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well as of That which is to come. And yet, the fame Holy Spirit, which Sometimes gives us a profpect of Good Men, Drawn in the most Agreeable and Beautiful Light, does Elsewhere represent Them under the utmost Disadvantages of Shade and Situation: They are Sometimes Figured out, as Crown'd with Happiness, and at Other times, as Loaded with Mifery.

It will Therefore be neceffary, in treating of this Subject, to confider Three Things:

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I. First, That the Propofal of Temporal Advantages, in the Text, is fubject to Several Limitations and Conditions, and not Intended to be Understood in an UNIVERSAL and ABSOLUTE fenfe, as Infallibly Afcertaining thefe Advantages to every Good man in the World;

II. Secondly, That according to the Natural ftate of Things, which God hath Determin'd, according to the Ordinary and Settled Courfe and Tendencies of Human Affairs, a Religious Life is the moft proper and Likely means of fecuring those Advantages; And

III. Thirdly,

III. Thirdly, That, Abstracting from the Natural Tendency of Things, God does frequently, by his Special Providence, vouchsafe thefe Advantages to his Faithful fervants; And fuch Advantages, when placed in the hands of Good men, may. properly accounted Bleffings.

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İ. That the propofal of Temporal Advantages, in the Text, is fubject to feveral Limitations and Conditions, and not intended to be understood in an UNIVERSAL and ABSOLUTE fenfe, as Infallibly Afcertaining thefe Advantages to every Good man in the World. And the Truth of this Propofition may appear from the following Particulars.

ift. The Encouragement propofed in the Text, cannot be understood Otherwife, than as they are Compatible with the Established State and Order of Things in the World. If Honour and Riches, in the Highest sense of Them, were to be the Portion of every Good Man, the Confequence muft be, (as Few Good men as there are in the World) that the Honourable and the Mighty would do more than bear a Juft Proportion to their

Inferiours; And many of the moft Neceffary Offices in Human Society must be Neglected, through want of proper Perfons to Sustain and Discharge Them.

Indeed, as Riches ftand purely Opposed to Want, and fignify only fuch a Plenty, as is Suitable to every Man's Particular Station; And as Honour is Strictly Opposed to Difgrace, and fignifies only fuch a Fair Efteem and Reputation, as is Suitable to every Man's Rank and Order; As Riches and Honour are taken in This Senfe, and it seems to be a proper sense of them, in the Promife of them annex'd to Religion, They are without Doubt, Generally bestowed upon Good men, when they are not Inconfiftent with any Condition neceffarily Implied in That Promife. In like manner, the Promise of Long Life muft needs be Interpreted,. under the Implicit condition of it's confiftency with men's Natural Frame and State, whereby one Man is Difpofed to a much Earlier Diffolution than Another; Infomuch that Nothing Lefs than a Miracle can bring

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the Lives of all Good men to one and the fame Measure of Duration.

There may indeed be Inftances, as will be observed below, of God's prolonging a Good man's Life, in an Extraordinary manner. But the promise

of Long Life to Good Men, confider'd in General, cannot well be understood to fignifie any more than This, that their Lives fhall, Ordinarily, be carried on, by Divine Providence to their Natural Period, and not be Judicially cut off, as Other men's Lives may be, before They have filled up the Bounds, which Nature hath Affigned to Them. And yet, 'tis here to be observed, that it is fometimes matter of Divine Favour to Good men, that they are taken away, before the Term of their Natural Lives is expired. For thus the Holy Spirit hath taught us, and 'tis a Leffon fufficient to prevent our Judging Rafhly and Cenforioufly of Events, which we know not the Reasons of; The Righteous perifbeth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none

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confidering, that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come.

2dly, The Truth of the Propofition before us appears from Hence, that the Spiritual and Eternal Welfare of fome Good Men might be very much Obftructed, if not Finally Prevented by Temporal Profperity. Everlasting Life is the Grand Bleffing, to which Good men are Intitled by the promise of God; And all Other Promises, which he hath made them, do Prefuppofe and Imply their Confistency with That. Whenfoever therefore, their Tempers and Difpofitions are fuch, that their full enjoyment of Earthly Bleffings would interfere with their Attainment of Celeftial Blifs; the Divine Providence Graciously witholds thofe Advantages from them, which would prove Destructive to them.

Indeed Men Obftinately Wicked are oftentimes Indulged, by Providence, in a ftate of Affluence, in the Enjoyment of all Temporal Advantages; which they

* Ifa. lvii. 1.

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