fer in the ruin? No; but you would have God take him away fuddenly by fome fecret and filent method; or you would have him punished in his fortune, and reduced to that poverty which his fins deferve. This, you think, would be very juft and reasonable, and highly becoming the wifdom of God. But pray, has your wicked man no friends nor relations, whofe happiness depends upon his prosperity? Has he no children, who must beg with him when he falls into poverty and distress? There is no great man, who is not related to others in fome, if not in all these circumftances. If then you allow in general the equity of sparing the wicked for the fake of the righteous, you must confider their cafe over again, and answer these few queftions: Are all the relations and dependents of this great finner as wicked as himself? Is there not one good man the better for him? Are his children. all reprobates? Or, would you turn out a family of innocent children to feek their bread in the streets, rather than let the iniquity of the father go unpunished for a few years? Till you can answer these queftions, you must not pretend to arraign the wifdom and goodness of God in fparing this offender; for you know not how many innocent, how many virtuous perfons may be crushed in his fall; and when you can answer them, you fhall have leave to judge. Now these confiderations plainly fhew the equity and goodness of God in delaying the punishment of the wicked for the prefent, both with refpect to the public calamities which the general corruption calls for, and with refpect to the private punishments which the fins of particu

count.

lar men, if confidered alone, and by themselves, do richly deserve. In both cafes mercy triumphs over justice, and the guilty is preserved for the fake of the innocent; which is fuch an act of goodnefs as no man furely has reafon to complain of. As to the juftice of God, neither will that fuffer in this acThe day is coming which will diffolve all the prefent relations between men, when every one will ftand fingly by himself to account for the good or evil he has done. In that day the wicked fhall not escape, nor fhall his punishment affect the righteous, but his iniquity fhall be on his own head only. When the harvest comes, the Master will order his fervants to feparate the tares from the wheat the one he will gather into his barns, the other he will give up to be burnt with unquenchable fire.

Upon the whole then: this method of God's dealing with the children of men is, in all its parts, without reproach. Even this complaint, which is fo commonly made against the adminiftration of Providence, that the wicked are permitted to live unpunished, is itself a great argument how little reason we have to complain, fince it fhews the lenity of the government we are under; and furely it is our happiness, that we are more to seek in accounting for the justice of God than for his mercy. Were God to be as rigid in the execution of justice, as such complainers seem to require he fhould be, what fhould you or I get by it? What we get by his mercy we know, or ought to know, I am fure, if we understand ourselves, and our own condition: and for finners to upbraid God with want of juftice against finners, that is, against themselves, is a crime

which carries with it fo much folly, as I hope may in fome measure excuse the infolence, fince nothing elfe can. Were the cafe to be altered, and God to appear as terrible in juftice as he is wonderful in mercy, how much more fhould we be puzzled to account for his proceeding? As we fee many now fpared whom we account great finners, we should then fee many punished whom we efteem good men for all are not good who seem to be fo. And how then fhould we be called on to juftify the feverity of God; a severity which, to our thinking, fell alike upon the righteous and the unrighteous? for whatever way God takes, the thing muft appear myfterious to us; for the faces and the hearts of men are often at variance, and we, who can only judge by the outward fhew, fhould often be at a loss to difcern the equity of his proceeding, who judges by the heart. Should God therefore proceed to punish all who deserve it, we should still have the fame objection, that punishments and rewards were not equally adminiftered; and, fince we must be in the dark, how much happier is it for us to be in fuch a cafe, where we think we see too little of the juftice of God, than in a condition, where we should foon think we faw too little of his mercy? The advantage which our present fituation affords is fuch a balance on the account, that we fafely defy every bold' objector, and enter into his reckoning without fear or danger; for in every step the goodness of God fhines forth as bright as the fun at noon day; and let those call for his juftice, who are willing to abide the trial by it.

I obferved to you, that the argument in the text

extends to one cafe only, to the juftifying the wifdom and goodness of God in delaying the punishment of incorrigible finners. It is true indeed, that if this cafe can be defended, all others may; and. therefore this argument is by confequence a full defence of the providence of God, as it relates to the punishment of finners: but, as other cafes have their particular reasons, give me leave to close this difcourse with presenting to you a fummary view of the cafe in its feveral circumstances.

That men are finners is fuppofed in the objection against the justice of God for not punishing fin; and therefore, in ftrictness of reafoning, it belongs not to this question to account for the wisdom of God in permitting fin: and yet this inquiry is fo nearly allied to the prefent cafe, that our Lord in the parable has incidently cleared this point, While men flept, the enemy fowed his tares. Such is the condition of human nature, fuch the ftate of the world, that no care or diligence can prevent the growth of vice: and as every body fees this to be the cafe, so it is confeffed by thofe, who demand a reason why God does not interpose to prevent iniquity; for, as the queftion refers the preventing vice to the overruling power of God, so it supposes no other remedy to be fufficient to the evil. But what is it that they demand, who require that God should by his irrefiftible power prevent all evil? Nothing lefs, than that he fhould destroy all law and religion, and divest men of that, which is at present their diftinguishing character, reafon and understanding: for, if every thing is to be done by a fuperior force, there is an end of all law, and of all the ufe and exercife of rea

fon. It is faid to be a crime, in fome eaftern country, for the fubjects to look upon the prince; and therefore, when he appears, they fall down and hide their faces. Now this law or cuftom neceffarily supposes that the subjects have eyes; for should the emperor blind all his fubjects, it would be ridiculous to charge them not to look on him. The same would be the cafe with respect to all laws in general, fhould God neceffarily overrule the wills of men; for to bid men not do that, which it is impoffible they ever fhould do, is abfurd and ridiculous.

Since then offences muft needs come, the queftion is properly asked, Why are not men as certainly distinguished by rewards and punishments, as they are by virtue or vice? This would be a mighty encouragement to virtue, and what is to be expected from the justice of God. The first return to this queftion is to let men know, that they inquire not wifely concerning this matter, for the thing is too high for them: for, fince the deserts of men must neceffarily be estimated by a rule, which they are not mafters of, that is, by the fincerity of their hearts, they can never judge when rewards and punishments are duly adminiftered: and therefore their reafon fails; for a due administration of rewards and punishments in this world would not tend, as they fuppofe, to the encouragement of virtue, because men cannot judge when there is fuch an administration, or when not; and poffibly too they may be mistaken in thofe very cafes, which they think deserve to be made fignal examples of vindictive juftice. The next return to the question