his Family into Egypt; and rewarded his Sufferings, by advancing him to Pharaoh's Throne.

Nay, thus God dealt with Chrift himself, who, as Man, was Perfect and Innocent, who did no evil, neither was any guile found in his mouth; who went about doing good, and was obedient to his Father's Will in all things; and yet him God delivered into the Hands of Sinners, to fuffer an ignominious and painful Death, for the Redemption of the World. And the Sovereignty of God will justify the greatest Sufferings of the most innocent Men, when they ferve fuch admirable Ends, and are fo greatly rewarded.

And thus God has dealt with fome of the best Men that ever lived in the World: Witness the Sufferings of Prophets, and of other good Men under the Old Teftament, and of the Apostles and Martyrs of Chrift, who have trod in the Steps of their Lord, who have fuffered with him, that they might be glorified together. I know not what the Sovereignty of God fignifies, if he may not ferve the wife Ends of his Grace and Providence, even by the Sufferings of his Creatures, when fuch Sufferings,how uneafy and grievous foever they are at prefent, fhall turn to their much greater good; when they fhall be fo greatly rewarded, that good Men themselves fhall think the Reward an abundant Recompence for their Sufferings, and Glory in thofe very Sufferings which will have fo great a Reward.

Thus let us confider God as the Supreme and Abfolute Judge of the World: Now a Sovereign and Abfolute Judge muft do that which is juft, but he is tyed up by no Rules or Formalities of Law, as Inferior Minifters of Juftice are; if he Reward the good, and punifh the wicked, he may do it at what time and in what manner he pleases :

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pleafes: He is under no Rule but his own Sovereign Will and Wifdom. When Men have deserved Punishment, he may fpare them as long, or execute Vengeance on them as foon as he fees fit; for he is the Abfolute Judge of Time, and Place, and other Circumftances of executing Judgment. This Prerogative all Sovereign Princes challenge; and it is indeed an infeparable Right of Sovereignty.

So that it is no reasonable Objection against the Juftice of Providence, That God does not immediately Reward all great and virtuous Actions, nor immediately punish Wickedness; for a Sovereign Juftice is under no Obligation to do this: All that we can expect from the Divine Justice is, That good Men fhall be rewarded, and the wicked punished; and that whenever God does reward or punifh, good Men fhall have no reason to complain, that their Reward was delayed; nor bad Men to glory in the long delays of Punishment; but the greatness of the Rewards or Punishments fhall recompence for all delays; for then God is Juft in rewarding good Men, and punishing the Wicked, how long foever he delay either. Sovereign Juftice is not confined to time; and when the Sufferings of good Men who deferve a Reward, and the Profperity of bad Men who deferve Punishment, and the delays of both are taken into the account, God is very Juft and Righteous, how long foever he delay to Reward or Punish.

From what I have now difcourfed concerning the Sovereignty of the Divine Juftice, you may eafily obferve, That all the Objections against the Juftice of Providence, have no other Foundation, but our Ignorance of the Nature of God's Juftice; we measure the Juftice of Providence

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by the Rules of Juftice among Men, without confidering that God is the Sovereign Lord of the World, and therefore has a Right and Authority fuperior to Men, and therefore a superior Justice too.

It is unjuft for Men to deprive one another of their Juft and Legal Rights, and therefore they think this a Reflection on the Juftice of Providence too, when Men fuffer wrongfully; but no Man has any Right against God, who is the fole Proprietor of the World; and therefore he may give, and he may take away, he may fet up and pull down, and do whatsoever pleafeth him, both in Heaven and in Earth.

It is unjuft for Men to afflict and oppress the Innocent and Vertuous, or to encourage and profper the Wicked, and therefore they complain against Providence too, when good Men fuffer, and the wicked are profperous; but God has an Abfolute Right to the Services of all his Creatures, both of good and bad Men; and if he can ferve the Wife Ends of his Grace and Providence, by the Sufferings of good Men, or by the Profperity of the wicked; and when he has no farther ufe of their Services, rewards or punishes them according as they deserve; the Sovereignty of God will juftify the prefent Sufferings of Good Men, and Prosperity of the Wicked; and their final Rewards and Punifhments will vindicate his Juftice.

2dly, But for a fuller Vindication of the Ju ftice of Providence, we must confider the Nature of God's Government of this lower World, and what acts of Juftice the present Government of the World requires. The Juftice of Government must be proportioned to the Nature and Ends of Government: For all Acts of Justice

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are not proper at all times; and it is no Reproach to the Juftice of Providence, if God do not exercise fuch Acts of Juftice as are not proper for the present State of the World; for Juftice is Rectitude; and what is not right and fit in fuch a State of things, is not just.

The great Objection against the Justice of Providence is, That all good Men are not rewarded, nor all bad Men punished according to their Deserts in this World: But this is no Objection against the Divine Juftice, to those who believe that there is another World, where all good Men fhall be rewarded, and all wicked Men punished; for if all good and bad Men fhall be finally rewarded and punished according to their Works, this is a fufficient Vindication of the Juftice of God.

And as for the Juftice of Providence, tho' every good Man is not rewarded, nor every bad Man punished in this World, this is no reasonable Objection, if the State of this World will not admit of such a strict and exact Juftice. Now not to take notice at prefent of what is commonly faid upon this occafion, and what I have formerly difcourfed more largely, That this World is not the place of Judgment, but a State of Trial, Probation, and Difcipline; where good Men many times fuffer, not fo much in Punishment of their Sins, às to exercise their Faith and Patience, and to brighten their Vertues, and to prepare them for greater Rewards; and bad Men are profperous, to lead them to Repentance, or to make them Inftruments of the Divine Providence, in chaftifing the Wickedness of other Men, or the more remarkable Examples of the Divine Juftice and Vengeance in their final Ruin.

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I fay, not to take notice of these things now, I fhall only observe, That the Juftice of Providence is nothing elfe but the Juftice of Government, which in the nature of the thing muft be distinguished from the Juftice of the Final Judg

ment.

Now to govern the World, does not fignify to deftroy it, but to uphold and preferve it, and to continue a fucceffion of Men in it, and to keep it in as good order, as the present state of things will admit. The Providence of God is that Provident Care which he takes of all his Creatures, while he thinks fit to preserve this prefent Frame of the World; but to deftroy the World, is not properly an Act of Providence, but of Judgment: And yet if we confider the corrupt and degenerate State of the World, did the Juftice of Providence require God to punish all bad Men according to their Deserts, he must deftroy far the greatest part of Mankind in every Age. This Earth would foon be little better than a defolate Wilderness, if none but good Men were suffered to live in it: But this kind of Juftice God has renounced ever fince the Univerfal Deluge. He then indeed exercised such a terrible Juftice and Vengeance, as fome Men think can be the only Proof of a Providence ; he deftroyed the whole World by Water, excepting Noah and his Sons, whom he preferved in the Ark; but he promised that he would never do fo again, notwithstanding the great Wickedness of Mankind. The Lord faid in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's fake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth neither will I again fmite any more every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, feed-time, and harvest, and cold, and heat,

and