A Discourse of the Judgments of God, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. The firſt Reaſon: The importance to the World, that a Juſtice over it, be underſtood.
Reaſ. 1 THat there may be the ſenſe of a Juſtice preſerved in the thoughts of men: For the daily evils that fall out, though they are the effects of it; yet being of a ſ…fter temper, and to be compounded with, are not ſo eogent Arguments, but eaſily attributable to the common courſe of things. Theſe are ſo ſtill in view, and carried ſo temperately with the progreſs of natural cauſes, that notwithſtanding them, Solomon obſerves: Sentence is not ſpeedily executed upon wicked works; nor will men, who do not curiouſly inquire, know by them, whether there be a Juſtice over the world or not; and therefore ſtill the hearts of the Sons of men are ſet in them to do evil.
For this cauſe God erects ſuch pillars of ſalt in the world, as Judgments, and they ſtand not only for the admonition of the juſt preſent, but they project their inſtructions upon ſucceſſion, even that which is moſt quiet and ſecure. The Apoſtle Peter obſerves, the great monuments of Judgments were raiſed to that ſtupendious height betimes, that they might over-look all decurrent Ages, and be ſeen by the laſt and loweſt of the world, that there might be none without ſuch cautions of the Righteouſneſs of God. Their kind too was extraordinary; from Heaven immediately, that the Argument might be more undeniable, and the impreſſion ſtronger.
But how much the apprehenſion of ſuch a waking Eye upon all the ways of men, and the adminiſtrations of States and Kingdoms, is both to the glory of God, the good Government of the world, & the Intereſt of man, may without difficulty be underſtood. For as the Apoſtle expreſſing God in a jealouſie of the honour of his Goodneſs, ſays, he left not himſelf without witneſs, but ingaged the acts of mercy in giving fruitful times and ſeaſons: So in like manner do the diſtributions of his Juſtice give teſtimony to him, that he judgeth in the Earth, ſo that all the inferences of Righteouſneſs that are moſt naturally to be derived from ſo high a conſideration, may fall with greateſt force upon the minds of men. For as Judgments being abroad, are prevalent preachers of it; ſo thoſe that have been heretofore, being paſt, yet ſpeak: And the treaſure of that Juſtice and Power in God that inflicts them, is an unmoveable perſwaſion, that no change falls upon, and which indeed carries a conſtant force, without which thoſe that are paſt, would have ſoon been exhauſted and ſpent, and thoſe that are preſent included within themſelves.
Take away the ſenſe of a Juſtice, and all rules of goodneſs are chilled into honeſt notions, and moral ſpeculations without any ſting; Laws grow feeble, and have only a precarious authority. And if the Juſtice be only humane, the Sphere is ſo narrow and reſtrained, that great wickedneſſes are committed out of its Jurisdiction and cogniſance. But Juſtice (and that Divine) commands and threatens with all higheſt confidence, and nothing can find exemption from it; laying ſtrongeſt warnings upon men, l…ſt they ſin, and giving greateſt motives to repentance after the commiſſions; ſpanning all reaſons for prevention and removal of evil.
Now there are no arguments of a Juſtice ſo cogent, as thoſe it ſelf gives, which like things of ſenſe, find leaſt diſpute when they are reſident by their own motion upon their proper ſubjects. For as the objects of ſenſe are to ſenſe, ſo are theſe ſtrokes of the hand of God to the conſcience; all fineneſs of conceit and tricks of wit, will not elude the ſtrength of things themſelves, taking place upon ſenſe: though they ſhould have inveigled the fancy at a diſtance from them; yet the firſt approach melts the vapour: yea though the Judgment ſhould have been reaſoned into a confidence, and undertaken to give an Apathy, as the Stoick to his wiſe man; yet is it not of proof to the body againſt theſe realities, however it may defend the mind. Nor can the Atheiſt by all the turns of his perverted reaſon, eſcape the reciprocations of conſcience with the Juſtice of God, when he is attacqued by this preſſing hand; even unawares to himſelf he not only lets in, but often ſends out the confeſſions of it. But yet this difference there is between ſenſe and conſcience (which is a common ſenſe in the Soul) that the one depending upon the body is ſoon overwhelmed, if it be too cloſely imbraced, or too long held, or too powerfully urged; when the other, properto a ſpirit, is the more awakened, and the more certainly poſſeſſed by the earneſtneſs of things with it, that are properly agent upon it.
Theſe Judgments then generally drawing from thoſe that are more inclinable to yield them; or preſſing from thoſe that are loth to give them ſuch acknowledgments that have raiſed and continued an univerſal conſent in this Juſtice of God we diſcourſe of, make good this firſt reaſon we have propoſed; That God for his own Glory and the good of man, retains a ſenſe of Juſtice in the world; this ſenſe being ſo apt to keep an awe upon the Soul, deterring it from evil, and provoking it to good.
It were but tything the Mint and Cummin of ſo weighty a conſideration, to add to it, that the very Intereſt of Government and civil Polity lies much in it; which cannot be better conceived, then by offering to the Atheiſt the choice of his own mind, whether if there be certainly ſuch a Juſtice animadverting upon mens ways, and this were as certainly and livelily acknowledged, it were not likely to give ſome better Law to the actions of mankind, then if there were no ſuch Juſtice, and it were certain to every one, there were no ſuch. He confeſſes enough, when he imputes the belief of it to the inſinuations of Rulers, as one of the neceſſary Arts to rivet their Decrees, and give them eaſe in wielding their Scepters.
It may, no doubt, be far argued on the ſide of virtue, righteouſneſs, and mercy, that they are the very weal of mankind; from whence the Atheiſtick profeſſor takes advantage, and carries himſelf demurely upon it, as if no more were neceſſary to incline men of ſobriety, nor any need of borrowing aid from imaginary Principles; but knowing unruly luſts are too boiſterous to be commanded by handſom diſcourſe, he provides the iron-hand of Laws and executions to ſubdue the more unbridled part of men: which (ſaith he) ſhall go far, where the acknowledgments of a Deity can do nothing.
Let ſuch a one conſider, there is a ſecret ſtrength conveyed up and down the world by the general conſent in this radical notion of a God and his Juſtice, which adds a much higher reaſon to the wiſeſt minds to ſway them, then the meer excellency of goodneſs it ſelf, which is not the leſs, but infinitely the greater for being hypoſtatiz'd in a Divine will; and withal infolds the leſs ſenſible part of men, that what they do not conſider in its own worth, they yet upon the ſilent awes of conſcience revere, and drink in with much greater eaſe the commands of Authority that ſteer the ſame way; and more patiently ſuffer the penalties of their tranſgreſſions, being firſt adjudged to them by themſelves.
To ſum this; as the predictions of puniſhment before the execution, were acts of favour to men; ſo is the eſtabliſhed Doctrine that grows out of the many experiments of this vindictive Righteouſneſs of God, a grace to the world, that it may not ſurprize un-underſtood or unawares, but keep men in a daily regard to it, not running into its dang…r by neglect of duty, or preſumption in ſin.
When it is often in the exerciſe of it ſelf, it can neither be unknown or forgotten. All which is moſt condecent to the infinite goodneſs and graciouſneſs of God, as well as to his Juſtice.