Their names, covered with infamy, are soon blotted from the remembrance of the living! We observed, a moment ago, that the idea, of holding up a retribution in the future world, weakens the force of virtue, and strengthens the cause of vice. This has, perhaps, been abundantly shown in the arguments already offered as being manifest in the daily conduct of men; yet we will, in a word, bring the subject plainly before you. To persuade a sinner that he is to be punished in the _future_ world for his sins in _this_, is plainly saying that sin has many pleasures and conveniences _here_, and so far as it failed of rendering him his due desert, the balance is to be made up in another state of being. Because the balance of punishment due him _there_, is to make up the _deficiency_ of punishment, which sin did not pay him here. And certainly, so far as sin did not pay him _here_, he must have been happy in its commission. And the _expectation_, that he should be happy in it _here_, was the _very cause_ that induced him to continue in transgression, with the expectation of repenting and escaping punishment _hereafter_. Thus he flattered himself, that he could sin with impunity, and escape its punishment in this world and the world to come. And to satisfy a man that he is to be rewarded in the _future_ world for his righteousness in _this_ but persuading him, that virtue is attended with misery, and that so far as it failed to reward _here_, the balance is to be made up _hereafter_. Because the balance of happiness due to him _there_, is to make up the deficiency of happiness which virtue did not pay him _here_. And so far as virtue did not pay him here, must have been miserable in its practice. And the impression that sin is productive of many enjoyments, and that righteousness is attended with misery, has a tendency to make him choose the _former_ and reject the _latter_, and trust to a future repentance. We often hear it proclaimed by those, who profess to be the guardians of the public morals, that the righteous have a hard course in warring against the corruptions of their heart, in the service of God, while the sinner goes on unconcerned and easy in the pleasures of sin. In doing this they defeat the very object, they are striving to obtain, which is the _conversion_ of the sinner. These very impressions are one obvious reason why so many continue in sin and reject the path of righteousness and peace, which alone conducts to a good name, that is of more worth than great riches, and more durable than silver and gold.