prove a strong temptation to them, to call the justice of God into question, when they see thee so long escape unpunished; and to conclude, as many upon the like account have done, that certainly the world is not guided by sovereign justice and equity, but only by mere chance and casualty? The only way to work a venerable esteem of the justice of God in the minds of men, is, to be as punctual in our dealings with them, as we would desire they should be with us; yea, to be as just to them, as we would desire God should be merciful to us: this will convince the world, that certainly there is a supreme justice that overawes us, that we dare not take those advantages, which the ignorance or oversight of others puts into our hands to defraud them; and that we do indeed believe, that there is a day coming, wherein a thousand witnesses shall be produced to testify what agreements and compacts we have made, where the false weights shall be themselves weighed, and the scanty measures themselves meted by a standard that is infallibly true, and all the controversies of right and equity shall be decided to the eternal shame and horror of those who have done the wrong.

That is one way of glorifying the justice of God.

b. We ought to glorify the justice of God by our Distributive Justice; rendering unto all men the rewards and punishments, that are due unto their actions.

This part of justice belongs not to private Christians, but only to the magistrate: for he is God's justicier; and rewards and punishments are consigned over unto him: Rom. xiii. 3, 4. If thou dost well, he is the minister of God to thee for good: but, if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God; a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Indeed a magistrate's office should be a clear type and representation of the justice of God, and human judicatories an emblem of the great and last assize; and the administration of justice here should bear an exact proportion to that strict justice which God will execute, when all the world shall appear before him to receive their doom. There should not an offender escape deserved punishment, especially those, who are presumptuous and peremptory upon their greatness and the eminency of their quality, who make it their sport to baffle the law and outface justice. God's justice is impartial; and spares neither the poor for pity, nor the rich for fear: but will eternally retribute to every one, according to what he has done. And if thou, to whom he hath committed the ad

ministration of his justice, shalt dispense it with respect of persons; either moved with commiseration, or interest, or base fear, or any other by or sinister end; thou highly dishonourest him, distributing that for the justice of God, which is but the injustice and partiality of man. It hath been an old complaint, that laws were but like cobwebs; which served indeed, to hamper the smaller flies, whilst the greater and stronger securely break through them. Let it be your care and endeavour to remove this obloquy; and, by a severe animadversion, not only on poor trembling offenders, but on haughty and audacious criminals, who think to outbrave, authority with their greatness, make it appear that you look upon yourselves as the dispensers of God's justice, which respects them no more than the most contemptible wretch that lives upon the face of the earth.

And thus I have shewn you how you ought to glorify the justice of God, by Imitation: in our Commutative Justice, by rendering to every one his own, which appertains to every private Christian to perform; and, in Distributive Justice, rendering to every one the due desert of his actions, which belongs not to private Christians, but to magistrates and those in authority.

[2dly] When the divine justice hath found thee out, then thou oughtest to glorify it, by a free and full Confession of thine offences.

Now there are Two ways, in which the justice of God doth find out sinners:

Sometimes, by Inflicting remarkable Plagues and Judgments upon them: plagues, that carry in them a great correspondence and alliance to the sins they have committed, so that they cannot but read their very crimes in their punishments. And,

Sometimes, by Detecting their Crimes which they thought were committed in secret, and bringing them to condign punishment for them. And, indeed, strange are the instances, that might be given, of God's marvellous providence in this particular; especially in bringing murder and bloodshed to light.

Now, one or other of these ways, men's sins and God's justice will usually find them out. Be sure, saith Moses, Numb. xxxii. 23. that your sin will find you out. And, therefore, in these cases, glorify the justice of God, by a free and full Confession of thy guilt.

a. If God lay any sore plague and judgment upon thee, go and humble thyself and confess thy sin unto him in secret; and

pray unto him, chiefly that he would take away thy sin, and then thy punishment.

Or, if this will not give sufficient ease to thine afflicted conscience, take unto thee some serious, prudent Christian: inform him how the case stands, between God and thy soul: beg the assistance of his advice and prayers. This is the Apostle's direction, James v. 16. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. This is the way to give God the glory of his justice, when thou shalt fall down and acknowledge, that what he hath brought upon thee is just and righteous, and the due reward of thy sins. And, indeed, God doth many times inflict such peculiar punishments upon us, which do indigitate and point out our sins; as it were on purpose to extort his glory from us, in our confession of his justice. Sometimes, he punisheth us after the same manner, in which we have offended him: we have a famous instance for this in Adonibezek, Judges i. 7. Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table ; and he, suffering the like from the Israelites, acknowledgeth the justice of God in thus repaying his cruelty; as I have done, so God hath requited me: thus God dealt with the Egyptians: they cruelly murder the male children of the Israelites; and, therefore, God slays all their first-born. And, sometimes again, judgments carry a likeness unto the sin, though not in the very same thing, yet in many circumstances of it: as when God smites men in the same subject, object, time, instruments, or members of sinning: thus David grows proud of the number of his subjects; and, therefore, God sweeps them away by a pestilence, and makes him substract threescore and ten thousand from the account: he dotes on Absalom, and God ordains Absalom to rebel against and endeavour to dethrone him: so, that very hand, which Jeroboam stretched forth to lay hold on the prophet, God withers and dries up. Now if any such judgment hath befallen you, that carries on it the very stamp and impression of the sin for which God inflicts it, adore and glorify his justice; fall down before him, and confess that he is righteous and holy in all that he hath brought upon you. b. If the divine justice hath so found thee out, as to detect thee, and bring thee to temporal punishment for thy crimes, then glorify it, by a free and public confession of them to all

Strive not to cover the sore, which God lays open; but take to thyself the shame of thine iniquities, and give God the glory of his justice, by acknowledging thy guilt, and admiring his most wise and righteous methods in discovering thee, when thou thoughtest thy wickedness had been hid in darkness and secrecy: so that others may hear; and fear to offend that God, who can, by such unknown ways of his providence, bring to light the hidden things of darkness. Thus, when Achan was miraculously discovered by lot, Joshua exhorts him, chap. vii. 19. My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done: hide it not from me: which accordingly we find he did, and we may therefore hope well of his pardon. It is a most desperate folly of many stupid wretches, to persist obstinately in denying those crimes of which they are evidently convicted; and, that their names may escape the infamy, bind the guilt of them fast upon their souls for ever.

That is, therefore, a Second way of glorifying the justice of God, by a free and full confession of our sins, when his vengeance hath found us out.

[3dly] If thou art unjustly wronged and oppressed by others, glorify the justice of God, in committing thy Vindication to him.

Seek not to revenge thyself; for, by so doing, thou dost but take thy cause out of God's hands, who is better able to plead it for thee. If thou studiest how to recompense eyil for evil, thou disparagest the justice of God, and suspectest that it will not do thee right; and, therefore, thou wilt seek to carve out to thyself what amends thou canst. Certainly, he doth most of all honour the justice of God, who, when he hath suffered wrongfully, doth, without any farther care or solicitude, recommend his cause to God. Nor can I approve those, who, when they are injured, do indeed betake them to God; but it is with bitter curses and direful imprecations against those, who have injured them, praying for wrath and vengeance to fall upon them what! think we that the wrath of God must take fire at ours; and that he must dart down his thunderbolts, according to the guidance and direction of our passions? this were to make the justice of God servile to our affections, and an instrument for our revenge. Indeed, we do often meet in Scripture with such dreadful imprecations, where the saints of God devote his and their implacable enemies to utter ruin and destruction: yet

this is no warrant for us to use them too. For, as our Saviour Christ rebuked his disciples who were vexed at the affront they received from a village that would not entertain them, and therefore entreated him to call for fire, as Elias did, to come down and consume them, (their zeal was all in a ferment, and presently boiled up to an intemperate feverish heat) but our Saviour checks them, and tells them, Luke ix. 55. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of: intimating that Elijah prayed for fire to come down upon those captains and their companies that were sent to take him, from some extraordinary spirit, and by the mighty guidance and impulse of the Holy Ghost; but they did it only from a private spirit of revenge: so I may say, that those examples, which we have in Scripture, especially in the Psalms, of saints and holy men of God devoting their enemies to ruin, were from the impulse and direction of an extraordinary spirit, which we cannot pretend unto; and, therefore, for us to imitate them, would not be zeal, but wildfire. Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who suffered infinitely greater indignities than any that we can, hath set us another example, when, amidst the rage and insultings of his most bitter enemies, he prays, Luke xxiii. 34. Father, forgive them; for they know -not what they do. And his holy martyr St. Stephen, who was the first that followed our Saviour in the track of his blood, follows him likewise as closely in his example; and, when the stones flew thick about him from their malicious hands, it is said, Acts vii. €0. that he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Indeed, though it may seem a paradox, yet it is a stated and measured truth, that then thou dost most of all glorify the justice of God, when thou implorest mercy for those who have wronged and injured thee, that God would forgive them and turn their hearts: for, in so praying, what dost thou else, but pray that God's justice may be cleared in clearing thy innocence? if thou canst but pray down mercy upon them, thou wilt also pray down repentance into them; and then thou hast gained the most noble and Christian-like revenge that can be desired.

[4thly] Glorify the justice of God, by endeavouring to make thyself worthy to escape the direful and destructive effects of it.

Thou hast been told how severe and tremendous this justice is. All the astonishing judgments, that have ever befallen any of the sons of men in this life, are but small preludiums of it;