BAXTER'S' DYING THOUGHTs. 45 And if Godbe a ruler, he is just; or else hewere not perfect, nor so good as he requireth princes, and judges on earth tobe. An unjust ruler or judge is abominable' to all mankind. Right- eousness is the great attribute of the universal King. But howwere he a righteous ruler, 1. If he drew all men to obey him by deceit ? 2. If he obliged them to seek and expect a felicity or reward which he will never give them? 3. If he make man's duty his misery ? 4. If he require him to labor in vain ? 5. If he suffer the wicked to persecute his servants to the death, and make duty costly, and give no after recpmpense? 6. If he let the most wicked on the earth pass unpunished, or to escape as well hereafter as' the best, and to live in greater pleasure here? The objections fetched from the intrinsical good of duty I have elsewhere answered. VI. But God bath not left us to the light of mere nature, as being too dark for men as blind as we. The gospel revelation is the clear foundatiònof our faith and hope. Christ bath broughtlife and immortality to light. One from heaven that is greater than an angel was sent to tell us what is there, and which is the way to se cure ourhopes. He bath visen, and conquered death, and entered before as our captain and forerunner into theeverlasting habitations. And he bath: all power'in heaven and earth, and all judgment is committed to him, th"at he might give eternal life to his elect. He hath frequently and expressly promised it them, that they shalt live because he li'veth', and shall not perish but have everlasting life ; Matt. xxviii. 18. John v. 22. xvii. 2. xii. 26. iii. 16. Rom. viii. 35-38. And how fully he bath proved and sealed the truth of his word and officeto us, I have so largely opened in my ` Reasons of the Christian Religion,' and 'Unreasonableness of Infidelity,' and in my 'Life of Faith,' &c. ; and since, in my ' Household Catechising,' that I will not here repeat it. And as all his word is full of promises of our future glory at the resurrection, so we are not without assurance' that at death the departingsoul Both enter upon a state of joy and blessedness. "They that died to (or in) the flesh according to men, do live in the Spirit according to God ;" 7 Pet. iv. 6. For; 1. He expresslypromised the penitent, crucified thief, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise ; " Luke xxiii. 43. 2. He gave us the narrativeor parable of the damnedsensualists and of Lazarus, (Luke xvi.) to instruct us, and not to deceive us. 3. He tells the Sadducees that God is not the God of the dead, (as his subjects and beneficiaries,) but of the living; Matt. xxii. 32. 4. Enochand 'Elias were taken up to heaven, and Moses that died, appeared with Elias on the mount; Matt. xvii. 5.. He telleth us, (Lukd xii. 4) that they that kill the body, are
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