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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 fpeaks, no poyfon of Destruction in it, no Kingdom of Death, no Evil upon the Earth. (Wild. 1.4.) But the Condition upon which both Immortality and Happiness 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; whilft on the other hand, undifturb'd Peace and uninterrupted Happiness are in the Dwellings of the Righteous; in whatever. Circumftances they may feem to be to the eye of the World, yet Bleffed certainly is their Condition, all things work together for their good, and even their Miferys are Bleffings. Tis Guilt only that gives a Sting to Adverfity, and fheds Poifon into the Cup of Affiction; where Sin is not, there cannot poffibly be any real Evil; Righteoufnefs and Innocence are plac'd out of the Reach of That; There hall, there Can, no Evil happen to the Juft

The

The Truth of which Propofition, if taken in the ftrictnefs of it's Terms, is Self Evident and Undeniable upon thefe two

accounts;

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

2dly. Becaufe 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 unqueftionably true, and will be alfo of good Ufe 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 so very plain a Truth, that a Man not fo Wife as Solomon would have thought it needlefs, if not ridiculous, to lay it down for a Maxim. By the Juft therefore here, as in the ufual Language of Scripture, we are to underftand, not the Man of confummate unfinning Righteoufnefs, for where will fuch be found?

Never was any Man fuch, Except One who was God alfo, Even the Man Chrift Jefus. But He is the Juft Man in the Text, whofe Uniform, and Serious and Confcientious, tho' not abfolute and unerring Obedience, is for the fake of that perfect Righteoufnefs of Chrift, approv'd by God; who knowing our Frame, and pitying our Weakness, is graciously pleas'd to accept of Hearty Endeavours, inftead of Exact Performances, and Sincerity, instead of Perfection. It is indeed a Notorious and Deplorable Truth, that fince that firft Apoftacy and Rebellion in Paradise and the forfeiture of Original Righteousness by Our firft Parents, there has never been any of their Offspring entirely Righteous; and that if the best of Us fay, That He has no Sin, he deceives Himfelf and the Truth is not in Edim. It is nevertheless moft Certain, that there have been in all Ages, many Perfons who have fo 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 Infirmitys and Failings, they may be juftly accounted Good, and Holy, and Righteous Men. The Word of God himfelf ftiles them fo, and quite through the Holy Scriptures, tho they teach us that, in ftrictnefs all Men are

Sinners,

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Sinners, there is yet a manifeft Distinction made between the Righteous and the Ungodly, the Wicked and the Juft, as particularly in this very Verfe of the Text, There fball no Evil happen to the Juft, but the Wicked fhall be filled with Mischief.

By which Words There shall no Evil happen to the Fuft, we are not to conceit that there is any Privilege or Exemption promis'd to the Juft from the Common Infirmitys, and Weakneffes, the Ufual Calamitys and Difafters to which Our Being is Subject. Man is Born to Trouble as the Sparks fly upward, Job 5.7. nor without reafon are thofe Tears which he fheds at his firft Entrance into this troublesome World, Cui tantum in Vita reftat fufferre Malorum; This is but a Suitable beginning of that Life, the whole Course. of which, if not continually Exercis'd with Miferys and Sorrows, yet is always expos'd and lies Open to them. But the Scope and chief intent of the Words are, that Religion and Virtue are the likeliest Preservative against the Miferys and Evils that are fo frequent in the World, and which are the undoubted Product and Offspring of Vice and Sin; That Virtuous and Good Men are likelieft to pass thro' the Waves of this Tempeftuous World with leaft toffing and difturbance, that they meet with no Aflictions but what by right using they may

improve

improve into Bleffings, that generally Peace and Profperity are the Attendants of Religion and Piety; Godlineẞ having the promise of this Life, as well as of that which is to come.

And this will appear both from the Natural Tendency of Virtue, and the Exercise of those Dutys that Religion enjoins;

And from the promis'd Favour of God, and the Protection of his good Providence, ever Watching over them that Serve and Obey Him.

And Firft from the Natural tendency of all Virtuous Actions, and the Exercise of those Dutys that our Holy Religion enjoins.

As it is most certain that there had been no Evil in the Earth, if Man had not tranfgrefs'd the Law of his Maker, no Mifery if there had been no Sin; fo if now all the Laws of God were duly kept and univerfally obey'd, all the Miferys that afflict the Sons of Men would foon vanifh, and a kind of Heaven upon Earth would commence. If, as We daily Pray, The Will of God were done in Earth as it is in Heaven, Man might live almoft as happily here, as the Angels and Bleffed Spirits there, poffeft even now of that Peace, and tafting those Joys that differ rather in degree than kind from those which are to be the portion of his Everlafting Inheritance. For All the Ca

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