9. of Edom v. 11. of Ammon v. 13. Moab ch 2. 1. Iudah v. 4. and at last Israel v. 6. And it is observable of every one of these that when God threatens to punish them for the greatness of their iniquities and the multitude of their transgression which is generally supposed to be meant by the three transgressions and the four he doth particularly threaten to send a fire among them to consume the Houses and the Palaces of their Cities So to Damascus chap. 1.4 to Gaza v. 7. to Tyrus v. 10. to Edom v. 12. to Ammon v. 14. to Moab ch 2. v. 2. to Iudah v. 5. I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem and Israel in the words of the text This is a Judgment then which when it comes in its fury gives us notice to how great a height our sins are risen especially when it hath so many dreadful forerunners as it had in Israel and hath had among our selves When the red horse hath marched furiously before it all bloody with the effects of a Civil War and the pale horse hath followed after the other with Death upon his back and the Grave at his heels and after both these those come out of whose mouth issues fire and smoak and brimstone it is then time for the inhabitants of the earth to repent of the work of their hands But it is our great unhappiness that we are apt to impute these great calamities to any thing rather than to our sins and thereby we hinder our selves from the true remedy because we will not understand the cause of our distemper Though God hath not sent Prophets among us to tell us for such and such sins I will send such and such judgments upon you yet where we observe the parallel between the sins and the punishments agreeable with what we find recorded in Scripture we have reason to say that those sins were not only the antecedents but the causes of those punishments which followed after them And that because the reason of punishment was not built upon any particular relation between God and the people of Israel but upon reasons common to all mankind yet with this difference that the greater the mercies were which any people enjoyed the sooner was the measure of their iniquities filled up and the severer were the judgements when they came upon them This our Prophet gives an account of Chap. 3.2 You only have I known of all the Nations of the earth therefore will I punish you for your iniquities So did God punish Tyre and Damascus as well as Israel and Iudah but his meaning is he would punish them sooner he would punish them more severely I wish we could be brought once to consider what influence piety and vertue hath upon the good of a Nation if we did we should not only live better our selves but our Kingdom and Nation might flourish more than otherwise we are like to see it do Which is a truth hath been so universally received among the wise Men of all ages that one of the Roman Historians though of no very severe life himself yet imputes the decay of the Roman State not to Chance or Fortune or some unhidden causes which the Atheism of our Age would presently do but to the general looseness of mens lives and corruption of their manners And it was the grave Observation of one of the bravest Captains ever the Roman State had that it was impossible for any State to be happy stantibus moenibus ruentibus moribus though their walls were firm if their manners were decayed But it is our misery that our walls and our manners are fallen together or rather the latter undermined the former They are our sins which have drawn so much of our blood and infected our air and added the greatest fuel to our flames But it is not enough in general to declaim against our
him and they saâ—â— him hanging upon the Cross and readâ— to yield up his last breath he imploys thâ— remainder of it in begging pardon foâ— them in those pathetical words Father forgive them for they know not what they do By all which we see that what punishments soever the Jewish Nation underwent afterwards for the great sin of crucifying the Lord of life were no effect of meer revenge from him upon them but the just judgment of God which they had drawn upon themselves by their own obstinacy and wilful blindness And that they might not think themselves surprized when the dreadful effects of God's anger should seize upon them our Saviour as he drew nearer to the time of his sufferings gives them more frequent and serious warnings of the sad consequence of their incorrgibleness under all the means of cure which had been used among them For they were so far from being amended by them that they not only despised the remedy but the Physicians too as though that were a small thing they beat they wound they kill those who came to cure them but as if it had not been enough to have done these things to servants to let the world see how dangerous it is to attempt the cure of incorrigible sinners when God sent his own Son to them expecting they should reverence him they find a peculiar reason for taking him out of the way for then the inheritance would be their own But so miserably do sinners miscarry in their designs for their advantage that those things which they build their hopes the most upon prove the most fatal and pernicious to them When these persons thought themselves sure of the inheritance by killing the Son that very sin of theirs not only put them out of possession but out of the hopes of recovering what interest they had in it before For upon this it is that our Saviour here saith in the words of the Text Therefore say I unto you that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Which words are the application which our Saviour makes of the foregoing parable concerning the vineyard which it seems the Chief Priests and Pharisees did not apprehend themselves to be concerned in till he brought the application of it so close to them so that then they find they had condemned themselves when they so readily passed so severe a sentence upon those husbandmen who had so ill requited the Lord of the Vineyard for all the care he had taken about it that instead of sending him the fruits of it they abuse his messengers and at last murther his Son When therefore Christ asks them When the Lord therefore of the Vineyard cometh what will he do unto those husbandmen They thought the case so plain that they never take time to consider or go forth â—o advise upon it but bring in a present answer upon the evidence of the fact They say unto him he will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his Vineyard to other husbandmen which shall render him the fruits in their seasons Little did they think what a dreadful sentence they passed upon themselves and their own nation in these words little did they think that hereby they condemned their Temple to be burned their City to be destroyed their Counâ—ry to be ruined their Nation to be Vagabonds over the face of the earth little did they think that herein they justified God in all the miseries which they suffered afterwards for in these words they vindicate God and condemn themselves they acknowledge God's Justice in the severest punishments he should inflict upon such obstinate wretches Our Saviour having gained this confession from them and so made it impossible for them to start back in charging God with injustice in punishing them he now applies it to themselves in these words which I suppose ought immediately to follow the 41. verse Therefore say I unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you c. Wherein we have 1. The greatest judgment which can ever befal a people which is the taking away the Kingdom of God from them 2. The greatest mercy can ever be vouchsafed to a nation which is God's giving his Kingdom to it And give it to a nation c. In the Judgment we consider the cause of it therefore say I unto you c. which is either more general as referring to all going before and so it makes the taking away the Kingdom of God to be the just punishment of an incorrigible people or more particular as referring to the sin of the Jews in crucifying Christ and so it makes the guilt of that sin to be the cause of all the miseries which that nation hath undergone since that time In the latter part we may consider the terms upon which God either gives or continues his Kingdom to a Nation and that is bringing forth the fruits thereof We consider the former with a particular respect to the state of the Jewish Nation And therein 1. The greatness of their judgment implyed in those words the Kingdom of God c. 2. The particular reason of that judgment which was crucifying the Son of God 1. The greatness of the judgment which beâ—el the Jewish Nation after imbruing their hands in the blood of Christ. And that will appear if we take the Kingdom of God in that double notion in which it was taken at that time 1. It was taken by the Jews themselves for some peculiar and temporal blessings which those who enjoyed it had above all other people 2. It was taken by our Saviour for a clearer manifestation of the will of God to the world and the consequence of that in the hearts of good men and all the spiritual blessings which do attend it So that the taking away the Kingdom of God from them must needs be the heaviest judgment which could befal a people since it implies in it the taking away all the greatest temporal and spiritual blessings 1. We take it in the notion the Jews themselves had of it and in this sense we shall make it evident that the Kingdom of God hath been taken from that people in accomplishment of this prediction of our Saviour For they imagined the Kingdom of God among them to consist in these things especially Deliverance from their enemies a flourishing state the upholding their Religion in Honour chiefly in the pompous worship of the Temple Now if instead of these things they were exposed to the fury of their enemies so as never any nation besides them were if their whole Poliâ—y was destroyed so as the very face of Government hath ever since been taken from them if their Religion hath been so far from being upheld that the practice of it hath been rendred impossible by the destruction of the Temple and the consequences of it then the Jews themselves cannot but say that in their own
destroyed meerly because all men are not agreed what things are good and what evil We call goodness the beauty of the soul and do men question whether there be such a thing as beauty at all because there are so many different opinions in the world about it Or is deformity ever the less real because the several nations of the world represent it in a colour different from their own Those arguments then against the natural differences of good and evil must needs appear ridiculous which will be granted to hold in nothing else but only the thing in question And yet in the midst of all the ruines and decays of humane nature we find such evident footsteps and impressions of the differences of good and evil in the minds of men which no force could extinguish no time could deface no customs could alter Let us search the records of ancient times and enquire into the later discoveries of nations we shall find none so barbarous and bruitish as not to allow the differences of good and evil so far as to acknowledge that there are some things which naturally deserve to be praised and others which deserve to be punished Whereas if good and evil were meerly names of things there can be no reason assigned why praise and honour should necessarily belong to some things and infamy and disgrace to follow others If the things themselves be arbitrary the consequences of them would be so too But is it possible to imagine that any man should deserve to be punished as much for being true to his trust as for betraying it for honouring his Parents as for destroying them for giving to every one their due as for all the arts of injustice and oppression Is it possible for men to suffer as much in their esteem for their fidelity temperance and chastity as they always do for their falseness intemperance and lasciviousness How comes the very name of a lie to be a matter of so much reproach and dishonour that the giving of it is thought an injury so great as cannot be expiated without the satisfaction of the giver's blood if it be in it selâ— so indifferent a thing Nay I dare appeal to the consciences of the most wicked persons whether they are so well pleased with themselves when they come reeking from the satisfaction oâ— their lusts and sodden with the continuance of their debaucheries as when they have been paying their devotions to God or their duties to their Parents or their respects to their Country or Friends Is there not whether they will or no an inward shame and secret regret and disquiet following the one and nothing but ease and contentment the other What should make this difference in those persons who love their vices far more than they do the other and if it were possible for them would bring vertue more out of countenance than sin is yet after all their endeavours though vice hath the stronger Interest vertue hath the greater Reveâ—ence Thus considering humane nature as it is we find indelible characters remaâ—ning upon it of the natural differences of good and evil but then if we consider it with a respect to the Maker of it that will cast a clearer light upon them and make those characters appear more discernible For nothing can be more absurd than to imagine a creature owing its being and all it hath to the bounty of a Being infinite in all Perfectâ—ons and yet not to be obliged to give all honour worship and service to it To rip up the bowels of a Mother to whom a man owes his coming into the world to assassinate a Prince to whom he owes all the honours and riches he hath in it are crimes of so black a nature that the worst of Men can hardly be supposed to commit them nor the worst of Devils to defend them But to blaspheme God and to deride his service seems to have a much greater malignity in it in as much as our obligations to his honour and service are much greater than they can be to any created Being But if there be no natural differences of good and evil even this must be accounted an indâ—fferent thing as well as the former and what safety can there be in conversing with those men whom no bonds of Religion Nature or Gratitude can tye Let us if it were possible suppose a Society of men constituted of such who make all things equally good and evil in their own nature what a monstrous Leviathan would they make among them no Religion no Law no Kindness no Promises no Trust no Contracts could ever oblige them not to do any thing which they thought might be done with safety By which it appears that these principles are so inconsistent with humane Nature and all the bonds of Religion and Duty that whoever owns them must suppose mankind more savage than the beasts of prey he must renounce his Reason destroy all Religion and disown a Deity For if there be a God we must be inviolably bound to observe and obey him and the very notion of a God implies a Being infinitely perfect and if there be such perfections in God they cannot but be so in their own nature and if they be so in their own nature they must in their degree be so in us as well as in him so that if Goodness Holiness and Righteousness be absolute perfections as they are in God they must be perfections so far as they are in us and the contrary must be imperfections which makes the differences of good and evil so far from being arbitrary that those things which agree to the perfections of God as well as his will must needs be good and those which are repugnant to them must needs be evil The result of all is that if a wicked man can have no peace in his mind without overthrowing the differences of good and evil he can have no peace without the greatest violence offered to God to nature and himself and if this be the way to Peace let his Reason judge 2. The second foundation which a wicked man must build his peace upon is that supposing there be such a thing as sin yet that men have no cause to disturb themselves with the fears of so great a punishment to follow after as that which sinners are afrighted with But what security can a sinner have against the fears of punishment when his conscience condemns him for the guilt of his sins Is it that God takes no notice at all of the actions of men that he will not disturb his own eternal peace and happiness by observing all their follies So some of old imagined who pretended that out of meer kindness to the Deity they gave him his Quietus est and took from him as much as in them lay the care and government of the world but it was really a greater kindness to their lusts which made them do it and makes many now-a-days so willing upon the same frivolous
pretences to exclude the providence of God out of the world â—or can any man who considers what God is think his providence inconsistent with his happiness If we speak of such weak and imperfect Beings as the wisesâ— of mankind are it mâ—ght not a little contribute to their peace to be eased of the cares of Government But the reason of that is because aâ—l things cannot be foreseen by them beâ—ore they happen nor well managed when they do whence come oversights and disappoiâ—ments and consequently all their eâ—sie eâ—fects of â—heâ—e But when we â—peak oâ— God we speak of a Being infiâ—â—â—ely Wise â—nd Powerâ—ul â—rom whom nothing can bâ—â—id aâ—d whom nothing can 〈◊〉 and what can be imagined more easie than foâ— a conjunction of infinite Wâ—sdom and Pâ—wer to contrive and 〈◊〉 all the 〈◊〉 of the world Iâ— therefore wâ—ckâ—â— men could suppose that God could not know what they did or could not punish them if he knew it they might indulge themselves in greater security but to suppose his Wisdom so great that he cannot but know their actions and his Power so irresistible that it is impossible for them to stand before him when he designs to punish to flatter themselves with the hopes of impunity is an extravagant piece of folly and madness Or is it then that though God doth take notice of their actions he will not be so much displeased as to punish them but this is as repugnant to the Justice and Holiness of God as the other was to his Wisdom and Power Will not the righteous God who hath made Laws to govern mankind see to the execution of them for if he did not hate sin why did he so strictly forbid it if he doth hate sin he will severely punish it Nay hath he not been severe already in the execution of his judgments upon the world for sin what did Adam and his posterity suffer for the first sin what did the old world Sodom and Gomorrah the people of the Jews suffer for their wickedness And is not he the same God still Is his hand shortned that he cannot strike or doth his heart fail that he dare not punish Surely of all nations we have no cause to think so and of all Ages not in this of ours wherein we have smarted so much by â—he juâ—t displeasure of God against our sins But where then lies the sinner's hope Is it at last that though God may sometimes punish men in this life for their sins he will never do it in that to come If he could have said it was impossible he should do it and proved it sufficiently there might have been some ground for his security but that is impossible he should ever do but to hope he will not do it when he hath declared that he will is instead of bringing peace to his own mind to set God at variance with himself For nothing can be more plainly revealed more frequently inculcated more earnestly pressed than that there is a day of wrath to come wherein the righteous judgment of God shall be revealed and wherein God will render to every man according to his deeds wherein tribulation and anguish and wrath shall be upon every soul of man that doth evil wherein the secrets of all hearts and actions shall be disclosed when the graves shall be opened and they that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation For the Lord Iesus himself even he who died for the salvation of all penitent sinners shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power Then shall that dreadful sentence be pass'd upon all impenitent sinners Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Which words are so full of horrour and astonishment as might not only disturb the sinner's peace and security but awaken him to such a sense of his sins as to loath abhor and forsake them and thereby fly from the wrath to come 3. But after all this is it possible to suppose that any should think their present pleasures would countervail all the miseries of another life which is the last imaginable foundation for a sinner's peace while he continues in his wickedness The most professed Epicureans that ever were made this one of their fundamental maxims That no pleasure was to be chosen which brought after it a pain greater than it self on which account they made temperance and sobriety necessary to a pleasant life because excesses and debaucheries leave far more of burden than of ease behind them But what would these men have said if they had believed the intolerable anguish of a tormented mind the racks of an enraged conscience the fire of everlasting vengeance to be the consequent of all the pleasures of sin they muâ—t upon their own principles have concluded that none but mad-men and fools would ever venture upon them And that not only because the after-pain would so much exceed the present pleasure but because the fears of that pain to come must abate proportionably of the pleasure which might otherwise be enjoyned Suppose a man certainly knew that upon the pleasing his palat with the most excellent wine and gratifying his appetite with the most delicate food he must be racked with the Stone and tormented with the Gout as long as he should live can we imagine such a person could have any pleasure in his mind whatever his palat had in the enjoyment of them while he did consider the consequent of them But what are these miseries compared with the insupportable horrour of a conscience loaden with guilt â—unk under despair having a gnawing worm and unquenchable flames the wrath of an almighty God and the fury of his vengeance to encounter with without the least hopes of conquering I do not now ask what the sinner will then think of all his Atheism and Infidelity when the greatness of his misery shall convince him that it is an Almighty hand which lays it upon him nor what pleasure he can have in the thoughts of his former excesses when not one drop can be procured for the mitigation of his flames nor what satisfaction those lusts have given him the very thoughts of which pieâ—ce his soul and if it were possible would rend him in pieces with the torment of them but that which I demand is what peace of mind a sinner can have in this world who knows not how soon he may be dispatched to that place of torment can he bind the hands of the Almighty that he shall not snatch him away till he doth repent or can he reverse the decrees of heaven or suspend the execution of them can he abrogate the force of his