1. In respect of sin. There is a sense and knowledge of sin left in the consciences of all men by nature. To tell them what is good and evil in many things, to approve and disapprove of what they do, in reference to a judgment to come, they need not go farther than themselves, Rom. ii. 14, 15. But this is obscure, and relates mostly to greater sins, and is in sum that which the apostle gives us, Rom. i. 32, “They know the judgment of God, that they which do such things are worthy of death.” This he placeth among the common presumptions and notions that are received by mankind, — namely, that it is Τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιγνόντες ὅτι οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντες ἄξιοι θανάτου εἰσίν. — Rom. i. 32. “Perfecto demum scelere, magnitudo ejus intellecta est.” — Tacit. Τί χρῆμα πάσχεις; τίς σ’ ἀπόλλυσιν νόσος; Ἡ σύνεσις, ὅτι σύνοιδα δείν’ εἰργασμένος. Eurip. Orest. 395, 396. “righteous with God, that they who do such things are worthy of death.” And if that be true, which is commonly received, that no nation is so barbarous or rude, but it retaineth some sense of a Deity; then this also is true, that there is no nation but hath a sense of sin, and the displeasure of God for it. For this is the very first “Primus est deorum cultus, Deos credere: deinde reddere illis majestatem suam, reddere bonitatem, sine qua nulla majestas est. Scire illos esse qui præsident mundo: qui universa vi sua temperant: qui humani generis tutelam gerunt.” — Senec., Epist. xcvi. “Neque honor ullus deberi potest Deo, si nihil præstat colenti; nec ullus metus, si non irascitur non colenti.” — Lactan. “Raro antecedentem scelestum Deseruit pede pæna claudo.” Horat., Od. iii. 2, 31, 32. “Quo fugis Encelade? quascunque accessseris oras, Sub Jove semper eris,” etc. ― “Hos tu Evasisse putes, quos diri conscia facti Mens habet attonitos, et surdo verbere cædit!” Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 192. Οἴει σὺ τοὺς θανόντας, ὦ Νικόστρατε, Τρυφῆς ἁπάσης μεταλαβόντας ἐν βίῳ, Πεφευγέναι, τὸ θεῖον ὡς λεληθότας; Ἔστιν Δίκης ὀφθαλμός, ὃς τὰ πάνθ’ ὁρᾷ. Καὶ γὰρ καθ’ ᾅδην δύο τρίβους νομίζομεν, Μίαν δικαίων, ἑτέραν δ’ ἀσεθῶν εἶν’ ὁδόν. Κ’ εἰ τοὺς δύο καλύψει ἡ γῆ, φαςὶ, χρόνῳ Ἁρπάζ’, ἀπελθών, κλέπτ’, ἀποστέρει, κύκα. Μηδὲν πλανηθῇς, ἔσται κᾴν ᾅδου κρίσις. Ἥνπερ ποιήσει Θεὸς ὁ πάντων δεσπότης, Οὗ τούνομα φοβερὸν οὐδ’ ἂν ὀνομάσαιμ’ ἐγώ. κ. τ. λ. Philemon, juxta Justin. Martyr. seu Diphil. juxta Clement. notion of God in the world, that he is the rewarder of good and evil. Hence were all the sacrifices, purgings, expiations, which were so generally spread over the face of the earth. But this was and is but very dark, in respect of that knowledge of sin with its appurtenances, which is to be obtained.