cast out as a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; like the Jews at this day, who are under the same sentence for the same crime? Every day of their lives, they rise up in the morning with that sentence upon their heads, and carry the guilt and punishment of it with them when they go to their rest in the night. Hophni and Phinehas, the two profligate sons of Eli, whom he did not correct as he ought to have done, went on for a time in their own ways, but signal vengeance overtook them in the midst of their course in one day they died both of them by the sword of the enemy, as it had been foretold of them. David fell in an evil hour into the sins of adultery and murder: of his guilt he was for a while insensible, till he was alarmed by a message from Nathan the prophet; and from that time forward he saw no more happiness and peace in this world his life was disturbed with tumults and rebellions; always do we find him either flying from danger, or weeping with sorrow. Let no man

then hereafter tell us of the example of David,. as an encouragement to sin; the miserable consequences of sin, were never more displayed than in the history of that man. He was a sinner for a comparatively short period, and he was a sorrowing, afflicted, and tortured penitent for the rest of his life. We learn from the case of David, that God can punish and that he can forgive at the same time. How that can be, and why it happens, may be considered in another place.

If we go to the New Testament, we are there taught how sin is punished in this world. When a poor man, who had suffered from an infirmity thirty and eight years, was cured by our Saviour at the Pool of Bethesda, he added some words of advice in consequence, which contain much in a little compass, and throw great light on our subject when examined-Sin no

more, lest a worse thing come to thee: from which it is an obvious inference, that the bad thing under which, he had so long suffered, had been sent upon him for his sin; for some sin which his conscience knew, and which he should have corrected by repentance. We learn further, that when God chastises sin in his servants, and that chastisement has not its proper effect, something worse is to be feared, and may be expected. If this be the situation of the servants of God, will any man tell me that sin goes unpunished in this life? Is not the rod of correction daily held over us? Happily for us, it is: for its use is to awaken us, and open our eyes, that we sleep not in death; that sin may not increase and stupify us, till it becomes mortal.

We learn from St. Paul, that there were great abuses in the church of Corinth respecting the sacrament of the Lord's Supper: their meetings were not godly, but even riotous and disorderly: one was hungry and another was drunken; so that they were a disgrace to the Church, and to the occasion for which they came thither. What was the consequence of this? For this cause, says the apostle, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep; that is many suffer for the offence, by being visited with sickness, or even death itself, who ought to have examined themselves, and to have attended that holy institution with repentance and faith, as all Christians are taught even by their catechism; let them but listen to that; they will then have nothing to fear, and every thing to hope: for God never yet cast out the poorest sinner, who came to him with a penitent heart, trusting in the merits of Christ's death. If any one would escape, he must judge himself, and then he will not be judged of the Lord But the reason why I mention this, is, to shew,

that God sends punishment upon sin in this life; and therefore that no man has any reason to think he is secure against it. No wise man ever thought that sinners are left to their own ways: they seem so indeed, because sentence is not executed speedily: but all that understand the case know that it is executed certainly. Hear what the son of Sirach pronounces against perjured persons and profane swearers.--"A man that useth much swearing shall be filled with iniquity, and the plague shall never depart from his house if he shall offend, his sin shall be upon him; and if he acknowledge not his sin, he maketh a double offence and if he swear in vain he shall not be innocent, but his house shall be full of calamities." In like manner it is threatened to the adultress, that her children shall not take root, and her branches shall bring forth no fruit. Does not David pronounce, that bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days? The wicked seem to prosper while the sentence is suspended; but execution comes, when neither they expect it for themselves, nor the world for them. These are the ungodly, says the Psalmist, these prosper in the world, and these have riches in possession. The case is enough to stagger the godly; but let them wait awhile, and the seene is changed: let them go into the sanctuary of God for instruction, and then they will understand what comes to such men; how their prosperous situation is but a slippery place, from which they fall and are destroyed. O how suddenly do they consume, perish, and come to a fearful end! Psalm lxxiii. 18. To the same purpose he saith in another place; wicked doers shall be rooted out-yet a little while, and the ungodly shall be clean gone; thou shalt look after his place and he shall be away; and again, I myself have seen the ungodly in

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great power, and flourishing like a green bay tree. went by, and, lo, he was gone; I sought him, but his place could no where be found. Psal. xxxvii. 36.

It appears from what I have said, that no sinner can promise himself any security even in this present world: and if his heart is set in him to do evil, because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed, he will soon find himself miserably deceived. This point being settled, I cannot help observing to you, how idly people are often heard to talk about sin and its punishment. They suppose that God does not punish sin in this world, and therefore that it is uncharitable for us to judge that he does so in any particular instance: but on the contrary, God does often punish sin openly and visibly; and therefore it must be our duty to see that he does. For if God punishes some for a warning to others, what benefit can arise to those who do not see it? And in many cases, the judgment of God is so plain, that men must either see it, or shut their eyes against it. If they are not taught by it, they will have to answer for their indocility; and God, who never brings evil upon some, but out of mercy to others, will be justified in all his ways. It must be said, that the judgment which falls upon sinners in this world, is suspended for so long a time (God waiting for their amendment in many cases) that men persuade themselves it will never be executed at all: that there is either no invisible judge of human actions; or that if there is, he careth not about them for the present, but putteth off all judgment to another world and perhaps when they have got thus far, their next step is to deny the punishments of the other world; and not only to deny them, but even to mock at them.

I know

I know how wicked people corrupt one another with foolish and wicked reflexions: the fire of hell, it is true, was ordained for the punishment of devils: but if there be Christians, so called, who take part with the devil in his sin, they must expect to have their part in his punishment; they will be consigned to the company they have chosen, They who think with angels, and praise God with angels, will live with angels, They who think with devils must have their place with devils: they hate the ways of God, and mock at them; devils hate them, but they do not mock at them; they know too much for that; and in this they tempt ignorant men to be more wicked and desperate than they dare to be themselves; which is a fearful consideration. Devils who dare not mock at God, will mock at them for their folly, and accuse men before God as more wicked than evil spirits: and what can such men say for themselves? they will be speechless then, however rapidly and boldly they may talk now. To such false confidence as this is that warning given, in the same book from whence my text is taken-Rejoice,

young man in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes—that is, go on in the ways of thine own passions and opinionsbut know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment. Eccl. xi. 9.

That God will judge men hereafter, we have no doubt that he often judges them here, cannot be denied and though all the laws of infinite justice, by which rewards and punishments are administered in this world and the next, are such as we can neither find out nor understand, still the reason is sufficiently clear, why good men are often punished in this world, and bad men are not.