23.

SERM. these things will bring them into judgment. In reXXXII. gard to the righteous being afflicted here, that of 2 Thess. i.5. St. Paul may suffice, saying of them, It is a manifest instance of God's righteous judgment, that they may be made worthy of the kingdom of God, Luke vi. 22, for which they suffer: that of our Saviour,; Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and shall reproach you; rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy; for, behold, your reward is great in heaven : Eccles. viii. that of Solomon; Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God. In respect to both sorts of men, that of St.

12.

Isa. iii. 10,

II.

2 Pet. ii. 29. Peter will resolve all doubt; God knoweth how to deliver the godly out of trials, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. All scores will be fully quitted by the execution of Matt. xxv. that sentence pronounced by our Judge himself, The 46. wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.

This hypothesis doth indeed even to our common sense throughly solve most of those appearances in the course of things here, which otherwise might seem intricate or strange; clearing Providence from all misprisions, and satisfying our minds, so far as is needful, concerning the reasons of most occurrences here. From it we may learn,

That God in this great drama, made up of his providence and our free-will concurrently or interchangeably acting, doth mean, in order to this catastrophe or judgment in the last and chief act, to let men go on playing their parts undisturbedly, according to their inclinations and humours, yet within certain limits, and under the check of his hand,

in proper seasons, to prevent confusion of all inter- SERM. posing itselfs.

That it is not, therefore, fit now by open significations, either of approbation or dislike, often to interrupt the process of human actions; especially considering that the final doom concerning persons is not to be grounded upon single passages, or the particular acts of one time, but upon the whole body of action passing through the course of each man's part, in the place and time allotted to him; and that he who now acteth laudably may, before all is done, come to faulter; he that now behaveth himself untowardly may afterward learn to do better, and in the end come off well.

XXXII.

That hence it is not to be wondered, that God Eccles. iii. here should be somewhat reserved in dispensing tes- xi. 5. 11. viii. 17. timonies of favour to those who at present do seem good, somewhat sparing in declaring wrath toward those who now appear bad; that he should not miraculously pour down golden showers on the heads

of the righteous, nor send fire from heaven, as angry Luke ix. 55. man would have him, upon every provocation, to consume sinners.

That this life is not a time of reaping, but of sowing; not of approbation, but of trial; not of triumph, but of combat: this world is not a place of enjoyment, but of work; our condition here is not a state of settlement, but of travel; whence no man should expect more of encouragement, than is needful to support him in this work and way; should look to receive wages before his task is done; to get the prize, before he hath gone through the race; to

5 Διὰ τοῦτο οὔπω κρίσις, ἵνα κοινῇ πάντες στεφανωθῶμεν, ἵνα ἀπὸ πονη ρίας πολλοὶ μεταβληθῶμεν εἰς ἀρετήν. Chrys. in Matt. Or. 11.

XXXII.

II.

SERM. gather the spoils, before he hath fought out the battle; to enjoy rest, before he is at his journey's end; to be put in full possession of happiness, before his right and title thereto is completely assured: that no man also should presume or please himself upon present impunity for his misbehaviour or sloth, like Eccles. viii. those of whom the Preacher saith, Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil; seeing this is the season of mercy and patience, when God commonly doth not further inflict crosses on us, than may serve to mind us of our duty, or urge us to the performance of it; and seeing the longer vengeance is withheld, the more heavy it will at last fall on us, if we despise the present season of grace, and proceed to the end in impenitence; that present impunity, therefore, is a sore punishment, and correction here a really great favour.

That ordinarily temporal prosperity and adversity, as in comparison to things relating to our future state they are plainly inconsiderable, so they can be no arguments of God's special favour or displeasure; whence it appeareth to be no small rashness to conclude how God stands affected to any person from what befalleth him here, (as those who inferred conLuke xiii. cerning the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mixed 1, &c. with their sacrifices; and concerning those Jews, upon whom the tower in Siloam did fall, that they were more sinners than others of their nation,) yea, that if we must be interpreting God's mind from Prov. iii.12, these occurrences, it is rather more reasonable to Job v. 17. conceive that God disliketh them whom he doth not check, and approveth them whom he chastiseth;

XXXII.

Rev. iii. 19.

whence the prosperity of bad men is rather piti- SERM. able than invidious, as that which aggravateth and strengtheneth their wickedness, which accumulateth Heb. xii. 7. guilt, which draweth them forward, and plungeth Prov. xxiii. them deeper into perdition; that the adversity of Luke xvi. good men is no misery, but a blessing and happiness 25. to them, as exercising and fortifying their virtues, ensuring their state, endearing them to God. How

ever,

That God plainly doth mean to vilify these present things, appearing to our sense good or evil, by scattering them abroad with an indifferent hand; so that his friends taste as little good and as much evil as his enemies'.

"That there is no reason to wonder or to complain that things here do not go on in a course so smooth and straight as they should do; for that vanity and iniquity have their part and time to act upon this stage, yea are allowed sometimes a seeming reign; but justice, though at present it seemeth to sleep, or to wink at things, will at length awake, and effectually bestir itself; that right, although here it may be sometime crossed or foiled, yet it can never be quelled or overthrown; it may be suspended, but cannot be suppressed; it may be somewhat eclipsed, but it cannot be quite extinguished, yea infallibly in the end it will triumphantly prevail.

That no good design shall be undertaken, nor any honest labour can be spent in vain; seeing although they chance to find no success, or to yield no fruit

t Nullo modo potest Deus magis concupita traducere, quam si illa in turpissimos defert, ab optimis abigit. Sen. de Prov. 5. Dantur bonis ne putentur mala, dantur malis ne putentur summa bona. Aug.

17.

SERM. here, yet they cannot fail to obtain a happy issue XXXII. and a plentiful reward hereafter.

That how small soever the difference doth now appear between wise men and fools, or between virtuous and vicious persons, there will be hereafter a vast discrimination made, when in consequence of that upright trial one shall enter into eternal bliss, the other shall fall into an abyss of misery.

That this life is not contemptible, nor all things here utterly vain; seeing that upon this life is founded our eternal state; seeing these occurrences have influence upon our eternal joy or woe, seeing all things here will conduce to the illustration of divine mercy or justice. That God is indeed here Isa. xlv. 15. Deus absconditus, as the prophet styleth him, a God that hideth himself; advisedly suffering his goodness and justice to be under a cloud, that at length they may break out more gloriously in that day, when, as St. Paul saith, his dialoкpioía, his most Rom. ii. 5. righteous dealing (both in governance of all affairs now, and in deciding of all cases then) shall be revealed, and made conspicuous to all the world.

Thus doth it, upon many accounts, appear fit and needful, that there should be a future judgment; the apprehension thereof being the sharpest spur to virtue, the strongest curb from vice, the surest fence of human society, the safest bulwark of religion, (securing the authority of God, and guarding his providence, together with all his holy attributes, from all batteries, all sinister aspersions, all profane misconstructions ;) in short, the most effectual means, if it be heartily embraced, to render men, in their minds and in their enjoyments, sober, just in their dealings toward their neighbour, and in all their life