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SERMON VIII.

PROV. XII. 21.

There hall no Evil happen to the Just.

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T Had not been agreeable to the Infinite Goodness of God, when he had

Created Man to be Immortal, and made him the Image of his own Eternity, as the Book of Wisdom fpeaks (Wifd. 2. 23.) if he had not made him alfo perfectly Happy, and the Image of his own Bliss and Felicity. He placed him therefore in Paradife, a Garden of Delight, resembling, as far as Earth was capable, his own Ever Bleft Habitation in the Heavens. No evil, could happen to Just Adam, for Evil yet had no being. The whole Creation made

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for his Ufe, as it was furvey'd and approv'd of by the Allwife Architect of it, was in every part of it pronounc'd to be exceeding Good; there was, as the fame Wife-man speaks, no poyfon of Destruction in it, noKingdom of Death, no Evil upon the Earth. (Wild. ирсп 1.14.) But the Condition, upon which both Immortality and Happinefs were held, was Uprightness and Obedience; The State of Innocence it was that made the State of Felicity; and Sin and Mifery were both at one unhappy Birth brought forth into the World together: and they ever fince have been infeparable Companions. Whatever the outward appearance may be, the State of the Wicked, and of them Only, is truly Miferable; their very Profperity is a Curfe, and tends to their Destruction; whilst on the other hand, undisturb'd Peace, and uninterrupted Happiness are in the Dwellings of the Righteous; in whatever Circumftances they may feem to be to the the World, yet Bleffed certainly is their Condition, all things work together for their good, and even their Miseries are Bleffings. Tis Guilt only that gives a Sting to Adversity, and sheds Poison into the Cup of AfAliction; where Sin is not, there cannot poffibly be any real Evil; Righteousness and Innocence are plac'd out of theReach of That; There fball, there Can, no Evil happen to the Just.

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The Truth of which Propofition, if taken in the ftri&tnefs of its Terms, is Self Evident and Undeniable upon these two accounts;

Ift,Because there are None Juft, i.e. There is no Man fo Righteous on Earth, but has Sins enough to deserve more Evils, than in this World can happen to him.

2dly, Because no Evil happens; Every Evil that Men fuffer, tho' to outward appearance never fo Cafual, being ordain'd by the Wife and Juft appointment of God.

But tho' both thefe Affertions are unquestionably true, and will be alfo of good Úfe to explain, and of ftrong Force to prove what the Wifeft of Men here intends; yet the Words of the Text are not to be fo ftrictly taken. Such a Propofition as they would then make, namely That no Evil ever happening, and there being No Man Juft, tho' undoubtedly Certain, yet would be very impertinent; tho' a very great, yet fo very plain a Truth, that a Man not fo Wife as Solomon would have thought it needless, if not ridiculous, to lay it down for a Maxim. By the Just therefore here, as in the usual Language of Scripture, we are to underftand, not the Man of confummate unfinning Righteousness,for where will fuch be found?

Never was any Man such, Except One, who was God alfo, Even the Man Chrift Jefus. But He is the Just Man in the Text, whose Uniform and Serious and Confcientious, tho' not abfolute and unerring Obedience, is for the fake of that perfect Righteousness of Chrift, approv'd by God; who knowing our Frame, and pitying our Weakness, is graciously pleas'd to accept of Hearty Endeavours, instead of Exact Performances, and Sincerity, instead of Perfection. It is indeed a Notorious and Deplorable Truth, that fince that first Apostacy and Rebellion in Paradise, and the forfeiture of Original Righteousness by Our first Parents, there has never been any of their Offspring entirely Righteous; and that if the best of Us fay, That He has no Sin, be deceives Himfelf, and the Truth is not in Him, It is nevertheless molt Certain, that there have been in all Ages, many Perfons who have so order'd their Lives, fearing God and having refpect to his Laws, and endeavouring to keep a Confcience void of offence, towards God and towards Men, that in the main, notwithstanding many Human Infirmities and Failings, they may be juftly accounted Good and Holy and Righteous Men. The Word of God himself ftiles them for, and quite through the Holy Scriptures, tho' they teach us that in ftrictness all Men are

Sinners,

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