them close to their duty, nor was the faddeft fmart of SERM. those evils able to reclaim them from fin; but even that XXXII. very people (we may farther obferve) having afterward (by fparks of light darted from the Prophets, or otherwife) obtained fome clearer notions and ftronger perfuafions concerning a future ftate, and rewards difpenfed therein of higher confideration than any temporal ones here, became thereupon very conftant and refolute in observance of their law; they proved valiant and fierce in defence thereof; they chofe rather to endure the most grievous afflictions, than to tranfgrefs it; as the history of the Maccabees doth inform us they, as the Apostle to 2 Mac. vi. the Hebrews remarked of them, waxed valiant in fight, 29. and turned to flight the armies of the aliens: they also were Heb.xi. 34, tortured, not accepting a deliverance; that they might obtain a better refurrection: this hope it was, which then did raise them to fo vigorous refolution, and fo cheerful patience : from the fame Apostle we also learn, that it was a sense of 26. vii. 23, 35. our being here in a tranfitory state, and having an eye to Heb. xi. 26. the recompenfe of reward after this life, which did engage the good Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Teftament fo readily upon all occafions to comply with God's will, and to perform the most difficult commands by him imposed on them these things they did, not, faith the Apostle, having indeed received the promises, (that is, not having Heb. xi. 13. the evangelical promifes concerning a future life in fo formal and express a manner, as we now have, proposed to them,) but yet having feen them afar off, and having been perfuaded of them, and having embraced them, and having (in declaration of those perceptions and perfuafions) confessed that they were firangers and pilgrims upon earth. The like obfervation might be made even concerning the Pagans, who, while the perfuafions concerning judgments and rewards after this life were retained in common vogue, did live more innocently and virtuously; but after thofe generally were discarded, fo that the Satyrift could fay, that scarce boys did believe any ghofts, or fubterraneous SERM. judicaturese, then did all wickedness mainly prevail and XXXII. overflow. Comparing which things we may difcern, as the weakness of confiderations merely regarding this prefent life, fo the force of thofe which concern a future state, in order to the procuring obedience to God's law; fuppofing both entertained with the fame faith or perfuafion of mind: from whence the neceffity of that judgment, which we fpeak of, toward the maintenance of piety doth appear. But beyond these things this point is very needful, to fecure the very foundations of all religion and piety, the existence of God, and his providence over human affairs: Τὸ ῥᾶστον the belief of a Deity, according to any tolerable notion 9. thereof, and of a providence over us, apt to engage or εἶπας, αἰτιά Eurip. Ecclef. ix. 1, 2. encourage us to religious performances, without fuppofition of a judgment, and of a dispensation according to it of future rewards, cannot be well maintained; the objections affailing them would strike too hard, and pierce too deep, were we not furnished with this good fhield to receive and repel them. To find that of the Preacher certified by experience; No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that facrificeth, and to him that facrificeth not as is the good, fo is the finner; and he that Sweareth, as he that fweareth not. To behold virtue grovelling on the ground, and tramEcclef. x. 4. pled on; while vice is mounted on the perch, and fitteth proudly domineering; to view innocence and right fadly groaning under oppreffion, while fraud and violence do triumph and infult; which fights are obvious in the Ecclef. iii. world; as the Preacher obferved; I faw, said he, under the fun, the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; Ecclef. iv.1. and the place of righteoufnefs, that iniquity was there: I confidered all the oppreffions that are done under the fun; and 16. behold the tears of fuch as were oppreffed; on the fide of SERM. their oppreffors there was power; but they had no comforter: XXXII. fo did Job also take notice, when he faid, The tabernacles Job xii. 7. of the robbers profper, and they that provoke God are secure and the Pfalmift complained of wicked oppreffors; They are enclosed in their own fat, and with their mouth Pf. xvii. 10. they fpeak proudly: and the Prophet Malachi; Now we Mal. iii. 15. call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are Set up; yea, they that tempt God are delivered. f To obferve it frequently to happen, that most innocent and virtuous perfons do conflict all their days with hardfhips and croffes, and sometime after all die fadly in pain, and under ignominy; while perfons moft outrageous in lewdness and iniquity do flourish and rant it out in a long undisturbed course of profperity, and in the end depart hence fairly and quietly; according to that in Ecclefiaftes; There is a juft man that perisheth in his righteousness, and Ecclef. vii. there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in wicked- 15. nefs: the former was the cafe of Socrates, of Phocion, of Regulus, of many other remarkably gallant and worthy perfons; the latter, as Cicero obferved, of Dionyfius, who, after thirty years of unjust and cruel domination, in much splendour, died quietly in his bed &. Thus, I fay, to fee and confider, that commonly to juft Ecclef. viii. men it happeneth according to the work of the wicked, and 14. to wicked men according to the work of the righteous, as the Preacher speaketh, that here piety with its best friends do fuffer deeply, and impiety with its worst abettors do notably thrive; yea, that not only good men fuffer, but often fuffer for being good, (from envy and malignity of men that hate goodness,) and that bad men * Dies deficiat fi velim numerare, quibus bonis male evenerit, nec minus fi commemorem, quibus improbis optime. Cic. de Nat. Deor. 3. Dionyfius 30 annos tyrannus fuit opulentiffimæ et beatiffimæ civitatisatque in fuo lectulo mortuus. Cic. ib. SERM. not only profper, but profper by their wickedness, (by XXXII. their fraud and violence,) hath been a huge scandal to re in Jup. Confut. Plut. de Placitis, &c. ligion, which hath caused many to stumble, hath cast fome quite down into the gulf of atheism or epicurism h; hath brought fome men to doubt, hath induced others flatly to deny, that there is a God, (that is, a most wise, powerful, just, and good Being, every where present,) or Vid. Luc. that he being, doth prefide over, or anywife concern himfelf in our affairs: from this fource did flow all those impious conceits, which Seneca thus expreffeth; One obPlin. xi. 7. jecleth to the gods neglect of us; another, iniquity; another cafts them out beyond his world, and leaves them forlorn, as lazy and dull, without any light, or any work. From hence it hath been, that in all places and times there have been perfons ready to say with those in the Pfalms, Pfal. Ixxiii. How doth God know? is there knowledge in the Moft High? The Lord doth not fee, neither doth the God of Jacob regard it: God hath forgotten; he hideth his face, and will never fee it. 11. xciv. 7. x. 11. k And not only upon blind Pagans and profane perfons, but even upon the most pious of God's people these confiderations have made impreffion, extorting from their hearts and mouths expoftulations like that of Jeremiah; Jer. xii. 1. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked profper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? and that Job xxi. 7. of Job, Wherefore doth the wicked live, become old, and Job x. 3. are mighty in power? their feed is eftablished in their fight, their houfes are fafe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them-they Spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave: and that, Is it good unto h Improborum profperitates, fecundæque res redarguunt (ut Diogenes dicebat) vim omnem Deorum et poteftatem. Cic. De Nat. Deor. Η χρὴ μηκέθ ̓ ἡγεῖσθαι θεοὺς, εἰ τἄδικ ̓ ἔσται τῆς δίκης ὑπέρτερα. Eurip. Ela. i Alius illis objicit negligentiam noftri, alius iniquitatem; alius illos extra mundum fuum projicit, et ignavos hebetefque illos fine luce, fine ullo opere deftituit. Sen. de Benef. vii. 31. * Quippe fapientiffimos veterum, quique fectam eorum æmulantur, diverfos reperies; ac multis infitam opinionem non initia noftri, non finem, non denique homines Diis curæ; ideo creberrima et triftia in bonos, læta apud deteriores effe. Tac. An. 6. 13. thee that thou shouldest opprefs, that thou shouldest defpife SERM. the work of thine hand, and shine upon the counfel of the XXXII. wicked? Such queftions did this kind of observations draw forth, and it fhrewdly tempted them to a diffatisfaction in their pious practice, that they were ready to fay with the Pfalmift, Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, Pfal. lxxiii. and washed my hands in innocency; or with thofe in the Prophet; It is vain to ferve God, and what profit is it Mal. iii. 14. that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord? fo that hence, their feet were Pf. 1xxiii. 2. almoft gone, and their fieps had well nigh flipped into a diftruft of God's wife and juft providence; they were moved to suspect, that God did not indeed bear that fpecial regard to goodness, and affection to good men, that great hatred of iniquity, and displeasure toward the lovers of it, which religion fuppofeth, as the main grounds of piety: thus, I fay, have men, both good and bad, upon fuch occafions been induced or tempted to doubt concerning those fundamental points; and that not without apparently weighty cause, admitting that all accounts are made up here in this life between God and men; or that there is no reckoning behind, to be adjusted in another world by divine justice and goodness; then indeed that saying, it is a reproach to the Deity that bad men do profper1, and good men fuffer, hath a plaufible femblance of truth; then he that affirmed, there was no God, and heaven to be a void place, proving his affertion hence, that while he thus affirmed, he found himfelf in a good cafem, did argue fmartly; then Diagoras from an unpunished perjury collected probably, that God did not exift, or did not mind what was done here; for that being, and regarding things, he would not have endured himself to be fo affronted, and thofe under his care fo abused "; 1 Θεῶν ὄνειδος τοὺς κακοὺς εὐδαιμονεῖν. Nullos effe Deos, inane cœlum, Affirmat Selius, probatque quod fe Factum, dum negat hæc, videt beatum. a-Sunt nobis nulla profecto Numina, cum cœlo rapiantur fecula cafu Mart. iv. 20. Luc. vii. 445. n; |