however by your impenitence, and the insensibility of your heart, you treasure up for yourself wrath against the day of wrath, and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law: that every one may be silenc'd, and all the world plead guilty before God.

thus some he pursues with his favours, and abandons others to their obduracy, according as he thinks fit.

dear brethren, avenge not yourselves, but leave that to the resentment of another: for it is written, "vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

since it is agreeable to his justice to afflict those in their turn, who afflict you:

and they sung the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb, saying, "great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou king of ages.

and I heard the angel of the waters say, "thou art just, who art, and hast always been holy, because thou hast judged thus:

O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, triumph at her ruin, since God hath avenged you on her.

I speak

(I allude to civil affairs, because of your unacquaintedness with spiritual matters:) as then you made your natural faculties subservient to impurity, and all manner of vice; make them now subservient to virtue and holiness.

is this only the voice of reason? does not the law express the same too?

Brethren, I speak according to the practice of men; contracts between men, when once ratified, cannot be disannulled or altered afterwards by any man.