Secondly, The rectoral justice and goodness of God, the sovereign Ruler of the world, do necessarily require it, inasmuch as they require its being well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked. Howbeit, we often now see wickedness exalted▪ while truth and righteousness fall in the streets; piety oppressed, while profanity and irrelig•n do triumph. This is so very ordinary, that every one, who s•cerely ⟨p. 269⟩embraceth the way of holiness, must, and doth lay his account with the loss of all he has, which the world can take away from him. Luke xiv. 26. If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. But it is consistent with the justice and goodness of God, that the affairs of men should always continue in this state, which they appear in, from one generation to another; but that every man be rewarded according to his works: and since that is not done in this life, there must be a judgment to come: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you: and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. There will be a day, in which the tables will be turned; and the wicked shall be called to an account for all their sins, and suffer the due punishment of them; and the pious shall be the prosperous; for, as the Apostle argues for the happy resurrection of the saints, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable, 1 Cor xv. 19. It is true, God sometimes punisheth the wicked, in this life; that men may know, he is a God that judgeth in the earth: but yet much wickedness remains unpunished, and undiscovered; to be a pledge of the judgment to come. If none of the wicked were punished here, they would conclude that God had utterly forsaken the earth; if all of them were punished in this life, men would be apt to think, there is no after-reckoning. Therefore, in the wisdom of God, some are punished now, and some not. Sometimes the Lord smites sinners, in the very act of sin; to show unto the world, that he is witness to all their wickedness▪ and will call him to an account for it. Sometimes he delays long, ere he strike;
Secondly, The rectoral justice and goodness of God, the sovereign Ruler of the world, do necessarily require it, inasmuch as they require its being well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked. Howbeit, we often now see wickedness exalted▪ while truth and righteousness fall in the streets; piety oppressed, while profanity and irrelig•n do triumph. This is so very ordinary, that every one, who s•cerely ⟨p. 269⟩embraceth the way of holiness, must, and doth lay his account with the loss of all he has, which the world can take away from him. Luke xiv. 26. If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. But it is consistent with the justice and goodness of God, that the affairs of men should always cuntinue in this state, which they appear in, from one generation to another; but that every man be rewarded according to his works: and since that is not done in this life, there must be a judgment to come: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you: and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. There will be a day, in which the tables will be turned; and the wicked shall be called to an account for all their sins, and suffer the due punishment of them; and the pious shall be the prosperous; for, as the Apostle argues for the happy resurrection of the saints, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable, 1 Cor xv. 19. It is true, God sometimes punisheth the wicked, in this life; that men may know, he is a God that judgeth in the earth: but yet much wickedness remains unpunished, and undiscovered; to be a pledge of the judgment to come. If none of the wicked were punished here, they would conclude that God had utterly forsaken the earth; if all of them were punished in this life, men would be apt to think, there is no after-reckoning. Therefore, in the wisdom of God, some are punished now, and some not. Sometimes the Lord smites sinners, in the very act of sin; to shew unto the world, that he is witness to all their wickedness▪ and will call him to an account for it. Sometimes he delays long, ere he strike;
