That is, they were reprefented to be fo dif-SER M. tinguished in the degree of a feverer Pu- XVII. nishment, as they had been in the guilt of a more provoking Wickedness.

FROM all these paffages of Scripture it abundantly appears, that the true and complete Notion of the Divine Justice, includes his obferving an exact Proportion in the feveral particular Degrees of Reward and Punishment, as well as an Impartiality in determining what Perfons shall be in general Rewarded or Punished.

Now This Justice of God, as it will in the End certainly exert itself according to this exact Proportion in the final Diftributions of the Great Day; fo in the prefent intermediate Time, that God might not leave himself wholly without Witness, he has frequently in the course of his Providence given remarkable Preludes, or particular Inftances and Significations of his general Intention, in extraordinary Deliverances of Good Men, and exemplary Punishments of the Bad, in all generations. His bringing in the Flood upon the World of the Ungodly, was a temporal Inftance of his Juftice: And our Lord tells us, that as the days of Noah VOL. I Dd

were,

SERM. were, fo fhall alfo the coming of the Son of XVII. Man be; For as in the days that were be

Jude 7.

fore the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entred into the Ark; And knew not until the Flood came, and took them all away; So fhall also the coming of the Son of Man be, Matt. xxiv. 37. And as righteous Noah was then delivered in the Ark from temporal Destruction, by the divine Juftice; fo by a like figure, fays the Apofile, Baptifm alfo, that is, not the putting away of the filth of the Flesh, not the bare external Form or Ceremony, but the Anfwer of a good ConScience towards God, fhall finally fave Us from everlasting Perdition. Again: The overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrha, was another temporal Inftance of the divine Juftice, by which thofe Cities were fet forth for an Example, fuffering the Vengeance of eternal Fire: Of eternal Fire; that is, not the Fire of Hell, for That, being invifible, cannot yet be faid to be Jet forth for an example; But those Cities were made an Example by that temporal fire, the Effect whereof was eternal, bringing upon them remedilefs and end

lefs

lefs Destruction. And This, was an Em-SER M. blem or Earnest of God's final Juftice. XVII. For fo our Saviour argues, St Luk. xviii. 28 ; As it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they fold, they planted, they builded; But the fame day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained Fire and Brimftone from Heaven, and deftroyed them all; Even Thus fhall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. And as just Lot was then delivered from temporal Death, by God's immediate miraculous interpofition; fo in the infliction of eternal Death, it may be depended upon, that the Judge of all the Earth will do what is right, and will not defroy the righteous with the Gen.xviii, wicked. In This fenfe, the plea of Abraham 23. was undoubtedly juft, and will finally be verified without exception; though in the prefent mixt ftate of things, the Nature of God's government of this world is fuch, that (unless in extraordinary cafes, for particular ftanding examples ;) the righteous for the more part are indeed involved in common calamities with the wicked, and the wicked enjoy the Bleffings of Providence in common with the Righteous.

THERE have been fome persons so unreasonable, as, from the general Notion Dd 2

of

SER M. of the Divine Goodness, to frame to themXVII. felves an imagination, that God should fi

nally punish no Offenders at all; but, in the future ftate, reward those who are capable of it, and deftroy the reft immediately without any punishment at all. But if Punishment is in the prefent ftate, for the fupport of Laws and of good Government, just and righteous; nay, and no less confiftent with Goodness too, than requifite in Juftice: For the fame reafon, in the future ftate likewife, it is juft and righteous; nay, and confiftent with Goodness too; For the univerfal Laws and Government and Kingdom of God, continue for ever. In their own cafe, when they themselves are the Parties offended, men always think it reasonable that Offenders fhould be punifhed; nay, and often complain of Providence for not punishing them fooner. And fhall it not be thought reasonable in the Government of the Universe, that in the future eternal ftate, as well as in the prefent temporary one, fuch Punishment fhould be inflicted on impenitent Offenders, as infinite Power, Wisdom, Justice, and Goodness in Conjunction, judges exactly proportional to the demerit of each Criminal, and moft proper to answer the

Ends

Ends of the divine Government, in fup- SER M. porting the Honour and Dignity of the XVII.

eternal and univerfal Laws of God's boundless and everlasting Kingdom?

III. I proceed now in the Third place, to confider the Objections arifing from particular cafes, against the general Doctrine of the Divine Juftice.

And first; THAT great and general Objection, which has in all Ages been drawn from the unequal Diftributions of Providence in the prefent life, is fufficiently answered by the belief of a Future ftate; wherein, by the exactnefs and precife equity of the final Determinations of the Great Day, fhall be abundantly made up all the little Inequalities of this short life, which is but for a moment. Befides which general and full Anfwer, there are alfo many special reasons of thefe feeming Inequalities; which fhew them to be not only confiftent with, but even to be beautiful Parts of the All-wife Defign of Providence, in governing the World, through all variety of circumstances with final Equity and exactness of Juftice. God frequently afflicts the Righteous, for the trial and improvement of their virtue; Dd 3

for