Selected quad for the lemma: evil_n
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A93736
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A discourse on the extensiveness and comprehensiveness of future judgment of God In another method than what hath been hitherto extant in any other books or sermons upon this subject. By Richard Stafford.
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Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing S5115A; ESTC R230355
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16,898
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16
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A DISCOURSE ON THE Extensiveness and Comprehensiveness OF THE Future Judgment of God In another Method than what hath been hitherto Extant in any other BOOKS or SERMONS upon this Subject By RICHARD STAFFORD AS to the extensiveness of the future Judgment of God That is How far it will reach back even to all the days of this Life after we are come unto the knowledge of Good and Evil unto the day of ones Death and as to the comprehensiveness thereof How much it will take in even all the Deeds here done in the Body I ground all this on the following Scriptures And here the first sort of Scriptures which I shall make use of are but conjectural to illustrate this Truth and the others shall be so plain and express even to confirm and demonstrate it An instance of the first sort of Scriptures may be like that Vision which Paul had seen of one saying Come over into Macedonia and help us And immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them Acts 16.10 and so that place in Acts 13.34 As concerning that he raised him from the dead now no more to turn into corruption He said on this wise I will give you the sure Mercies of David And so our Saviour Jesus Christ proves the Resurrection of the Dead from that saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living Mat. 22.32 For there is a way by assuredly gathering and reasoning out of the Scriptures to bring out such and such Truths altho' they seem to speak nothing thereof in plain and express Words as it was here in the matter of the Resurrection And so it may seem odd and unusual at first until the Reader comes to know the Reason thereof if I should ground the extensiveness of the future Judgment from Deut. 1.39 Moreover your little ones which you said should be a Prey and your Children which in that day had no knowledg between good and evil they shall go in thither and unto them will I give it and they shall possess it Hereby intimating That those Little ones and Children because they had not the knowledge of Good and Evil therefore they should be freed and exempted from that Punishment which was to befall their Fathers of their Carcasses falling in the Wilderness But the Little ones and Children for the aforesaid Reason Because in that day they had no knowledge between good and evil Therefore they should go in and possess that good Land So that if they were to avoid a punishment and inherit a Blessing because by their not having the knowledge of Good and Evil they had done nothing worthy of a forfeiture and loss of that Blessing It may be again reasoned on the other hand That Children indeed have not the knowledge of Good and Evil. And it is elsewhere written And the Times of this Ignorance God winked at Acts 17.29 so it may be supposed for the same Reason That God winks at the Sins and Follies of that tender Age. But as for Boys and Girls when they come to have the knowledge of Good and Evil then they are accountable before God and so likewise are those of Youth and riper Years But much more are they accountable that are of full knowledge even those who by Reason of use have their Senses exercised to discern both Good and Evil. As people come to know good and evil and to discern between good and evil so they are accountable and must be judged and receive accordingly To the Good is annexed Reward and to the Evil Punishment so is the very order and establishment of the things of God And so indeed it is from the Reason of Things As indeed all the things of the All-wise God who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in Working are ordained and established with very Great reason as it will appear yet more evidently to us than any knowledge of Man can now bring forth when He himself will speak and testifie Psal 50.7 And He will gather all Nations under which is comprehended of all Generations into the Valley of Jehosaphat and will plead with them there Joel 3.2 for what they have done on this Earth It is certain that God doth more regard the Iniquities of Youth than of Childhood upon this very same Reason For Children have no knowledge between Good and Evil but Youth hath or may have which is the same thing which by the way doth answer that common Deceit of People as if Ignorance would excuse their Sin and Ungodliness which it will in no wise but rather increase and aggravate their Sin for their Ignorance was willing 2 Pet. 3.5 and wilful God expects that when we know his Will we should do it otherwise we sin and are liable to his Indignation And also the same God doth expect that Boys and Girls Young men and Maidens should learn and receive the Knowledge of his Will before or however as soon as they come to know any other thing and as soon as ever the Faculties of Reason are widened or employed about other things they should be used towards God and for the apprehending the things of his Kingdom In the same Scriptures whereby we must be judged and according to which we must receive according to our works we do not find any of the Saints and Servants of the Lord complaining of the sins and vanities of Childhood nor yet praying for Pardon and Forgiveness of the same But by that Expression of Paul When I was a Child I spake as a Child I understood as a child I thought as a child It is imported as if God would pass all that over and not enter into judgment for the same But it is not so as to Youth for we read otherwise concerning that Remember not the sins of my Youth nor my Transgressions Psal 25.7 The Psalmist here knew by the Spirit that without his deprecating and praying against them God would remember them and call him to an account for the same For so his servant Job saith expresly Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the Iniquities of my Youth Job 13.26 And so his own Spirit saith by the mouth of Jeremiah Surely after that I was turned I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was aâ—â—â—â—â—d yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my Youth Jer. 31.19 The just Judge of all the Earth calls to account for those Transgressions committed in Youth all one as of succeâ—ding years As indeed in some time about Youth is that exâ—ct Day God only knows it from which Day forward to the Day of each person's Death God doth commence and begin the time from which he will call to account for all the following days of Life Like as whether it be in Manhood declining years or old
and Seasons which the Father hath kept in his own Power or rather that will be the Inhabitation of Eternity where is no such thing as the numbering or reckoning of Times and Seasons So that they had better let alone such kind of Imaginations as to what time it shall last But rather purifie our hearts by Faith by believing and always bearing in Mind that these things shall certainly be in the General although we know no more as to the exact Method of procedure How that God and Christ will make that Great Final and Everlasting decision between the Righteous and the Wicked between those who serve God and obey the Gospel and who did not As to the Particulars hereof nor to what exact method of Duration all this shall last for time will then be no longer than Brute Beasts do now know those Rules by which Kings reign and Princes decree Justice But we are to be as wise Stewards to cast up and prepare our Accounts beforehand and to do nothing but what our Lord will approve and like of Such as was in the way of Service and Management but not what will be found fault withal or blamed by him So much sin or evil as hath been committed This shall be a witness against them It is an heaping up Treasure together for the last days Jam. 5.3 It is a treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 And though already the Pile thereof is fire and much wood Isa 30.33 which is ordained for the punishment of the Devil and his Angels and condemned Sinners Yet here again the more Sin and Transgression which they have committed is an adding more Fuel to that Fire which shall torment but not consume them So on the other and better hand the doing good works is a laying in a foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal Life these works follow them So that to do good works is a storing up to ones self true and solid Comfort in a Dying-day which reaches and extends it self throughout all Eternity Besides that it is sweet and sensible in the greatest time of need So that it will be certainly better for each Man or Woman the more Obedience and Duty Godliness and Good he hath done throughout his foregoing Life Here is a real Argument not to continue in Sin one moment longer for notwithstanding the present pleasure or conveniency hereby he misses of so much more Happiness and Advantage in the future Recompence Again we should not a minute longer neglect obedience and doing good for this would be to lose so much of a full Reward 2 Joh. 8. Thus much is signified from the righteous judgment of God who will render to every one according to his deeds Rom. 2.5 â— And so it is written For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his holy Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Mat. 16.27 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you for great is your reward in Heaven Mat. 5.11 12. Every man shall receive his own Reward according to his own Labour 1 Cor. 3.8 Wo unto their Soul for they have rewarded evil unto themselves Say to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Wo unto the Wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Isa 3.9 10 11. According to their deeds accordingly he will repay Isa 59.18 The great God that formeth all things both rewardeth the Fool and rewardeth Transgressors Prov. 26.18 As thou hast done it shall be done unto thee thy reward shall return upon thine own head Obad. 1.15 Receiving in themselves that Recompence of their Error that was meet Rom. 1 27. Like as the Lord of Hosts thought to do unto us according to our wayes and according to our doings so hath he dealt with us Zech. 1.6 All the Churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the hearts and reins And I will give unto every one of you according to his works Rev. 2.23 And behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give every Man according as his work shall be Rev. 22.12 There are sundry other like places of Scripture which the more they are considered of and looked into they do the more shew how that the future Judgment and Retribution shall be proportioned and measured out Mat. 7.1 and exactly adjusted judgment will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet according to the Deeds of Men. As it will be yet more clearly seen at the revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God It shall be openly disclosed and shewed unto every one though it hath been hitherto hidden from some because they would not search the Scriptures for there they might have found it so and accordingly have prepared to have given up their Accounts The Good may be hence Quickened to do more to lay hold of every opportunity to lay up for themselves a greater foundation against the time to come by Good works and seek and do the work of the Lord diligently and to improve every Talent to the utmost And the evil might have presently ceased to do wickedly they should have turned and have been yet more zealous in the other way Like unto Mary Magdalen who loved much because much had been forgiven unto her And Paul because he had been a Persecutor he laboured more abundantly than the other Apostles and yet not He but the Grace of God which was in him And so the same Instruction is to all whether in their foregoing Life they have been sinuers or religious yet to labour more abundanâ—ly for the the time to come than the rest of his Brethren and Fellow-creatures And see well to it that he exceed them in great Seriousness and Holiness Purity and strictness of Life In the time of my late Adversity and Trouble a fond Imagination and vain desire did arise in my mind I would fain have God do more for me than he usually doth for other peeple in like cases But this same kind of Imagination and vain Desire was beaten back answer'd and satisfied again by this inward Reasoning which at the very same time did spring up in my Heart Why should I expect that God should do more for me than for other People when I did not exceed my Brethren and come out from among them and get above them in the Godly and holy Life For though I have been sometimes in the heights all for God and Seriousness and in the Spirit for a little time whilst I was by my self and in Retirement and I resolved what I would do How that I would still keep unto that Strictness yet I was again like the Children of Ephraim who being harnessed and carrying Bows turned themselves back in the day of Battle So though I had Grace and Preparation beforehand to arm