tiou, and is reaJy beforehand, by anticipation, as the word •jep'o^Ti-^'i; simply means, to respond to the abstract idea of equity, or to confirm the concrete application of it iu the common awards of good or evil. — Ed.
' "Uifia/^a xayai vpos Tixiia/v ^iifeufiivt!;.
TciXaiv livj-rav. -Kurip. Elec, 1103.
AEGUMENTS FOil VINDICATORY JUSTICE — CONSENT OF MANKIND. 5 19 Hence, these common sayings, —
" God hath an avenging eye ; God hath found the transgressor."
In all which, and in numberless other such passages, the wisest men in those times of ignorance have announced their sense of this vindicatory justice.
And among the Latins, the following passages prove their sense of the same: —
" Aspiciunt ociilis superi mortalia justis."
" The gods above behold the affairs of mortals with impartial eyes." " Rare antecedentem scelestum, Deseruit pede Poena claudo." " Seldom hath Punishment, through lameness of foot, left off pursuit of the wicked man, though he hath had the start of her." — Horace.
Also, that celebrated response of the Delphic oracle, recorded by
^lian:—
" But divine Justice pursues those who are guilty of crimes. Nor can it be avoided even by the descendants of Jupiter ;
But it hangs over the heads of the wicked themselves, and over the heads of their Children; and one disaster to their race is followed by another."
All which assert this vindicatory justice.
This, then, as Plutarch says, is the "ancient faith of mankind ;" or, in the words of Aristotle, "opinion concerning God," which Dion Prusse- ensis calls " a very strong and eternal persuasion, from time imme- morial received, and still remaining among all nations."
Secondly, The consciences of all mankind concur to corroborate this truth; but the cause which has numberless witnesses to support it cannot fail. Hence, not only the flight, hiding-place, and fig- leaf aprons of our primogenitors, but every word of dire meaning and evil omen, as terror, horror, ire??ior, and whatever else harasses guilty mortals, have derived their origin. Conscious to themselves of their mckedness, and convinced of the divine dominion over them, this idea above all dwells in their minds, that he with whom they have to do is supremely just, and the avenger of all sin. From this con- sideration even the people of God have been induced to believe that death must inevitably be their portion should they be but for once sisted in his presence. Not that the mass of tlie body is to us an obscure and dark prison, as the Platonists dream, whence, when we obtain a view of divine things, being formerly enveloped by that mass, it is immediately suggested to the mind that the bond of union between mind and body must be instantly dissolved.
It must, indeed, be acknowledged, that through sin we have been transformed into worms, moles, bats, and owls; but the cause of this general fear and dismay is not to be derived from this source.
The justice and purity of God, on account of which he can bear nothing impure or filthy to come into his presence, occurs to sinners'
520 A DISSERTATION ON DIVINE JUSTICE. [PART I.
minds; wherefore, they think of nothing else but of a present God, of punishment prepared, and of deserved penalties to be immediately inflicted. The thought of the Deity bursting in upon the mind, immediately every sinner stands confessed a debtor, — a guilty and self-condemned criminal. Fetters, prisons, rods, axes, and fire, with- out delay and without end, rise to his view. Whence some have judged the mark set upon Cain to have been some horrible tremor, by which, being continually shaken and agitated, he was known to all. Hence, too, these following verses: —
" Whither fliest thou, Enceladus ? Whatever coasts thoii shalt arrive on, Thou wilt always be under the eye of Jupiter."
And these : —
" As every one's conscience is, so in his heart he conceives hope or fear, according to his actions.
" This is the first' punishment, that even in his own judgment no guilty person is acquitted.
" Do you think that those have escaped whom a guilty conscience holds abashed, and lashes with its inexorable scourge, the mind, the executioner, shaking the secret lash ?" - — See Voss. on Idol, book i. chap. 2.
It is the saying of a certain author, that punishment is coeval with injustice, and that the hoiTor of natural conscience is not terminated by the limits of human life : —
" Sunt aliquid manes : lethum non omnia finit,
Lucidaque evictos effugit umbra rogos." " The soul is something : death ends not at all,
And the light spirit escapes the vanquished funeral pile."
Hence the famous verses of Adrian, the Roman emperor, si:)oken on his death-bed : —
" Animula vagula, blandula, Hospes ccmesque corporis, Qua3 nunc abibis in loca ? Pallidula, rigida, nudula. Nee, ut soles, dabis joca."
" Alas ! my soul, thou pleasing companion of this body, thou fleeting thing, that art now deserting it! whither art thou flying? to what unknown scene ? All trembling, fearful, and pensive ! What now is become of thy former wit and humour? Thou shalt jest and be gay no more."^
1 Or, chief —Tr.
' Translated thus by Pope : —
"Ah! fleeting spirit ! wandering fire,
That long hast wann'dmy tender breast, Must thou no more this frame inspire ? No more a pleasing, cheerful guest?