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diousness or Perjury depriving him of his Right: These things are fo clear, that they carry their own Evidence with them. And if any Perfons, thro a paffionate regard to their Lufts, or the ill reafoning of Atheistical Men, fhould be fo unhappy as to imagine that all Actions, in their own nature, are indifferent; that Vertue and Vice are arbitrary, and depend on the Pleasure and Caprice of Princes, and the establish'd Cuftom and Ufage of Nations; I would intreat fuch at prefent only to put these two things to themselves: one is, Whether they are not better pleas'd with themselves, when they do Acts of Juftice and Charity, than when they are guilty of Rapine and Violence?

Again, I would ask the Man that is for confounding the natural, neceflary, and eternal Distinctions of Good and Evil, whether he would be willing that all who live in the fame Kingdom with him should believe this? Whether he would perfuade his Wife, and Children, and Servants, to entertain fuch Principles as these, viz. That Adultery, Rapine and Murder, are as eligible as Chastity, Honefty, and Charity? Now if a Man would not have all People believe this, it gives one a very shreud Sufpicion, that he does not believe it himself: and had not fome Men publish'd these dangerous Principles, one would have thought it impoffible for reasonable Creatures to entertain an Opinion fo contrary to the Ends of Government, fo destructive to human Society, and fo dishonourable both to the natural and moral Perfections of the Deity.

To close this Head: If the Diftinction betwixt Vertue and Vice is justly founded, then

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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 Remorse. 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 secret Confufion, and an amazing Horror in their Minds. Now whence fhould thefe Fears fpring, 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 fuperftitious Education. But that this is not a rational Account of this matter, will appear, if we confider how extenfive 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 Progress in Infide lity and Atheism, cannot wholly chase away their guilty Fears. For thofe very Perfons, who have pretended, by their Wit and Reason, to difabuse unthinking Men; by representing that the Doctrine of a fature 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 fhould prove hotter than a painted Flame, and a future Judgment more terrible than an imaginary Affize. And I very much queftion, 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 Reafon, it would be easy to eradicate thofe Fears which poffefs all mens Minds after they have violated the Divine Laws; for Men are very averfe 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 noblest Being in this lower World, is fo fram'd by the Almighty, as neceffarily to torment himself, without any just reafon or cause; 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 uneafy if at any time alone in the dark, fo when he was 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.

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Again, we may conclude the Certainty of a future Judgment from the disproportionate Diftribution of Rewards and Punishments 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 swept 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 difplay 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 wifh; 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 Difappointments, and have one Affliction treading close upon the heels of another, like the Meffengers of Job; fo that they pour out their Moisture in Floods of Tears, and spend 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 Corrup tion 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 prefently 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 Difcrimination made betwixt good and bad Men, by rewarding the former, and punishing the latter, according 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 Judg ment hereafter, wherein God's Love to the one, and his Displeasure against the other fhall 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 Punishments

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