Sermons preached

(2.) The Justice of God, as he is Judge of the World, and so must and will do right, doth require, Ut […], & malis malè; That it should be well with them that do well, and ill with them that do evil. God is naturally inclined to provide for the Happiness of Man, as he is his Creator; and ⟨p. 328⟩if there were no Sin to stop the Course of God's Bounty, there would be nothing but Happiness in the World. But since the Entrance of Sin into the World, Men are of different sorts, some recover out of their estate of Sin, and live holily; others wallow in their filthiness still. Now it is agreeable to God's general Justice, as he is the Judge of the World, to execute Vengeance on the one, and reward the other; that Happiness should accompany Virtue by a natural and inseparable Dependence, and Misery incessantly attend Vice, Rom. 2. 6, 7, 8. It is true, the Bond which joineth Happiness and Virtue together, is not so strong, and so every way naturally evident, as that which joineth Vice and Punishment. If a Person in Sovereignty and Honour does not will that Moral Evils be punished, 'tis in some sort to consent to them; but the Condition of the Creature is such, that he ought to be holy and virtuous, though God had not positively commanded him; and God having so commanded, we are bound to obey his Command, though he had not proposed the Hope of a Reward, in as much as we owe all to God, both because of the infinite Eminence of his Majesty, as because we hold our Beings and all from him. And therefore there is a Distinction, Rom. 6. 23. The Wages of Sin is Death, but the Gift of God is Eternal Life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. The one is Wages, the other a Gift. The Promise which God maketh of Remuneration, and the actual Retribution which he performeth of the same, ought to be imputed only to his Goodness, and gratuitous Liberality. Men cannot pretend any other Right before him, from whom we hold all things, yea our very Being. Now that which proceedeth of Goodness, seemeth not to be of so strait an Obligation, but that he is at liberty to do, or not to do, especially when the transaction is between two Persons, the Dignity and Authority of one of which is infinitely above the Condition of the other, as the Majesty of God is above his Creature. Therefore ⟨p. 329⟩