Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

FOURTHLY, That the belief of God's punishing finners and unbelievers in this manner is, as above-mentioned, abfolutely neceffary: to deter men from being wicked, and is part of the foundation of religion.

THE first part of the argument, respecting fin being infinite and deferving infinite pu-: nishment, having been mentioned by archbishop Tillotson, and effectually confuted by: him, I fhall tranfcribe the fubftance of his answer to it. "If this be true," faith he,' " then all fins muft neceffarily be equal; for "the demerit of no fin can be more than in"finite, **** and then there can be no:

degrees of punishment; which is contrary "to fcripture and reafon '." I fhall only: add, that were this doctrine true, the robbing of an orchard would be as great a crime as murder, and deferve equal punishment; which being contrary to the nature of things, and the proportion that punishments should always bear to crimes, furely no reasonable. man can believe or will affert *.

Sermon 35, vol. I.

[blocks in formation]

The opinion that all fins or crimes muft neceffarily. be equal, tho' fo abfurd, was held by the Stoics. Cicero, in his fourth book de finibus, introduces Zeno faying, omnia peccata paria, - all crimes are alike: but Cicero condemns this doctrine, and fo does Horace, who fays,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

In order to form a right judgment of the other part of this argument, that the justice and glory of God require he fhould punish finners and unbelievers with eternal mifery, many particulars might be confidered; but to avoid prolixity, only a few will be here mentioned.

and

:

Ir fhould be remembered who created man, and that if he is induced to fin by his own inclinations and paffions, who implanted these in his nature, and who hath given him fo fmall a portion of reason and resolution, as is feldom, if ever, fufficient entirely to restrain govern them and if for this purpose, or to obtain faith, any supernatural affiftance be neceffary, who alone is able to afford it; and if it be not afforded, who hath withheld it: but if man is tempted to fin, or to infidelity, by any other being of fuperior cunning, power, and abilities, it well deferves inquiry, why this being is not reftrained from effecting his vile and most audacious purposes of rendering

Queis paria effe fere placuit peccata, laborant,
Cum ventum ad verum eft: fenfus moresque repugnant,
Atque ipfa utilitas, justi prope mater & aqui.

Thus Englished by Mr. Francis:

Lib. I. Sat. 3.

Who hold all crimes alike, are deep distrest,
When we appeal to truth's impartial test.
Senfe, custom, focial good, from whence arise
All forms of right and wrong, the fact denies.

rendering men for ever miferable, and thereby disappointing the Almighty's defign of making his creatures for ever happy.

BESIDES, as the terms of falvation are commonly defcribed, there appears fo manifest a disproportion between a likelihood of gaining eternal happiness, and the danger of fuffering eternal mifery, that probably not one in many thousands fince the creation of the world hath obtained the former, and confequently all the rest of mankind have been condemned to the latter. Would any man voluntarily accept fuch a chance for eternal happiness, with fuch prodigious odds for eternal mifery against him? How then can it be just to place men in fuch circumftances? Or, if this were the cafe, with what truth or propriety could it be faid, that happiness and mifery are set before them, and they at liberty to chufe?

If the generality of men were to be thus unhappy, an omnifcient Being must have known it. May we not be permitted to afk-Why then did he create them? Surely not from neceffity; for if fo, then God himfelf could not be a free agent. Many of the heathens thought, that even their supreme deity Jupiter was over-ruled by Fate or Destiny; but no chriftian will fay this of the true God. Since then there was no neceffity for man to be created, would it not have been

[ocr errors]

Y 2

been infinitely better he had never existed, than that fuch multitudes fhould be for ever miferable? Indeed, were this the wretched condition of men, the propagation of mankind would be a most deplorable evil, and nothing could be more desirable than the speedy extinction of the species.

THESE particulars will be left to the reader's confideration, which they seem well to merit; and I fhall proceed further to obferve,

THAT if all men are liable to be eternally punished, but may nevertheless, by certain means, obtain eternal happiness, then undoubtedly God would give to ALL MEN a clear, distinct, and certain knowledge,

FIRST, What faults, failures, or fins they are thus to be punished for, and by what means they may avoid everlasting mifery and gain everlasting felicity. And,

SECONDLY, If the justice and glory of God require, that he should punish finners and unbelievers with everlasting torments, then undoubtedly both justice and reason require alfo, that it should be in the power of the former not to fin, and of the latter to believe aright.

CERTAINLY, if the juftice and glory of God require, that he should punish sinners and unbelievers with eternal mifery, he would as a righteous judge and lawgiver

afford

afford them this knowledge and this power." For "fhall not the judge of all the earth do " right?" Moft affuredly he will.

BUT, first, that God hath not given this knowledge to all men, is evident: if he had, they would agree concerning the feveral points above-mentioned; whereas there are hardly any they differ more upon.

[ocr errors]

SOME people believe those things to be deadly fins, which others regard as mere trifles; and many lay the greatest stress on certain means of falvation, which others esteem as no better than infignificant, ridiculous, and even wicked and abominable practices.

THE great number of different and contradictory opinions on thefe fubjects, entertained and violently contended for by the various profeffors of religion, are too well known to need being much infisted on, and would lead us into too wide a field. A few only therefore fhall here be taken notice of. And first,

Or fins for which fome men imagine they are liable to eternal punishments.

LES Tartares de Gengiskan, chez lefquels c'étoit un péché, et même un crime capital, &c. "Among the Tartars of Gengiskan it is a fin, "and even a capital crime, to put a knife in "the fire, to lean against a whip, to ftrike a horfe with its bridle, to break one bone " with

Y 3

« PredošláPokračovať »