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leaves the Unrighteoufnefs and Ungodliness of Men without Excufe, because they cannot but be fenfible of it, and therefore can never plead Ignorance; for how is it poffible they fhould, when before the Tranf greffion of it they feel Doubt and Distrust pulling them back, and afterwards an accufing Confcience, and when before the Performance according to it, they find themselves encourag'd and chearfully led on, and afterwards an excufing and justifying Conscience? What is this but that Inftruction which the God of Nature hath planted in all Mens Hearts, fhewing them what ought, and what ought not to be done, if they would be happy? And how can any Man plead Ignorance of his Duty, in whofe Heart the Law of God is written, nay, in whom it fpeaks, whether he ever had any Revelation or not? For it was this Senfe of Duty that afforded the Heathens, who had no Revelation, fo much Joy and Pleasure in their good Actions, and filled them with Doubt and Fear when they went about any Wickedness, and made them tremble and defpair when they had committed it, as one of them in particular of great Note, Caligula, who us'd in a Fright to get under his Bed when he heard it thunder. 'Tis this that taught fome of the worst and greateft of them to acknowledge that there was a Power greater than

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theirs, tho' they faw it not. God, that furnished all living Creatures with a Senfe of Things neceffary for them, and of Things contrary and deftructive to them, that they might pursue the one and avoid the other, for the preferving of Bodily Life, hath wrought alfo into the Souls of Men a Senfe of fuch Things as are alike requifite for the Happiness which belongs to a reasonable Creature; and to go contrary to this Senfe, is of it felf fufficient to make the Wicked inexcufable.

3. Reafon farther inftructs us in our Duty, by fhewing us the natural bad Effects of Impiety and Vice, and the contrary good Fruits of Religion and Virtue. In the natural and common Courfe of Things a faithful Man fhall be trufted, and à diligent Man fhall thrive, and a charitable Man fhall be beloved, and a temperate Man fhall be healthy in his Old Age, and a religious Man fhall be able to govern his Paffions, and to live with great Regard to himself in all that he doth. Thefe are Maxims fuggefted by Reafon, comparing Causes with their Effects, and they are confirmed alfo by many Examples, and long Experience in the World. The Drunkard often stumbles upon his Grave before he has gone thro' half his Days; the lazy Perfon falls into Poverty and Contempt; the Prodigal is at laft driven to defperate Shifts;

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the disobedient Son and ungovernable Youth runs into innumerable Follies, and endless Mifcarriages; the Adulterer at length pays for his Pleafures with fharp Pains and Rottenness of Bones. A whorish Woman shall bring a Man to a Morfel of Bread. Volup tuousness weakens the Vigour of the Mind, and makes Men unfit for honest Business, and very often for neceffary Employments. Want of Devotion, and Neglect of Prayers, exposes a Man to all those Miscarriages, to which his Constitution and Temptations do lead him. Reafon and Example do plainly fhew us the Ways how particular private Men come to profper, or to be miferable.

If we confider this Thing with refpect to Kingdoms and Commonwealths, we are inftructed both Ways, that when People flourifh'd, and were able to refift all Foreign Attempts, they were religious and induftrious, fober and well manner'd, hardy and temperate, just and peaceable, dutiful to their Superiors, at Unity among themfelves; and particular Perfons were still zealous for the Publick Good, preferring it before their private Intereft; they did not go about to weaken it by Factions, whatever Advantages they might gain by it to themselves, whatever unkind Ufage they met with, whatever Provocation they lay under; and in this Pofture no Violence

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from without has been able to unfettle them. But Reafon fhews that the contrary Difpofitions and Practices do of themfelves lead to Ruin, and Experience shews that they have still ended there.

So that in refpect of that clear Inftruction which the Examples of all Ages do afford how Mifery is to be avoided, that remains true which we find in the first Chapter of this Book, v. 20, 21. Wisdom crieth without, he uttereth her Voice in the Streets: She crieth in the chief Place of Concourse, in the Openings of the Gates, in the City She uttereth her Words.

4. As no Man can plead Ignorance of Good and Evil, fo neither can he pretend that he knew not the Danger of Punishment for doing Ill. For this is a Truth fhewn by natural Reason, that God is the just Judge of Men, that by Sin his angry Juftice is provoked, and that he will not fuffer the Wicked to go unpunished; which was the main Ground upon which the wifeft among the Heathens concluded that there would be a Life after this, viz. that Men might be rewarded and punished according to their Works, which was not fo clearly seen in this Life. And this natural Belief that God was an Hater and Punisher of Sin, as well as the Rewarder of Virtue, was enough to leave them without Excufe.

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For what tho' God did not reveal to them, as he has done to us by the Gospel, that the Wicked fhall go into Everlasting Punishment, and the Righteous into Life Eternal, what tho' they knew not that the Body fhall rise at the laft Day, to partake with the Soul in endless Rewards and Punishments that will follow, was it not enough that God had shewn himself, his Being, his Perfections, his Will and Pleasure, and their Duty to him? Muft they needs know how much Punishment they must suffer for their Difobedience, and when it fhould begin, and how long it fhould laft? But did they not know that the Juftice of God was impartial, that his Power was infinite, and therefore that the Powerfulness of God was most of all to be feared, and was not this fufficient to oblige them even by Fear to do their Duty?

It seems not always abfolutely neceffary to the Justice of inflicting Punishment, that the Punishment fhould be as particularly made known before-hand,as the Law which prescribes the Duty and makes the Offence. The reason why commonly there is as plain' a Rule in the Societies of Men for the Degrees of Punishment to be inflicted, as for the Crimes that are to be avoided, is, not because it were unjust in it felf to inflict a Punishment upon a Criminal, which he

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