mission. If God has made man to converse with himself, he is not indifferent how he is conversed with. One manner of man's behavior towards him, must be agreeable to his will, and another not; and therefore God cannot act as indifferent in this matter. He cannot let man alone, to behave toward him just as he pleases; therefore there must be moral government. God cannot be indifferent, whether in that intercourse between him and man, that he has made mankind for, he is respected and honored, or is condemned and hated. Now, as the consequence of the whole, I would infer two things:

1. A futurę state of rewards and punishments. For unless there be such a state, it will certainly follow that God, in fact, maintains no moral government over the world of mankind. For, otherwise, it is apparent that there is no such thing as rewarding or punishing mankind, according to any visible rule, or, indeed, according to any order or method whatsoever. Without this there may be desires manifested, but there can be no proper laws established, and no authority maintained. Nothing is more manifest, than that in this world there is no such thing as a regular, equal disposing of rewards and punishments of men according to their moral estate. There is nothing in God's disposals toward men in this world, to make his distributive justice and judicial equity manifest or visible, but all things are in the greatest confusion. Often the wicked prosper, and are not in trouble as other men. They become mighty in power; yea, it has commonly been so in all ages, that they have been uppermost in the world. They have the ascendant over the righteous. They are mounted on thrones; while the righteous remain in cottages. And, in this world, the cause of the just is not vindicated. Many wicked men have the righteous in their power, and trample them under foot, and become their cruel persecutors: and the righteous are oppressed, and suffer all manner of injuries and cruelties; while the wicked live and reign in great glory and prosperity.

What has been said, does invincibly argue a divine revelation. And that, First, Because if God maintains a moral government over mankind, then there must be rewards and punishments. But these sanctions must be declared: for instance, the punishments which enforce God's laws must be made known. To suppose that God keeps up an equal, perfect moral government over the world of mankind, and yet leaves men wholly at a loss about the nature, manner, degree, time, place, and continuance of their punishment, or leaves it only to their guesses, or for them to argue it out from the nature of things, as well as they can, and every one to make his judgment according as his notions shall guide him, is a very unreasonable supposition. If moral government be maintained, the order and method of government mustbe visible; otherwise, it loses the nature of moral government. There may be a powerful disposal, as inanimate, unintelligible things are the subjects of God's government, in a visible and established order; but no moral government. The order of government serves to maintain authority, and to influence and rule the subject morally, no farther than it is visible. Secondly, The notion of a moral government, of a moral head over intelligent, voluntary agents, or of a prince, a lawgiver, and judge over such subjects, without a revelation or declaration of the mind of the head by his word, or some voluntary sign or signification, in the whole of it is absurd. If God maintains moral government over a society of intelligent creatures, doubtless there must be a revelation. How absurd is it to suppose, that there should be converse and moral government maintained between the head and subjects, when both are intelligent, voluntary agents, without a voluntary communication of minds and expressions, thoughts and inclinations, between the head and the members of the society!

It need not be looked upon as any objection to men's remaining in being

after the death of their bodies, that the beasts that are made for man cease to be when they die. For it is manifest, in fact, that man is the end of the rest of the creatures in this lower world. This world, with all the parts of it, inanimate, vegetative, and sensitive, was made for a habitation for man during his present state and if man be the end of the rest of the creatures, for which the rest were made, and to whose use they are subordinated, then man is all; he is instar omnium. The end of all is equivalent to the whole. Therefore there is no need of any thing else to be preserved; nothing is lost; no part is in vain. If the end of all be preserved, all is preserved: because he is all, the rest is only for his occasional use. The beasts subserve to man's use in the present state; and then, though they cease, yet their end is obtained, and their good, which is their end, remains still in man. Though the tent that was set up for man to sojourn in during his state of probation, ceases when that occasion is over, surely that is no argument that the inhabitant ceases too.

And that the beasts are made for man, affords a good positive argument for a future state of man's existence. For that all other creatures in this lower world are made for man, and that he himself should be made for no more than they, viz., a short continuance in this world, to enjoy the good things of it, is unreasonable.

§ 2. The natural world, which is in such continual labor, as is described in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, constantly going round in such revolutions, will doubtless come to an end. These revolutions are not for nothing. There is some great event and issue of things that this labor is for; some grand period aimed at. Does God make the world restless, to move and revolve in all its parts, to make no progress? To labor with motions so mighty and vast, only to come to the same place again? to be just where it was before? Doubtless some end is nearer approached to by these revolutions. Some great end is nearer to an accomplishment, after a thousand revolutions are finished, than when there was only one finished; or before the first revolution began. The sun does not go round day after day, and year after year, for no other end, but only to come to the same place again, from whence it was first set out, and to bring the world to the same state that it was in before. The waters of the sea are not so restless, continually to ascend into the heavens, and then descend on the earth, and then return to the sea again, only that things may be as they were before. One generation of men does not come, another go, and so continually from age to age, only that at last there may be what there was at first, viz., mankind upon earth. The wheels of God's chariot, after they have gone round a thousand times, do not remain just in the same place that they were in at first, without having carried the chariot nearer to a journey's end. We see it is not so in the minuter parts of the creation, that are systems by themselves, as the world is a great system, and where the revolutions very much resemble those in the great system; as in this body of man and other animals. The reciprocation of the heart and lungs, and the circulation of the blood, and the continual circular labors of all parts of the system, are not to last always; they tend to a journey's end.

Coroll. 1. This is a confirmation of a future state. For, if these revolutions have not something in another state that is to succeed this that they are subservient to, then they are in vain. If any thing of this world is to remain, after the revolutions of this world are at an end, doubtless it will be that part of this world, that is the head of all the rest; or that creature for which all the rest is made; and that is man. For if he wholly ceases, and is extinct, it is as if the whole were totally extinct: because he is the end of all. He is that creature, to serve whom the labors and revolutions of this world are, and whom they affect; and therefore, if he does not remain after the revolutions

have ceased, then no end is obtained by all these revolutions: because nothing abides as the fruit of them after they are finished. But all comes to no more than just what was before any of these revolutions, or before this world itself began, viz., a universal nonexistence; all is extinct; all is as if the world had never been; and therefore all has been in vain; for nothing remains as the fruit. He that is carried in the chariot, does not remain after he is brought with so much labor and vast ado to the end of his journey; but ceases to be, as the chariot itself does.

Coroll. 2. This confirms the divinity of the Christian revelation; which gives this account of things, that this world is to come to an end; it is to be dissolved; that the revolutions of the world have an appointed period; and that man, the end of this lower world, is to remain in being afterwards; and gives a most rational account of the great period, design, and issue of all things, worthy of the infinite wisdom and majesty of God.

§ 3. Some part of the world, viz., that which is the highest, the head, and the end of the rest, must be of eternal duration, even the intelligent, reasonable creatures. For, if these creatures, the head and end of all the rest of the creation, come to an end, and be annihilated, it is the same thing as if the whole were annihilated. And if the world be of a temporary duration, and then drops into nothing, it is in vain, i. e., no end is obtained worthy of God. There is nobody but what will own, that if God had created the world, and then it had dropped into nothing the next minute, it would have been in vain; no end could be obtained worthy of God. And the only reason is, that the end would have been so small, by reason of the short continuance of the good obtained by it it is infinitely little and so it is still infinitely little, if it stands a million of ages, and then drops into nothing. That is as a moment in the sight of God. If the good obtained by the creation of the world be of so long continuance, it. is equally small, when we compare it with God, as one moment. It is, in comparison of him, absolutely equivalent to nothing, and therefore an end not worthy of him. No end is worthy of an infinite God, but an infinite end; and therefore the good obtained must be of infinite duration. If it be not so, who shall fix the bounds? Who shall say a million years is long enough? And if it be, who shall say a good of a thousand years' continuance does not become the wisdom of God? And if it does, how can we say but that a good of still shorter continuance would not answer the ends of wisdom? If it would, who can say that the sovereignty of God shall not fix on a good of a minute's continuance as sufficient; which is as great in comparison with him as a million years? The only reason why a good of a minute's continuance is not great enough to become the Creator of the world, is, that it is a good so little, when compared with him. And the same reason stands in equal force against a good of any limited duration whatsoever.

§ 4. Besides those texts in the Old Testament, that do directly speak of a future state, the Old Testament affords the following evidences and confirmations of a future state, especially Solomon's writings, and, above all, the book of Ecclesiastes.

1st. It is often declared in the Old Testament, that God will bring every work into judgment; that there is verily a God that judgeth in the earth; that his eyes are on the ways of men; that he considers all his goings: that the sins of the wicked, and the good deeds of the righteous, are exactly observed, and written in a book of remembrance, and none of them forgotten; that they are sealed up in a bag, and laid up among God's treasures; and that he will render to every man according to his works: that the Judge of all the earth

will do right; and that therefore God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked: that as to the righteous, it shall be well with him, for he shall eat the fruit of his doings; that as to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the re ward of his hands shall be given him; that it is impossible it should be otherwise; that there is no darkness or shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves from God the Judge; that God cannot forget his people; that a woman may sooner forget her sucking child; that God has graven them on the palms of his hands; that God beholds and takes notice of all their afflictions, and pities them, as a father pitieth his children; but that he is the enemy of wicked men; that their sins shall find them out; that though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished; that the way of righteousness is a certain way to happiness, and the way of sin a sure way to misery. Solomon himself is more abundant than all other penmen of the Old Testament, in observing the difference between the righteous and the wicked in this respect, the greatness and the certainty of that difference. See Prov. i. 31, 32; and ii. 11, 21, 22; and iii. 2, 4, 8, 13-18, 21,-26, 32, 35; iv. 5-13, 22; viii. 17-21, 35, 36; ix. 5, 6, 11, 12; x. 16, 17, 27, 28, 29; xi. 7, 8, 18, 19, 21, 30, 31; xii. 2, 3, 14, 21, 28; xiii. 9, 13, 14, 15, 21; xiv. 19, 26, 27; xv. 3, 6, 24; xvi. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; xix. 23; xxi. 15, 16, 18, 21; xxii. 4, 8; xxiii. 17, 18; xxiv. 1-5, 12, 15,16, 19— 22; xxviii. 10, 13, 14, 18; xxix. 6; and in many other places in the book of Proverbs. And, in Ecclesiastes xii. 13, 14, Solomon declares, "That to fear God and keep his commandments, is the whole duty of man: because God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." And chap. ii. 26, he says, "God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God." And chap. iii. 17, "I said in my heart God will judge the righteous and the wicked." And chap. v. And chap. v. 8, "If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they." And yet the same wise man, in this book of Ecclesiastes, says, chap. vi. 8, "What hath the wise more than the fool? What hath the poor that knoweth to walk before the living?" And elsewhere in this book, particularly observes, "That all things come alike to all; and there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; and as dieth the wise man, so the fool," &c. These things are most palpably and notoriously inconsistent, unless there be a future state. In Eccles. viii. 13, the wise man says, "There is a vanity which is done upon earth, that there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked. Again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous." And yet in the same breath, in the two foregoing verses, he speaks with the utmost peremptoriness, that God will surely make a vast difference between the righteous and the wicked; so that he will make one happy and the other miserable; and that it never can in any instance be otherwise, yea, that it will not finally prove otherwise in those instances wherein it seems most to be otherwise, and wherein God seems to be most unmindful of the provocations of the wicked, and of the righteousness of them that fear God. "Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him. But it shall not be well with the wicked; neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he feareth not before God." And, in the beginning of the next chapter," The righteous and the wise and their works are in

the hands of God. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and the wicked." Now, if both these seemingly opposite assertions are true, then it is true there is a future state. The wise man observes, that the righteous sentence of the Judge, who will surely make so great a difference between the righteous and the wicked, is not executed in this world; on which account wicked men are greatly emboldened to sin; as he observes in the same place, chap. viii. 11, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." And therefore, there is some other time, besides the time of this life, for executing the sentence which he observes will so surely be executed. In the 12th and 13th verses it is said, "Though a sinner's days be prolonged, yet he shall not prolong his days, which are as a shadow." How can both these be true, but in this sense, that though his life be prolonged in this world, yet the longest life here is short, and is but a shadow; and when he dies he perishes, his life and happiness shall not be prolonged beyond this momentary state, as those of the righteous will be. So he says, chap. vii. 15, "There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness; and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness." And yet, in two or three verses before, verse 12, he observes, that it is a peculiar excellency of wisdom, wherein it differs from riches and all other things, that are an uncertain defence to a man, that wisdom gives life to them who have it. And also, in two or three verses after, he advises to hold this fast as an unfailing truth, verse 18," That he that fears God, shall come forth out of all destruction and calamity." And chapter viii. 5, he says, "Whoso keepeth the commandments shall feel no evil thing." And therefore, it must be some other life that is meant, besides this temporal life, which he observes is sometimes prolonged in wicked men; and, with regard to which, righteous men sometimes perish in their righteousness; and, with regard to which, there is one event to wise men and fools; as in chapter ii. 14, 15, 16, " The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness. And I myself perceived that one event happened unto them all. Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise?" "And how dieth the wise man? as the fool." Compare these things with Prov. xii. 28,"In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof is no death.” And chapter xiii. 14, "The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death." Chapter iii. 18," She is a tree of life to them who lay hold on her, and happy is every one that obtaineth her." Verse 22, " So shall they be life to thy soul," Chapter iv. 22, "They are life to those who find them." And chapter x. 17, " He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction." And xi. 30, "The fruit of righteousness is a tree of life;" xiv. 27, “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death;" xvi. 22, "Understanding is a well-spring of life unto him who hath it." Chapter xxi. 21, "He that followeth after righteousness and mercy, findeth life and righteousness and honor." So chapter xxii. 4, "By humility, and the fear of the Lord, are riches and honor and life." Chapter iv. 4," Keep my commandments and live." So Eccles. vii. 2, and chapter ix. 2, "Forsake the foolish and live." In chapter v. 5, it is said, "Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?" signifying the dreadful danger of false swearing and breach of vows. And yet, as to what happens in this life, it is said, that all things come alike to all, and that there is