and character, it is evident that, since He does not regard sin as such a slight thing as not to require punishment
here, He will not overlook it in the next world either; for alike over this and the next world He is the one Supreme
Ruler, and nowhere throughout His wide domains can rebellion against Him prosper or be overlooked. Enlightened reason
itself, therefore, confutes the idle fancy, which false and cursory reasoning encourages, that perchance God will be too
merciful to punish sinners.
Apart from all this, however, it is certain and manifest that, even because of the demands of His own love and
kindness, God will punish sinners. For of His love and mercy God seeks man's true and real happiness and well-being; and
true happiness is to be obtained only in one way, namely, by man's obeying God's commandments and bringing his will into
accordance with that of his Creator. And since all sin originates in opposition to the divine will, and since man has
now become more prone to disobedience than to obedience, under these circumstances, were God not to exact satisfaction
for sin and not to visit sinners with His wrath, then assuredly man, sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss of sin and
rebellion, and becoming more and more alienated from God, would become still further ruined and miserable. Truly did an
ancient heathen poet say, 'No 1 wicked man is happy.' If, therefore, God did not punish sin, man would not
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