586 GOD'S GOODNESS VINDICATED. here on earth, and will not be dissuaded from : the are without all holy communion with God, and they would bewso ; they are out of heaven,and, they would be so ; they are debased and con- fined to sensual pleasures, and, worldly vanities, and they will be so.;. they are the drudges of the devil, and the servants of the flesh, and the slaves of men, and theywould be so ; they are defiled with sin, . and imprisoned in their own concupiscence, and they wouldúe so they are corrupted, and tantalized, and vexed, and tossed up and down, by their irregular desires ; in a word, they have the plague of sin, and have neither holiness, nor true happiness ; and so they will have it to be, and will not be cured : now these tempted persons can see a,misery in pain ; but can see no such evil in sin, for which such pain should be inflicted; when. as sin itself, and that which theypre willingof, is so great a part of their misery, as that, in this life, the rest is as nothing'to it. And though, no doubt, much will beinvoluntary hereafter, we know not what the proportion will be between the voluntary and involuntary part. And what makes these men that they do not pity a drunkard, a fornicator, a worldling, a sensual lord or gentleman, that hathno better' than the shadows which he chooseth ? Neither the tempt- ed, nor they themselves, would call God gruel if he would let them so live in health forever; even a healthful beggar would call God merciful ifhe might never die, nor be more miserable. But princes or lords would call him cruel, if he should put them into the beggar's or laborer's case. You accuse not God as cruel for making,toads and serpents, worms and vermin,, because they are not troubled with their own condition ; but if you could imagine them to have the knowledge how much happier men are, the case would alter. Or if God should change men into toads and ser- pents, you would call him unmerciful ; when yet he is 'no more bound antecedently to man than unto them. Thus because these tempted persons have, as Adam when his eyes were opened, a disquieting knowledge to know good and evil penally, their own -apprehension (as Adam's of his nakedness) maketh that seem cruelty, which seemed a fruit of goodness before. The sum is, when you come into another world, and see what manner of punishment it is that God exerciseth on the damned, (as well as on how many,) you will then be perfectly satisfied, that there is 'nothing but that amiable justice, which is the fruit of ho- liness, goodness and wisdom in it all ; and you shall see nothing in the punishment of the miserable which you shall either blame or wish were otherwise, if you come to heaven. To which let me add, when you come to see the heavenly g. lo- ry, and how the God of infinite goodness bath advanced such in-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=