that God, who neceffarily loves Holiness and hates Sin, will call Men to an account for their Actions, fo as to reward the Good, and punish the Bad.

Again, the Fears that poffefs the Minds of Men, after the commiffion of any grofs Sins against the Law and Light of Nature, tho ever fo fecret, argue the certainty of a Judgment to come. Every Man has a Faculty or Power in his Mind that we call Confcience, which is the Judg of our moral Actions, and does acquit or condemn us according as our Actions are either good or bad, and fo afford us either fecret Pleasure or inward Remorfe. I dare appeal to the most profligate and vicious Perfons, whether there are not fome fort of Actions which have that Turpitude and Baseness in them, tho they fall not under the cognizance of any human Tribunal, as to cause a fecret Confufion, and an amazing Horror in their Minds. Now whence fhould these Fears spring, if there is no real difference betwixt Good and Evil, nor no Judgment to come? To this the Profane and Atheistical return, That these Fears are occafion'd by a superftitious Education. But that this is not a rational Account of this matter, will appear, if we confider how extensive thefe Fears are; they affect all Mankind, no Man can intirely shake them off: Such as are rais'd to the highest Dignity, and have made a confiderable Progrefs in Infidelity and Atheism, cannot wholly chafe away their guilty Fears. For thofe very Perfons, who have pretended, by their Wit and Reason, to difabufe unthinking Men; by reprefenting that the Doctrine of a future Judgment at best is but a State-Engine, to keep People in awe;

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I fay, thefe very Men, when they have drawn near the brink of Eternity, have been quite difpirited, and have been feiz'd with ten thoufand guilty Fears, left Hell should prove hotter than a painted Flame, and a future Judgment more terrible than an imaginary Affize. And I very much question, whether ever any Sinner in the World was perfectly freed from the Fears of the laft Tribunal; and if there could be a few fuch Inftances produc'd, it would not leffen the force of this Argument: efpecially if we confider, that if the Belief of a Judgment to come was not agreeable to natural Reason, it would be eafy to esadicate those Fears which poffefs all mens Minds after they have violated the Divine Laws; for Men are very averse to every thing that occafions them Trouble and Difquiet. Now if the Fears of a future Judgment were not well founded, 'tis very ftrange that the Art, and Industry, and Reafon of Mankind, have not long ago intirely fcatter'd thefe Fears, fince Men naturally defire Quiet and Peace within.

Moreover, if there was no real ground for thefe Fears, it would follow that Man, the nobleft Being in this lower World, is fo fram'd by the Almighty, as neceffarily to torment himself, without any juft reafon or caufe; while Creatures of an inferior Rank and Order enjoy what is futable to their Natures without the fame Anxiety or Trouble.

*Mr. Hobbs, a learned Advocate for Infidelity, as he us'd to be very uneasy if at any time alone in the dark, fo when be reas near expiring, was under fuch Amazement and Confufion, that the best account he could give of himself was, That he was about to take a Leap in the Dark.

Again, we may conclude the Certainty of a future Judgment from the difproportionate Diftribution of Rewards and Punifhments in this World. We fee that in fome refpects, in this Life, all things come alike to all; there is one Event to the Righteous and the Wicked ; as dieth the Fool, fo dieth the righteous Man; he is fwept away by the fame common Calamity, drops by the fame Disease, and his Duft mingles in the fame Grave. Now if God is infinitely Juft and Good, as all must acknowledg that own the Being of a Deity; then for the display of thefe, as well as his other Attributes, 'tis of abfolute neceffity there should be a future Judgment, that there may be a visible difference made betwixt the Righteous and the Wicked, betwixt him that ferveth God, and him that ferveth him not. In this World the Wicked frequently profper, and have all that Heart can wish; they flourish like a green Bay-Tree, and they have no Bands in their Death; they are not plagu'd like other Men; whereas Good Men, while here, meet with a thousand Disappointments, and have one Affliction treading close upon the heels of another, like the Meffengers of Job, To that they pour out their Moisture in Floods of Tears, and fpend their Years in Sighing. The Righteous often fuffer in this World, in the common Calamities that are brought on Nations and Kingdoms, by Fire, and Plague, and Famine, and War: and not only fo, but as Fob obferves, The Tabernacles of the Robbers profper, and they that provoke God are fecure: The Proud are called happy, they that work Wickedness are fet up, and they that tempt God are deLiver d. And how does the Prophet Jeremy expoftulate

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expoftulate upon this Head? Wherefore doth the way of the Wicked profper? wherefore are all they happy that deal treacherously? Now nothing can folve thefe Difficulties, and vindicate the Justice of the Divine Government, but the Certainty of a future Judgment, at which time God will reward every Man according to his Works. The Wife-Man tells us, that he faw under the Sun the place of Judgment, that Wickednefs was there. He had obferv'd that Corruption had crept into Courts of Judicature, fo as that the Innocent had been condemn'd, but the Guilty discharg'd. Now from God's permitting of these things, he infers the Certainty of a future Judgment; for he presently adds, I faid in my Heart, God fhall judg the Righteous and the Wicked: q. d. From the promiscuous Difpenfations of Divine Providence now, I am fully perfuaded there will be another State, wherein there fhall be a juft Discrimination made betwixt good and bad Men, by rewarding the former, and punishing the latter, ac cording to the Deeds done in the Body.

If there be a God, he must be Juft, for the Attribute of Juftice is fo effential to the Godhead, that we may as well deny there is a God, as fay that there is one, but he is not juft. Now if God is Juft and Good, and it does appear that Rewards and Punishments are not proportion'd to the Righteous and the Wicked here, 'tis infallibly certain there fhall be a Judgment hereafter, wherein God's Love to the one, and his Displeasure against the other shall fully appear; fo that his Juftice and Goodness fhall be confpicuous to Angels, Men and Devils. For the greater difproportion there is in the diftribution of Rewards and Punish

ments

For

ments in this World, the ftronger is the Ar-
gument drawn from thence, that there will be
a final Judgment in the World to come.
(as Abraham faid) fhall not the Fudg of all the Gen. 18. 25.
Earth do right? I'll allow that this Argument is
commonly infifted on for the proof of a future
Judgment (as an ingenious Modern has re-
mark'd) "But 'tis nevertheless strongly con-
"clufive and unanswerable; and hereby who-
ever denies a future State of Rewards and
"Punishments, muft of neceffity, by a chain
"of unavoidable Confequences, be forc'd to
"recur to downright Atheism."

Again, the Certainty of a future Judgment
might be argu'd from the neceffity there is of it,
both to deter Men from Sin, and to incourage
them in the practice of Religion. All Societies
would foon disband, and all well-regulated Go-
vernments be exchang'd for Anarchy and Con-
fufion, if the Belief of a future Judgment was
banish'd from the Earth.

For if Men run into all Exceffes of Riot now, tho they pretend to believe a future State, what inexpreffible Mischiefs would follow the denial of this Doctrine? What then should reftrain any Man from gratifying his Paffions at the expence of another's Reputation and Life, provided he could carry it fo privately, as not to expose himself to the Penalties of human Laws? Indeed the Atheistical are ready to acknowledg, that the Doctrine of a future Judgment is as well calculated for the good Government of the World, and the Preservation of Human Society, as any thing could be: which (as one obferves) is a Conceffion of no fmall advantage to the Honour of our Holy Religion, confidering that it proceeds from those that are

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open