■ Quest. 47, art. 1,
ARGUMENTS FOR VINDICATORY JUSTICE — PROVIDENCE. 545
The apostle, then, affirms that God hath taken care that his anger against sin, or that his justice, should aj^pear by innumerable ex- amples of punishments inflicted on mankind for their sins, in his providential government of the world, and that it should appear in so clear a manner that there should be no room left for conjectures about the matter. Not that punishment is always inflicted on the wicked and impious while in this world, or, at least, that it appears to be so, for very many of them enjoy all the pleasures of a rich and flourishing outward estate; but besides that he exercises his anger on their consciences, as we proved before, and that the external good things of fortune, as they call them, are only a fattening of them for the day of slaughter, even in this life he ofttimes, in the middle of their career, exercises his severe judgments against the public ene- mies of Heaven, the monsters of the earth, the architects of wicked- ness, sunk in the mire and filth of their vices; and that, too, even to the entire ruin and desolation both of whole nations and of par- ticular individuals, whom, by a remarkable punishment, he thinks proper to make an example and spectacle of to the world, both to angels and to men.
Therefore, although " God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known," not in that way only, — namely, by exercising joublic punishments in this life, — of which we are now speaking, " endure with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction," and though he should not instantly dart his lightnings against all and every individual of the abandoned and profane, yet mankind will easily discern^ what the mind and thoughts of God are, Avhat his right and pleasure, and of what kind his anger and justice are, with regard to every sin whatever. Therefore, the apostle affirms that the anger of God, of which he gives only some instances, is by these judgments openly declared against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men whatever, whether they fail in the worship and duty which they owe to God, or in the duties which it is incum- bent on them to perform to one another; moreover, that the solemn revelation of this divine justice consists, not only in those judgments which, sooner or later, he hath exercised upon particular persons, but also in the whole series of his divine dispensations towards men: in which, as he gives testimony both to his goodness and patience, inas- much as " he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and seudeth rain on the just and on the unjust," and " leaveth not him- self witliout witness, in that he doeth good, and giveth us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts Avith food and glad- ness," Matt. V. 45; Acts xiv. 17; so also he gives equally clear signs and testimonies of his anger, severity, and indignation, or of his
' Namely, from those instances of punishment which he is pleased in his wisdom sometimes opeuly and awfully to inflict upon the wicked. — Te.
VOL. X. 35
646 A DISSERTATION ON DIVINE JUSTICE. [PAIIT I.
punitory justice. Hence, on account of the efficacy of the divine auger exercising its power and influence far and near, this visible world, as if the very fuel of the curse, is appointed as the seat and abode of all kinds of misery, grief, lamentation, cares, wrath, vanity, and inquietude. Why need I mention tempests, thunders, light- nings, deluges, pestilences, with many things more, by means of which, on account of the wickedness of man, universal nature is struck with horror? All these, beyond a doubt, have a respect to the revelation of God's anger or justice against the unrighteousness and the ungodliness of men.
Moreover, the apostle testifies this revelation to be made from heaven. Even the most abandoned cannot but observe punishments ox various kinds making havoc everywhere in the world, and innu- merable evils brooding, as it were, over the very texture of the uni- verse. But because they wish for and desire nothing more ardentl}'- than either that there were no God, or that lie paid no regard to human affairs, they either really ascribe, or pretend to ascribe, all these things to chance, fortune, the revolutions of the stars and their influence, or, finally, to natural causes. In order to free the minds of men from this pernicious deceit of atheism, the apostle affirms that all these things come to pass " from heaven ;" that is, under the direction of God, or by a divine power and providence punishing the sins and wickedness of men, and manifesting the justice of God. Thus, "The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven," Gen. xix. 24: which cities, by that punishment inflicted on them from heaven, he hath set up as an example, in every future age, to all those who should afterward persevere in the like impieties. To these considerations add, that the apostle, from this demonstration of the divine anger from heaven against the sins of men, argues the necessity of appointing an atone- ment through the blood of Christ, Rom. iii. 18-26; which would by no means follow but upon the supposition that that anger of God was such that it could not be averted without the intervention of an atonement.