f y 662 The badand the good Ufe of Vol. II. Thus the Heathenof old laid all thofe fearful Judgments ofGod, which fell upon the Roman Empire in the firft Ages of Chriftianity, upon the Chriftians, as if they had been fent by God on purpofe to teftifie his difpleafure againft that new Sea of Religion. And thus every Party deals with thofe that are oppofite to them, out of a fondperfwafionthat God is like themfelves, and that he cannot but hate thofe whom they hate, and punifh thofe whom they would punifh, if the fway and go- vernment of things were permitted to them, Thus the Papifts, on the one hand, attribute all the Judgments of God upon this Nation, the confufion and diftra&ions offo many years, and thofe later Judg- ments wherewith God hath vifited us in fo dreadful a manner, to our Schifin and I4erefie, as the proper caufe of them : (for fo they call our Reformation of our (elves from their Errorsand Corruptions) but to what caufe then will they afcribe the great Felicity of Queen Elizabeth's long Reign, and the Peace ofKing lames his Reign ? And then on the other hand, fome ofthe Diffenters from our Church are wont to afcribe thefe Calamities to a quite different caufe, That our Reforma- tion bath not gone far enough from the Church of Rome. It is hard to fay which of thefe conclufions is moft rah and unreafonable; I with other reafons of thefe Calamities were not too vifible and notorious ; the horrible impiety and wicked- nefs which abounds and reigns amongft us. 2. It is nth likewife for any Man, without Revelation, to conclude perempto- rily, that Godmutt needs in his Judgments only have refpe& to foine late and frefh fins, which were newly committed, and that all his Arrows are only level- led againft thofe impieties of Men which are now upon the Stage, and in prefent view. This is rah and groundlefs ; and Men herein take a meafure of God by themfelves, and becaufe they are mightily affeaed with the prefeni, and fenfible of a frefh provocation, and want to revenge theifelves while the heat is upon them ; therefore they think God mutt do fo too. But there is nothing occafions more miftakes in the World about God and his Providence, than to bring him to our Standard , and to meafure his thoughts by our thoughts ; and the ways and methods of his Providence, by our ways. Juftice in God is a wife, and calm, and Ready Principle, which as to the time and circumstances of its exercife, . is regulated by his Wifdom. Pall and prefent, are very material differences to us ;. but they liignifie little to God, whofe vaft and comprehenfive Understanding takes in all differences of time, and looks upon them at one view ; fo that when theJudgments of God follow the fins of Men at a great diftance, God is not flack, as men count flacknefs : for a thoufandyears are in his fight but as one day, and one day as a thoufand years ; as the Apoftle reafonsabout this very cafe I am now fpeaking of, 2 Pet. 3. 8. And to convince Menof their error and miftake in this particular, the Scripture bath given us,íhany inftances to the contrary, that the Juftice of God hath many times a great retrofpeftion, and punitheth the fins of Men a long time after the cotnmiffion ofthem. This he threatens in the fecond Commandment, To vifit the iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him. Thus we find he dealt withAhab, He did not bring the evil in his days; but in his Sons days he brought it upon his hoofe, the firlt of Kings 21. 2g. So likewife we find 2 Sam. 21. God brought three Years Famine upon Ifrael in the days of David, for a national fin committed in Saul's Reign ; name- ly, for the crueltyexercifed upon the Gibeonites, contrary to the publick Faith of the Nationgiven to them. So likewife the extirpation of the Amorites, and the other Inhabitants of Canaan, was not aJudgment infli&ed by God upon them, on- ly for the finsof that prefent Age, but for the iniquity which had been manyAges in filling up, as may plainly be colleEted from the expreflion, Gen. 55. 56. The iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full, which was fpoken four or five Generations before they were rooted out. And fo alfo our Saviour tells us, that the blood of all theProphets and righteous Men which bad beenfhed in all Ages, fhould come up- on that Generation. Nay, if this were not fo, Hom fhould God judge the world? And if it be con- fiftent with,theJuftice of God, to refpite the greateft part of the punithment of finners
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