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tues of good men with afflictions and fufferings, and fuffer bad men to take their courfe for a while, and walk in their own ways, without continual checks, by frequent and remarkable judgments upon them fo often as they offend.

3. If there be another life after this, wherein men fhall be judged according to their works, then this objection vanifheth; for that great day will fet all things ftraight, which feem now to be fo crooked and irregular. The deferring of rewards and punishments to the most convenient feafon, is fo far from being a reflexion upon the juftice of God, that it is highly to the commendation of it. What Claudian fays of Ruffinus, a very bad man, whofe long impunity had tempted men to call in queftion the juftice of God, is confiderable in this cafe ;

Abftulit hunc tandem Ruffini pœna tumultum,
Abfolvitque deos.

"The punishment which overtook him at laft, "did quiet thofe tumultuous thoughts, and abfolved "the gods from all blame." When men look but a little way, and confider only the prefent ftate of things, they are ready to quarrel at the juftice of them but if they would look at the end of things, and have patience to stay till the laft, to fee the conclufion and winding up of things, they would then acquit God in their thoughts from all thofe imputations of injustice, which, from the inequality of prefent difpenfations, rash and inconfiderate men are apt to charge him withal.

II. Objection. From the translation of punishments, the punishing of one man's fin upon another, as of the fathers upon the children, which God threatens in the fecond commandment, and did, in fome fort, fulfil in Ahab, in bringing the evil he had threatened him withal in his fon's days, 1 Kings xxi. 29. The punishing the fin of one perfon upon a peo-. ple, as that of Achan upon the whole congregation, Jofh. xxii. 20. Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath

fell

fell on all the congregation of Ifrael? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity. And the fin of David upon the people, 2 Sam. xxiv. when seventy thoufand died of the plague, for David's fin in numbering the people? Now how is this agreeable to justice? Is it not a known rule, Noxa caput sequitur? Mifchief pursues the finner. What can be more reasonable, Quàm ut peccata fuos teneant authores? Than that mens faults fhould be charged upon the authors, and punishment fall upon the guilty?

For answer to this,

1. It is not unreafonable that one man should bear the punishment of another's fault, if he be willing and content to bear it: Volenti non fit injuria ; There is no wrong done to those that are willing to undergo it, though they be innocent; which was the cafe of our bleffed Saviour fuffering for us, the just for the unjust, as the fcripture exprefleth it.

2. Where the perfon upon whom the punishment is transferred, is likewife a finner, and obnoxious to God, there can be no injuftice, because he hath deferved it upon his own account, and God may take what occafion he pleafeth to punish them that deferve to be punished.

3. In punishing the iniquity of the father upon the children, the guilty perfon, that is, the father, is punished in the calamity of his children; for a man's children are himself multiplied: and therefore it is very remarkable, that in the fecond commandment, God promifeth to fhew mercy to thousands of generations of them that love him, but he visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children but to the third and fourth generation, that is fo far as a man may live to fee them punifhed, and fuffer in their punishment.

4. As to the punishment of the people for the fins of their princes and governors, and one part of a community for another, fuppofing all of them to be finners, which is the true cafe, God may lay the punishment where he pleafeth; and there is no more injustice than when a man is whipt on the back for

the

the theft which his hand committed, a community being one body: Befides, the Prince is punished in the lofs of his people, the glory of a King confifting in the multitude of his fubjects.

The objection with refpect to the other world, the punishment of temporal evils with eternal, is elsewhere anfwered.

is,

The ufe we fhould make of this whole difcourfe

First, If God be juft and righteous, let us acknowledge it in all his difpenfations, even in thofe, the reafon whereof is more hidden and obfcure: Nehemiah ix. 33. fpeaking of the great afflictions that had befallen God's own people, yet this he lays down as a firm principle, Howbeit, thou art juft, in all that is brought upon us.

Secondly, This is matter of terror to wicked men. God doth now exercife his milder attributes towards finners, his mercy, and patience, and goodness: but if we defpife thefe, that terrible attribute of his juftice will display itfelf; and this the fcripture defcribes in a fevere manner; The Lord revengeth, and is jealous; the Lord will take vengeance on his adverfaries, and referveth wrath for his enemies.

Thirdly, This is matter of comfort to good men, that the righteous God governs the world, and will judge it: The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, Pfal. xcvii. 1. and he gives the reafon of it in the next verse; Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. Though he be omnipotent, we need not fear; for his power is always under the conduct of eternal righteousness.

Fourthly, Let us imitate this righteoufnefs; let us endeavour to be righteous as he is righteous; let us give to God the love, reverence, and obedience which are due to him; and in all our dealings, what is just and due to men. This duty hath an immutable reafon, founded in the nature of God.

SER

430

SERMON CXLI.

The truth of God.

DEUT. XXXii. 4.

A God of Truth.

N fpeaking to this attribute, I fhall,

IN

I. Shew you what we are to understand by the truth of God.

II. Endeavour to prove that this perfection belongs to God, that he is a God of truth.

III. Answer fome objections that may be made against it; and then make fome use of it.

I. What we are to understand by the truth of God. I fhall take it as the fcripture ufeth it in a large fenfe, fo as to include not only the veracity of God, but his faithfulness. Hence it is that, in fcripture, truth and faithfulness are so often put toge ther, and frequently put one for another: Ifai. xxv. 1. Thy counfels of old are faithfulness and truth. Rev. xxi. 5. These words are true and faithful. And the faithfulness of God in performing his promises, is frequently called his truth. And because the fcripture ufeth them promifcuously, we need not be very follicitous to find out diftinct notions of them: but if you will, they may be diftinguifhed thus: the truth or veracity of God hath place in every declaration of his mind; the faithfulness of God, only in his promises.

For the firft, The veracity or truth of God: this hath place in every declaration of his mind; and fignifies an exact correfpondence and conformity between his word and his mind, and confequently between his word and the truth and reality of things. The correspondence of his word with his mind, depends upon the rectitude of his will; the conformi

ty

ty of his word with the reality of things, not only upon the rectitude of his will, but the perfection of his knowledge, and the infallibility of his understanding fo that when we fay God is true, or fpeaks truth, we mean thus, that his words are a plain declaration of his mind, and the true reprefentation of things, in oppofition to falfhood, which is fpeaking otherwife than than the thing is ; and hypocrify, that is, fpeaking otherwife than we think. For inftance; when God declares any thing to be fo,or not to be fo, to have been thus, or not to have been thus; the thing really is fo, and he thinks fo; when he exprefleth his defire of any thing, he does really defire it; when he commands any thing, or forbids us any thing, it is really his mind and will that we fhould do what he commands, and avoid what he forbids; when he declares and foretells any thing future, it really fhall come to pass, and he really intended it should; if the declaration be to be understood abfolutely, it fhall abfolutely come to pafs; if the declaration be to be understood conditionally, it fhall come to pafs, and he intends it fhall, if the condition be performed.

Secondly, The faithfulness of God. This only hath place in his promises, in which there is an obligation of justice fuperadded to his word; for God, by his promife, doth not only declare what he intends, and what fhall be; but confers a right upon them to whom the promife is made, fo as that the breach of his promife would not only caft an imputation upon his truth, but upon his juftice.

II. That this perfection belongs to God. And this I fhall endeavour to prove,

First, From the dictates of natural light.
Secondly, From fcripture.

First, From the dictates of natural light. Natural light tells us, that truth and faithfulness are perfe&tions, and confequently belong to the divine nature; and that falfhood and a lie are imperfections, and to be removed from God. There is nothing that is efteemed amongst men a greater contumely and reproach, than to give a man the lie, to call him a liar, because it is an argument of fo much bafeness, VOL. VI.

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