God 5 John 25 28 29. Verily verily I say unto you The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Which may indeed be understood of a Metaphorical or Spiritual Death and Resurrection that those who were dead in Sin should be raised to a new Spiritual Life by hearing the Voice of the Son of God and believing on him but though our Saviour might intend this sence yet he meant somewhat more by it as appears from what follows Marâ—â— not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation So that the Voice of Christ shall raise the Dead which may well be called the Trump of God when it shall found through all the World and give a new Life to the Dead and summon 'em to Judgment For this is another very material Circumstance of the Future Judgment that all the Dead both good and bad shall be raised to Life again and appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that as we must give an account of whatever we have done in this Body whether good or bad so we must re-assume our Bodies again when we come to Judgment I shall noâ— now discourse to you of the Nature or Possibility of the Resurrection which belongs to another Argument but the Man Christ Jesus is the Judge of Mankind he appears in Humane Nature himself cloathed with an Humane Body though infinitely bright and glorious and he comes to Judge Men not unbodied Souls and therefore we must be reunited to our Bodies again for a Humane Soul is not a perfect Man without its Body An unbodied Soul is guilty of none of those Sins for which we must be judged for we must be judged for what we did in the Body the Man sinned and the Man must be judged and the Man must be either happy or miserable for ever Lord with what Horrour and Reluctancy will bad Souls enter into their Bodies again not to enjoy their old beloved Sensualities but to be judged for them when the very sight of their Bodies shall call to mind all the Villanies they acted in them when they must appear before their Judge with all the Instruments of Wickedness about them with those very Bodies whose members they had made servants of uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity with Eyes full of Adultery with Hands stained with Blood or full of Bribes or Rapine with a blaspheming a lying a reviling a perjured Tongue to unite a Soul to such a Body again is like tying a Man to his murdered Friend which will both scare and torment his Conscience and poison him with a noisom Stench The Body which was the Tempter and the Instrument in all this Wickedness will now be a Witness against him and an Instrument of his Punishment too But holy Souls will give a better Welcome to their Bodies Bodies in which the Flesh was subdued to the Spirit which were preserved pure and clean from all sensual Lusts which were the ready Instruments of Righteousness and Vertue which were offered up living holy and acceptable Sacrifices to God which suffered loss and want and torment and death for the sake of Christ good Men would desire to be judged in such Bodies as these which are visible Testimonies of their Faith and Patience and Mortification and Self-denial which are the Members of Christ and the Temples of the Holy Ghost Thus all Mankind shall rise out of their Graves and appear before the Judgment seat of Christ and therefore now let us Contemplate our Lord sitting upon his Throne the Throne of Judgment as he himself tells us 25 Matth. 31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory Thus it is described in the Revelations of St. Iohn 20 Revel 13. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them What this Throne is or where it shall be placed we are not told but the most probable Conjecture is that this Throne is a bright resplendant Cloud in the form of a Magnificent Throne placed in the Air at some distance from the Earth for he is said to come in the Clouds of Heaven and St. Paul plainly intimates to us that his Throne shall be in the Air when he tells us that those good Men who shall be alive at Christ's coming shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and it is not improbable but this may be near Ierusalem where the Temple of God was where he conversed while he lived on Earth and where he was judged and condemned as a Malefactor and treated with the utmost Scorn and Contempt and nailed in an infamous manner upon the Cross for it seems to add to the Triumph of that Day to appear in all his Glory to Judge the World at that very place when he suffered Shame and Reproach and Death for the Sins of Men and from the hands of Sinners But this is all Conjecture though not without some appearing Probability and therefore I shall build nothing on it The Judge being sat all Mankind appear before him to give an account of their Actions and to receive their finaâ— Sentence Before him shall be gathered 〈◊〉 nations and he shall separate them 〈◊〉 from another as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats 25 Mat. 32. This 〈◊〉 I observed before our Saviour attributes to the Ministry of Angels who separate the Wheat from the Tares and the good Fiâ—â— from the bad for the angels we know 〈◊〉 ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation 1 Heb. 14. and therefore they know how to distinguish between good and bad Men and to separate them from each other This is the last and final Separation good and bad Men shall never meet and intermix with each other after this they live together in this World and conveâ—â— together are united by Relation and Inâ—â—rest are Members of the same Church and Worship God together in the same Holy Communion of Prayers and Sacraments but they must part Company at the Day of Judgment the one to the right Hand and the other to the left Men are very apt to flatter themselves now that they shall fare the better for the Company they keep no Church and no Communion is pure enough for them not that they are so much Holier than their Neighbours but they are of Opinion that God will judge of them by the Church they are of and therefore whatever Church strikes their Fancy most with an appearance of Sanctity and Holiness there they joyn themselves not so much to
29. They knew it seems there was a time of Torment appointed for them but it was not yet and yet there was then some place of Confinement for them which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Deep whatever that signifies whither they were unwilling to go and therefore when Christ cast them out of the Man whom they had long and furiously possessed they beg of him that he would not command them to go into the Deep 8. Luke 31. I shall only observe farther That the Devils are said to believe and tremble Now what is it they believe and what is it they tremble at but the last Judgment and that terrible Condemnation which they then expect and therefore they are not under it yet for Faith respects what is absent and future and Fear does not respect what we suffer at present but what we expect But these are great Mysteries which we cannot now understand but thus much we do understand that if these fallen and apostate Angels have not yet received their final Punishment but are only reserved in Chains of Darkness till the Judgment of the great Day there is less reason to think that wicked Men who are to be punished with the Devil and his Angels should immediately go to Hell as soon as they go out of these Bodies and therefore whatever is meant by those Flames wherein Dives was tormented it is not the last Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels As for good Men those Expressions of Scripture of their going to Paradise especially of their going to Christ or being present with the Lord seem to bid very fair for their going directly to Heaven where Christ is but the Primitive Christians understood them otherwise that Paradise and Abraham's Bosom was a place of Ease and Happiness but not Heaven that no Man ascends into Heaven till after the Resurrection which Ireneus and Tertullian prove from the Example of Christ to which we must be conformed for Christ himself did not ascend into Heaven till after the Resurrection but as his Body rested in the Grave so his Soul went into the State of Souls departed and when he arose again then he ascended into Heaven and thus they say we must do also When we die our Souls shall live in those places which God has prepared for separate Souls and when we have re-assumed our Bodies we shall be admitted into the highest Heavens whither Christ is ascended and this seems very reasonable that we should not ascend into Heaven into the immediate Presence of God which signifies our perfect Reconciliation to him without our Bodies the want of which is an argument of our Apostasie and his Displeasure and all the Marks of his Displeasure ought to be removed before we appear in his immediate Presence But is not Christ in Heaven and how then can good Men be present with the Lord after Death if they do not immediately ascend into Heaven Now as for this they tell us That the Souls of just Men in Paradise have the sight and conversation of Angels and Archangels and the Vision or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our Saviour which they think is what is meant by being present with the Lord though they did not affirm that no good Men did immediately ascend into Heaven when they died but expressly taught that all Martyrs did who died for the Name and Religion of Christ and this was the thing which made them in that Age so fond of Martyrdom that they thought all Martyrs ascended directly into Heaven And if they could have proved this as it is plain they believed it that Martyrs did immediately ascend into Heaven and that other Christians did not who would not have coveted to die a Martyr Thus I have very fairly and truly represented this Matter and that no Man who has not so carefully considered this may take Offence at it I shall 1. shew you how useful this Doctrine is at this time And 2. that it gives no discouragement to Vertue nor any encouragement to Vice 1 st As for the first we may consider In the first place That in such an Age as this wherein we have to deal with so many Atheists and Infidels we ought to take care to make Religion reasonable and intelligible for if we do not they expose it to Scorn and Ridicule and both harden themselves in their own Infidelity and corrupt others and therefore we must take care of representing any thing absurdly and inconsistently Now to say that Men who are already judged and either condemned or absolved and actually sent to Hell or to Heaven should be solemnly judged over again and condemned again to Hell or advanced to Heaven sounds oddly to such Men but if the Scripture does not expresly teach such a Doctrine we are at liberty not to teach it especially if we can give another Account of it which seems as agreeable to Scripture and more agreeable to the Reason and Understanding of Mankind 2. Some there are who observing that Mankind shall not be judged till the Day of Judgment conclude that there is no intermediate State but that the Soul sleeps with the Body till the Day of Judgment A very Foolish and Unphilosophical Opinion for we may as reasonably think that the Soul dies as that it sleeps in a state of Separation if the Soul be a spiritual Substance distinct from the Body it may live and act without it and it is as easie and reasonable to defend the Mortality of the Soul as its sleeping for if the Soul must sleep when it is separated from the Body it must sleep for ever if it never be re-united to the Body again that is it must live and die with the Body for such a sleep as this is not meerly an Image of Death but Death it self But from what I have now discoursed it appears that though there be a great distance between Death and Judgment yet the Soul does live and act is happy or miserable in the mean time 3. This Notion does very great Service also against Popery For 1. it gives an account of a middle State without Purgatory This has greatly imposed upon unlearned Men that the Advocates of Popery have proved from the Ancient Fathers that they owned a middle State which was neither Heaven nor Hell and then presently conclude that this must be Purgatory Now it is very true the Ancient Christians did own a middle State between Death and Judgment which was neither Heaven nor Hell but yet never dreamt of a Popish Purgatory they believed bad Men were in a State of Punishment as soon as they left these Bodies but not in Hell and that good Men were in a State of Rest and Happiness but not in Heaven but they never thought of a place of Torment to expiate the Temporal Punishment due to Sin when the Eternal Punishment is remitted which is the Popish Purgatory and the most barbarous Representation of the Christian Religion though the most profitable
such vain and groundless Fears This ought to be plainly and fully stated for we live in the last Days and have many of these Scoffers already among us 1. But if GOD have appointed the Dâ—y of Judgment it is a very foolish Argument to say that he will not judge the World because he has not done it yet unless we could prove that the Day appointed for Judgment is already past God cannot be said to delay to judge the World wheâ— the time he has appointed for Judgment is not yet come for to delay doing any thing is not to do it in its proper season when it is time to do it or when we resolved and determined to do it and therefore no Man can say that God delays to judge the World unless he could tell whaâ— Day God in his own infinite Wisdom appointed for Judgment For 2. That God appoints a long Day for Judgment is no Argument that he will not judge us Thus it was in the Destruction of the Old World a great while before God brought that Universal Deluge on them but it came at last and swept them all away as St. Peter observes For this they willingly were ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflow'd with water perished This general Destruction of the Old World by Water is reason enough to believe God when he threatens to destroy it again by Fire For the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men 5 6 7. It was a great while before God destroyed the Old World and though this second Destruction by Fire is deferred much longer it will come in its appointed time 3. For what seems a very long time to us is not so to God as the same Apostle tells us One day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day God is not affected with the succession of Time nor its lingring delays and therefore is not in hast to judge the World before the World is ripe for Judgment and when that is he himself knows best For to appoint a Day to judge the World is a Work of great Wisdom and Counsel Before God judges the World it is fit for him to display all the various Scenes of Wisdom and Goodness and Power and Justice in the Government of the World to exercise great Patience towards Sinners and to make the utmost Experiments to reform them as St. Peter tells us The Lord is not slack concerâ—iâ—â— his promise as some men count slackness but is patient to us-ward not willing thâ— any should perish but that all should coâ—â— to repentance v. 9. 4. When God finally judges the Worlâ— he destroys this present Frame of Things as it follows in the next Verse The day 〈◊〉 the Lord will come 〈◊〉 a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and the earth also and the works that are therein shall 〈◊〉 burnt up Now it does not become â— wise and a good God to be hasty in dâ—stroying a World that he has made And therefore to reconcile God's dâ—stroying the World with his Essential Attributes of Wisdom and Goodness therâ— are two things necessary 1 st The incorrigible Wickedness of Mankind A wise Man will not immediately pull down a House he has builâ— till he discovers some irreparable decayâ— in it thus God justifies his Destructioâ— of the Old World from the Universal Corruption of Manners and the incurable Wickedness of it God saw the wickedneâ—â— of man that it was great upon the earth aâ—â— that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth 6 Gen. 5 6 7. And this was the only reason that could be given to justifie so universal a Destruction of Mankind that they were universally wicked excepting one righteous Family which God preserved and it seems very probable that the general State of the World will be very wicked and corrupt before the final Destruction of the World by Fire for we can conceive no other reason why God should finally destroy this World but to put an end to the incurable Wickedness of Men. And this is the Account the Scripture gives us of it we find every-where a deplorable Description of the Wickedness of the last Days In the last days perillous times shall come For men that is the generality of Mankind shall be lovers of their ownselves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traytors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof 2 Tim. 3.1 2 3 4 5. Thus St. Iude tells us There shall be mockers iâ— the last times who should walk after their own ungodly lusts v. 18. And St. Peter as you heard that in the last Days there shall be Scoffers saying Where is the promise of his coming And our Saviour himself plainly intimates what an universal Decay there shall be of Piety and Faith when he comes to judge the World Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth 18 Luke 8. Atheism and Infidelity shall greatly prevail in the World before the Day of Judgement and by this as St. Iohn said long since We know that is the last time And this is one of the signs both of the Destruction of Ierusalem and of the Day of Judgment Then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold But he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved 24 Matth. 10 11 12 13. And therefore the Destruction of this World by Fire which is the Preparation to the final Judgment is represented as an immediate Vengeance on the wickedness of that Generation of Men who shall then be living on the Earth though at the same time the Dead shall be raised and all ungodly men involved in the same ruin The Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ 2 Thess. 1.8 And 10 Hebr. 27. it is called a fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries So that one thing God has regard to in appointing the day of Judgment is
all had her but our Saviour told them at the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels of God in heaven Thus it is here those natural Affections and Passions which are of so great use in this World and make us so nearly concerned for Children and other Relations are not the Measures of our Kindness and Friendship and Concernment in the other World they are necessary here many times to supply the place of Reason and Vertue and to prompt us to do those good Offices by the impatience and uneasiness of a Passion which the generality of Mankind would not do from wiser Principles but the end of these Passions is served in this World and there is no occasion for them in the next and therefore we shall feel no uneasiness or disturbance from them good Men will have no Friends no Relations in the other World but those who are truly good who are Members of the same Mystical Body of Christ the Children of God and Heirs of the same Happiness and Glory To conclude I shall only observe this farther How vain it is for bad Men to hope to defend themselves from Shame and Punishment by their Numbers they may I confess do it in this World when they have to deal with Men tho' when God comes to judge them even in this World the most powerful Combinations of Sinners are but like Chaff before the Wind But if ever Numbers would do it would be at the Day of Judgment when the Devil and his Angels and all bad Men shall be summoned together and if they cannot then defend themselves when their whole Force is united but stand as Criminals before their Judge and receive their Sentence from him it becomes us to fear and tremble before that powerful Judge who has all Nature at his command and all Devils and wicked Men in Chains and with the Word of his Mouth can condemn them to Eternal Torments SECT IV. The Day of Iudgment is at the End of the World III. THe Day of Judgment is at the End of the World That it will be so and the Reasons why it will be so are very plain from what I have already discoursed our Saviour tells us that it is at the end of the World when the Angels shall separate between the Wheat and the Tares which grew in the same Field between the good and the bad Fish which were taken in the same Net 13 Matth. It is in the Evening of the World when the Lord comes to reckon with his Servants and to reward those who have laboured in his Vineyard 20 Matth. for when Christ comes to Judgment this World shall be set on fire and this present visible Frame of Things shall be dissolved as St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 3.10 11 12. Upon which account Christ is said to come in flaming Fire of which more hereafter and if God will judge all Mankind together the Day of Judgment must be at the end of the World But besides this it seems very reasonable and congruous that the final Judgement and the End of the World should come together or that when God finally Judges all Mankind he shall put an end to this habitable Earth For this Earth was made for the Habitation of Man and all things in it for his use and delight and therefore it receives its Fate and Destiny with Man too Paradise was the Habitation of innocent Man and had Man continued Innocent and Peopled the World with an innocent and holy Race the whole World must have been a Paradise but when Man had sinned and had no Right to so easie and happy a Life the Ground was cursed for his sake 3 Gen. 17 18 19. Cursed be the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread till thou return unto the ground When all Flesh had corrupted their ways excepting Noah and his Family God destroyed the Old World with its wicked Inhabitants and to this day besides that Original Curse which still rests upon the Earth Nature suffers for the Sins of Man and revives and flourishes again as he returns to his Duty He turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water-springs into dry ground a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein And on the other hand He turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water springs And there he maketh the hungry to dwell that they may prepare a city for habitation 107 Psal. 33 34 35 36. It were easie to Harangue here and describe the Ruines and Desolations which the Judgments of God have brought upon the most flourishing Countries for the Sins of the Inhabitants Famine and Pestilence and Sword The Sword which carries all other Judgments along with it but God knows we live in an Age wherein there is no need of haranguing about it this is seen and felt and heard every day such Miseries as are beyond the Description of the most Eloquent Tongue or Pen God grant we may only hear of them that we may take warning by what others suffer and appease the Wrath of God by a timely Repentance Now for the same reason when God Judges all Mankind he will put an end to this present state of Things when Man for whom this Earth was framed shall dwell no longer on it but all good Men shall be received into Heaven and all bad Men condemned to Hell this World has lasted as long as it was made for and must now be cast into a new Mould and Frame For so indeed the Scripture represents it not that this World shall be destroyed but that it shall be new made that as the whole Creation is made subject to Vanity by Adam's Curse so it shall be redeemed from Vanity and Corruption too when Man is It shall be purged by Fire and a new incorruptible World shall spring out of its Ashes 8 Rom. 19 20 21 22. For the earnest expectation of the creature which must signifie this visible Creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God For the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God Or when the Sons and Children of God shall be delivered from Corruption For we know the whole creation groaneth and travelleth in pain until now And thus St. Peter tells us That at the last Judgement this World shall be destroyed with Fire Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness 2 Pet. 1 â—â— where St. Peter refers to the Prophesy of Isaiah 65.17 For behold I create new
heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind Which St. Peter understands in a literal sence not meerly of a more prosperous state of Things in this World And thus St. Iohn as the Conclusion of his Revelations immediately after his Account of the last Judgment gives us a Description of this new Heaven and new Earth 21 Rev. 1 c. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea And I Iohn saw the holy city new Ierusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying The tabernacle of God is with men and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away And the rest of that Book is spent in describing the Glory of the Great City the Holy Ierusalem the River of the Water of Life proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb and the Tree of Life which bore twelve manner of Fruits These are great Mysteries which we cannot perfectly understand yet especially what St. Iohn says about the new Ierusalem's coming down from Heaven to take up its Seat and Habitation on this new Earth that there is the Throne of God and of the Lamb where God dwells and which he enlightens with his Presence and from whence he drives away Death and Sorrow and Pain which seems to signifie that as the old Heavens and old Earth are destroyed by Fire in Vengeance on its wicked Inhabitants so this new Heaven and new Earth which God makes after the Destruction of the old is the Seat of the Blessed after their Resurrection from the Dead which I confess I know not how to understand But this gives a plain account why the final Judgment when good Men shall receive their final Reward shall not be till the end of the World because this old World must be destroyed before GOD makes those new Heavens and new Earth The final Destruction of bad Men will begin with the Destruction of this old World and the Rewards and Happiness of good Men shall be consummated in the new World whatever that be where they shall dwell for ever in the immediate Presence of God and of the Lamb. Now that God defers the Day of Judgment to the end of the World May 1. convince us of God's great Patience and Long-suffering towards Sinners for he forbears their Execution as long as he can forbear destroying the World and that we may be sure is as long as Wisdom and Justice will permit To destroy a World is a Work of as great Wisdom and Counsel as to make one nay the Divine Goodness will easily justifie the making of a World at any time for no time is unfit to exercise such acts of Goodness as will justifie themselves but for God to destroy the World which he has made without great necessity for it reflects upon his Wisdom and Goodness in making it The wise Maker of the World can have no inclination to destroy it and though the Justice of Providence may require some more hasty Executions to maintain good Order and Government and to give check to Vice yet the final Destruction of the World requires all wise Delays and Sinners can expect no more of God than to defer their final Sentence as long as he can defer the end of the World It is great pitty that such Goodness and Patience should be so monstrously abused that Men should harden themselves in sin and conclude that God will not judge the World because he is so unwilling to destroy it but this will justifie the Severity of the last Judgment that it is not the Effect of a hasty and sudden Fury but of mature Counsel that God did not want Goodness to spare Sinners as long as Wisdom and Justice could spare them To be slow to execute Judgment is as essential to Goodness as it is to Justice at last to punish and to conclude that God will not punish at all because he is patient and delays to punish is to prove that God cannot be just because he is good 2. That God destroys the World when he judges it is an undeniable Proof of the Severity of the last Judgment for what a terrible Vengeance is that which fires the World and dissolves this present Frame of Nature this is a fiery indignation indeed to devour the Adversary 10 Heb. 27. when bad Men and wicked Spirits shall be encompassed with Flames and Smoke without any possibility to escape for whether can they flie out of a fired World when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with â—ervent heat the earth also and all that is therein shall be burnt up There are a great many brave Sinners who mock at Fear and harden themselves against Hell itself but if they can be serious but for some few Minutes let them imagine all the World on fire about them the Heavens covered with thick Darkness and the whole Earth but one Vulcano one AEtna or Vesuvius Vomiting up Rivers of Burning Sulphur and themselves plunged in the midst of it let them try how they can bear this Thought before they laugh at Hell for this will certainly be the State of Sinners at the Day of Judgment and should not this make us fear and tremble before that great and powerful Judge Who knoweth the power of his wrath who can live with devouring fire who can dwell with everlasting burnings What an irresistible Judge is he who can destroy the World and all Sinners with it the World that was their God and now will be their Funeral Pile according to the Fate of some Heathen Idolaters they shall be sacrificed to their own God and tormented in the Embraces of a burning Idol The Destruction of the World gives a terrible Pomp and Solemnity to the last Judgment it will astonish bad Men and break their stout Hearts to see the World in Flames it will convince them to purpose that God is come to judge them and that he is very severe and terrible in his Judgments Who can describe the Horrours and Agonies and Consternation of that Day Cast your thoughts back a little upon that terrible Day when you saw London on Fire when you saw your Houses and Treasure all vanish into Dust and Smoke What did you think then of the Power and Justice of God And yet this was no more than a little Boan-fire compared with the Universal Conflagration though you could not save your Houses and Furniture and Treasure from its Rage and Fury yet there was room left for your own Escape and if this were so amazing
with all the Festival Expressions of Joy will not immediately turn him out of his Family to seek his Fortune No Christ has shed his Blood for us all and the more he saves the greater Reward he has of his Sufferings the more numerous his Train and Retinue of redeemed Souls is and Numbers add to the Glory of the Triumph this may convince all Mankind how merciful our Judge will be and if we must be judged at all could God do more for us then to appoint the Man Christ Jesus who is our Saviour to be our Judge But then consider on the other hand what a terrible thing will it be to be condemned by the Man Christ Jesus the Saviour of the World What Tumults and Convulsions of Thoughts must such Sinners labour under they must be Self-condemned they must feel all the Agonies of Guilt and Despair for if they could reasonably excuse themselves or the most merciful Man in the World could excuse them their Judge would excuse them too I know not how to bear the thoughts of this the very imagination of it amazes and confounds me to be damned is a tolerable Punishment in comparison of being damned by the Saviour of the World And might I have been saved will such a Sinner say did my Saviour who is now my Judge a terrible Judge shed his his Blood for me did he purchase Heaven for me and does he now condemn me to Hell and deservedly too against his own inclinations though he lose the Purchase of his Blood by it O Wretch that I am might I have been saved and must I be damned and damned by the Saviour of the World What Fury and Passion will accompany these thoughts is not to be expressed by words and I pray GOD none of us may ever feel it 3. Another thing which made it so fitting and congruous that the Son of Man should Judge the World is that he will be a visible Judge It is very fitting the World should be visibly judged for without this all the Pomp and Triumph of Judgment nay some of the principal Ends of Judgment are lost God judges the World in so publick a manner to convince the World of his Power and Justice and Goodness in the final Destruction of all bad Men and the final Rewards of Vertue and therefore this must be a visible Judgment and then there must be a visible Judgment-seat and a visible Judge a visible Glory and Power bad Men must know for what they are judged and see the Hand that executes Vengeance on them or for ought I know they might go Atheists and Infidels to Hell and see no more of God in a fired World then they do in Plague or Sword or Famine or such other Judgments as God sends upon the Earth they might curse their hard Fate but neither accuse themselves nor own the Divine Power and Justice and could they sink into Hell without owning the Being and Justice of God or acknowledging their own Guilt and Deserts and accusing themselves as the Authors of their own Misery and Destruction God would lose the Glory of his Justice and Power and Hell itself would be a very tolerable place to Sinners there would be Fire there to burn them but no Worm to gnaw their Consciences no inward Furies to torment them the Justice of the last Judgment which will stop the Mouths of Sinners and make them confess their own Guilt and Deserts will make the Flames of Hell so furiously rage and devour So that it is necessary that the last Judgment should be executed by a visible Judge that it may not be thought the Effect of Chance and Accident or Fate but the Result of the Divine Wisdom and Counsel that the World may see and know that God is come to Judge them and to take Vengeance on all the Workers of Iniquity and this also makes the Son of Man a very proper Judge of Mankind because he is a visible God and can appear in a visible Glory and as visibly Judge the World as any Earthly Prince or Judge when he ascends the Judgment-seat This will be the Glory of that Day to see the visible Appearance of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven attended with Myriads of Angels to his Throne of Glory where he sits incircled with the Heavenly Host and all Mankind standing before his Tribunal expecting their final Doom from his Mouth Good Lord how will such a Sight as this affect us could we but paint a lively Image and Representation of Judgment upon our Fancies how would it warm our Hearts how would it disparage all the pompous Pageantry of this World how would it revive the Spirits of good Men inspire them with Courage and Resolution with Zeal and Activity in serving Christ looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ What terror would the thoughts of it strike into Sinners how would it cool the heat of Lust how would it make their Countenance change and loosen the Joynts of their Loyns and make their Knees knock one against another like the Hand writing upon the Wall while they are carousing in their full Bowls and drinking away the Thoughts of God and Judgment Who can possibly conceive the Joy and Exultation of that Day when good Men shall see their Lord coming in the Clouds of Heaven clothed with a Humane Body but bright and glorious as the Sun a Body which still retains the Marks of his Sufferings and the Tokens of his Love How will it transport us to see him whom our Soul loveth to see him whom we have so passionately longed and desired to see to see him whom we love though we have not seen him To see him I say not as the Shepherds did a poor helpless Infant wrapped in Swadling-clouts and lying in a Manger to see him not arraigned for a Malefactor nor hanging in a shameful manner upon the Cross but to see him in all his Majesty and Glory to see him a Triumphant Conqueror and Judge to see him with Crowns and Laurels in his hands and in him to see the Certainty of our Faith the Completion of our Hopes the Rewards of our Patience and Sufferings and our final Conquest over Death and Hell O joyful Day when this Royal Bridegroom shall come in the Glory of his Father to meet his Spouse the Church to conduct her to his Father's House there to see and there to partake in his Glory and never to part more Methinks I see holy and devout Souls in the highest Raptures and Extasies of Joy embracing and comforting one another at the appearance of their Lord Here comes the Blessed Jesus it is he himself the true Image of God the very Brightness of his Father's Glory This is that blessed Day we have so long expected and hoped for let us go forth and meet him let us hasten into the Embraces of our Saviour He is come to Judgment but let those
of this World and was worshipped with Divine Honours and St. Iohn tells us For this end the Son of God was manifest to destroy the works of the devil 1 Joh. 3.8 And Christ tells us That the Holy Ghost whom he would send upon his Apostles after his Resurrection from the Dead should convince the world of judgment because the prince of this world is judged 16 John 11. Where by Judgment I understand the final Judgment which the Spirit should convince the World of by that visible Judgment he would execute upon the Prince of this World For by the preaching of the Gospel he turned Men from Darkness unto Light and from the Power of Satan unto God converted great part of the Heathen World silenced their Oracles and exposed their Gods and their Worship their Temples and their Altars to contempt This was a visible Judgment of the Prince of this World and have not bad Men reason to look about them when they see their Prince and Captain so miserably defeated If Christ have already begun to execute Judgment on the Prince of this World is not this a plain Fore-runner of the final Judgment when the Devil and his Angels and all bad Men shall be condemned to Eternal Fire This assurance we have that the Son of Man shall Judge the World that God hath raised him from the Dead and thereby confirmed that Testimony which he gave of himself advanced him to the right Hand of Power and has already given some sensible Proofs of his Power and Justice in the Overthrow of the Iewish Nation and the Devil's Kingdom I shall only farther observe that this sensible Proof we have that Christ shall Judge the World is a sensible Proof of a Future Judgment as certain as we are that Christ is risen from the Dead so certain we are of a Future Judgment which is an abundant Confirmation of all those other Arguments from Reason and Scripture that God will Judge the World CHAP. IV. The Manner and Circumstances of CHRIST's Appearance and the Awful Solemnities of Iudgement IV. LET us now consider the Manner and Circumstances of Christ's Appearance and the Awful Solemnities of Judgment I have upon several Occasions hinted at most of these things already but the Order of my Discourse requires that I should say something particularly though briefly to them Now our Saviour tells us 16 Matth. 27. That the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels 9 Luke 26. That the Son of man shall come in his own glory and in his Fathers's and of the holy angels That the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them â—hat know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ 2 Thess. 1.7 8. That the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God which shall awaken the dead and raise them out of their graves but the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive that is whoever shall then be alive at Christ's coming to Judgment shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord 1 Thess. 4.16 17. That when the Son of man cometh in his glory and all his holy angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats 25 Matth. 31 32. Or as it is described in St. Iohn's Visions 20 Revel 11 12 13. And I saw a white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and heavens fled away and there was no place found for them And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works This gives us a general Prospect of the Order and Solemnity of the last Judgment which is very Pompous and Glorious and very Terrible there never was any thing like it all the Roman Triumphs in comparison with this were but like the Sports and Apish Imitations of Children let us then particularly but briefly consider the several parts of it Christ shall come in his own glory and in his Father's and of the holy angels In his own glory that must signifie the Glory of his Person that is the Glory of an Incarnate God His Body will be bright and glorious as the Sun so it was when he was transfigured before them on the Mount His face did shine like the sâ—â— and his raiment was white as the light 17 Matth. 2. And if there be any new degrees of Glory and Majesty we may be sure he will appear in it all when he comes to Judgment The Scripture assures us that Christ is now clothed with a glorious Body and that at the Resurrection he shall change our vile bodies that they may be like to his own most glorioâ—s body and he himself tells us At that day the righteous shall shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father And if he bestows such Glory on his meanest Members how glorious will the Head be for St. Paul assures us that there are very different degrees of Glory There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars for one star differeth from another star in glory So also is the resurrection of the dead 1 Cor. 15.41 42. With what Glory then will our Lord appear when he comes to Judgment If the Righteous shall shine forth like the Sun how bright will the Sun of Righteousness himself be If meer Creatures shall appear so glorious what will the Glory of an Incarnate God be for he will not then appear as a glorious Creature but as a visible God as I observed before his Godhead will shine through his glorified Humanity as visibly as our Souls do through our Bodies and how glorious must that Body be in which the Deity appears a Glory which distinguishes a God from the most glorious Creatures But he must appear in the Glory of his Father also that is as I understand it with the Authority of an Universal Judge this is a great Glory for Authority and Power carries Reverence and Majesty with it whatever Mens personal Qualifications are though upon all other accounts they are much inferior to their Neighbours yet the Character of a Judge makes them Venerable especially to those who must be judged by them Authority is an invisible Character but yet gives a visible Majesty it is apt to impose upon our Judgments of Persons that we hardly think them the same Men when they are in Authority and out of it and
a Man who is possessed with this true Divine Charity has all Christian Graces A Man who has not this divine Principle has no good in him and that is enough to damn him without enquiring what evil he has done It concerns us all seriously to consider this for if all uncharitable Men shall certainly be damned Charity is the only certain mark whereby we can judge of our future state whatever other good qualities we seem to have if we be not charitable there is nothing good in us nothing that God will accept or reward we shall be condemned to the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels with all our other glittering and counterfeit Vertues but if to our other Vertues we add an universal Charity we may then joyfully and securely expect to hear from our Lord when he comes to Judgment Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world I say if to our other Vertues we add Charity for if we live in any wilful sin how liberal and bountiful soever we are to the Poor this is not Charity St. Paul supposes That Men may give their bodies to be burnt and all their goods to feed the Poor without charity 1 Cor. 13.4 And though our Saviour only mentions the external Acts of Charity in feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and visiting the sick and the prisoners because he will not allow of the pretence of Charity without charitable Actions yet he supposes that these charitable Actions flow from a true Principle of Divine Charity from the love of God and Men which it is certain those Men have not who allow themselves in any wickedness And therefore the plain state of the Case is this whatever other Vertues we pretend to without Charity will avail us nothing at the Day of Judgment for the uncharitable Man shall certainly be condemned though he were guilty of no other Crime that how charitable soever we are to the Poor in all the external acts and expressions of Charity this will avail us nothing unless we discharge all the other Duties and Offices of Religion because where there is not an universal regard to the Divine Laws there are charitable Actions without this Divine Principle of Charity but when Men have a respect to all the Laws of God and exercise themselves in all the Acts of Kindness and Charity to Men they unite the Principle and the Practise and have that Divine Charity which our Lord will reward with the Kingdom of Heaven 3 dly This is a manifest proof that the Rewards of good Men at the day of Judgment are wholly owing to the Grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ which confirms what I have already discoursed that we are judged by Grace as well as by our Works Christ has made atonement and expiation for our sins he has reconciled us to God by his Death and that puts us into a capacity of happiness but the reason our Saviour gives why he adjudges good Men to the Kingdom of Heaven proves that the Reward is of Grace not of Debt The only reason he assigns is the kindness they have shewn to himself When I was an hungred ye fed me when I was thirsty ye gave me drink when I was naked ye clothed me when I was sick ye visited me when I was in prison ye came unto me 1. Now in the first place it is great Kindness and Grace to Mankind that he should reckon all Acts of Kindness done to Men done to himself That Glorious Being who needs nothing that we can do for him from whom we receive the very power and ability of doing any kindness and yet Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me 2 dly And therefore he bestows Heaven upon them as a Reward of their kindness to himself now we all know the difference between rewarding Kindnesses and paying Debts or rewarding Men according to their Deserts In rewarding Kindnesses we reward their Love not their Works we don't consider what the actual Service was whether small or great but what the kindness and affection was that did it if the kindness and affection was great which would have done greater things if it could the affection is valued and rewarded though not the work as our Saviour tells us That whoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward 10 Mat. 42. And the Apostle tells us That where there is a willing mind it is accepted according to what a man hath not according to what he hath not But still it is Grace which values and rewards the affection which is not considered at all in making a Bargain which is so much work for so much pay And therefore in rewarding kindnesses we have no regard to proportions as we have in paying Debts or rewarding Services If we pay what we owe that is all that Justice requires if we pay a Labourer according to our Contract with him or according to the common estimation of his Labour this is all that is expected but there is no Rule no Proportion in rewarding Kindnesses where Men do not traffick for Kindnesses which is thought the most sordid Spirit in the World the least external expression of kindness we can shew may have the greatest return and no Man blames prodigality or excess in such returns And thus it is here our Saviour rewards our Kindness not our Work and that makes such a vast disproportion between the Work and the Reward between some few Acts of kindness done to Men and the Eternal Glories of the Kingdom of God No Works we can do can deserve such a Reward but when Christ rewards our Kindness not our Works the Reward must bear proportion to his own Grace not to our Deserts he may reward as liberally as he pleases for when the Reward is of Grace not of Debt no Reward can be too great for infinite Grace to bestow though it may be too great for our Works to deserve But this still convinces us that Heaven cannot be the Merit of our Works but the Reward of our Charity Works have a stinted Merit and the best Actions we can do cannot merit Heaven but Grace may reward Charity as it pleases and nothing but Charity has any Title to the Rewards of Grace which justifies our Saviour's account of the Future Judgment which assigns no other reason of bestowing Heaven upon good Men but only their Charity for Works bear no proportion to such a Reward and Grace can reward nothing but Charity all our Acts of Kindness to Men out of Love to God and our Saviour Christ. All the expressions of our Love to God and our Saviour Christ may be rewarded by Grace as we reward the Kindnesses which are shewn to us without
and distressed People Sloth and Idleness and other Vices have sent thither What loud Clamours should we have against the Justice of the Divine Providence did men suffer half so much by Piety and Vertue as they do in the service of their Lusts If Mens own Vices be not a sufficient punishment to them we may consider in the next place how bad Men punish one another There are infinite instances of this even in well-governed Kingdoms where the Vices of Men are restrained by publick Laws and the severest Executions of Justice yet how many Outrages do they commit Rapes Murders Thefts Oppression Injustice and all sorts of Violence What work does Pride and Covetuousness and Lust make especially when such Vices as these infect great Men and are armed with Power to do Mischief witness all the bloudy Wars of Aspiring and Ambitious Princes attended with the Ruins and Desolations of flourishing Countries and all the Miseries and Calamities which the most frightful Fancy can conceive or the most Poetick Wit desâ—ribe But then on the other hand Vertue has its natural Rewards it gives peace and satisfaction to the Mind governs our Appetites and Passions that they cause no pain or disturbance to us it is the best means to preserve our Health to encrease our Fortune to procure Friends to reconcile Enemies to give us Credit and Reputation to escape the Injuries of bad Men and to pass through the World with as little Envy and Opposition and Justling as it is possible that is it is not of itself sufficient to make a good Man compleatly happy in this World for there is no such thing to be had here but it is the only thing that can make him as happy as he can be here it will prevent a great many michiefs which other Men fall into and enable him to bear those patiently which it cannot prevent This is the first step of God's governing Mankind that natural Provision he has made for the punishment of Wickedness and the rewards of Vertue for I suppose all Men will grant that this is God's own act for none but He who made Man could so fit and temper his Nature to the Laws of Vertue as to make his Duty his natural Reward and Happiness and his Sin his Punishment this is admirable and stupendious Wisdom and the most effectual means for the good government of the World and which was necessary to make all other acts of Government successful but this is so useful an Argument that I cannot dismiss it without some farther Remarks and Observations 1. God has by this means taken care that Vertue shall never be wholly unrewarded nor Sin unpunished for they are a reward and punishment to themselves and such rewards and punishments as are founded in the Nature of Things are unavoidable 2. This in ordinary cases supersedes the necessity of God's interposing by an immediate Providence to reward good Men and to punish the wicked these natural rewards and punishments when there is no occasion for more signal examples of God's Goodness and Justice will serve for this World for this reason indeed some Men conclude that God takes no notice of Humane Affairs because he does not always visibly interpose for the punishment of Wickedness and the defence and protection of vertuous Men but God has made a standing provision for this in the Nature of Things and that will serve the ordinary ends of Providence and when he sees occasion for it he can soon rectifie any great Disorders by a more immediate Hand this is most agreeable to the wisdom and to the majesty of Providence Thus God governs the Inanimate World the Heavens and the Earth and all the Creatures in it by keeping this great Machine in that regular and uniform Motion which he at first gave it and suffering all Creatures to follow the tendency of their own natures excepting such cases as require some extraordinary and preter-natural events as when God thinks fit to work Miracles for the Conviction of Infidels and to give Authority to his Prophets or to punish a wicked World with Drought or Famine or Pestilence to infect their Air and to make the Earth Iron and the Heavens Brass the less the Divine Providence deviates from the Nature of Things while the World is well and wisely governed the more admirable is his Wisdom who has so contrived the World that he can govern all Creatures by the Springs and Principles of their own Natures 3. Thus these Natural Rewards and Punishments give a sacred and venerable Authority to the Divine Laws for this proves that they are not Arbitrary Constitutions which depend wholly upon the Will and Pleasure of God who might if he had pleased have made Vertue Vice and Vice Vertue as some Men venture to talk with equal Ignorance Impudence and Prophaneness for unless God had made us other Creatures than we now are he could have given us no other Laws unless he could have given us Laws destructive to our Nature and Happiness for none but a vertuous Man can be happy and Sin must make us miserable 4. Nay these natural rewards and punishments are a glorious Justification of all the other acts of God's Providence for the rewarding good Men and punishing the wicked for this is to dispense rewards and punishments according to the nature and deserts of Things which becomes the Just Governour of the World for Happiness is the natural effect and reward of Vertue and Wickedness of Vice and therefore to reward good Men and punish the wicked is to reward Men for making themselves happy and to punish them for making themselves miserable to encourage them to make themselves as good and happy as possibly they can by rewarding them with new additions of Happiness and to restrain and terrifie them from making themselves wicked and miserable by threatning and inflicting more severe punishments on them and can there possibly be a more gracious Government than this What hath any Man to quarrel at in it unless it be that God is so greatly and passionately concerned that we should be happy for this is the apparent intention and design of his Providence in this World both in rewarding good Men and punishing the wicked 5. Nay further these Natural Rewards and Punishments which God has enterwoven in the Nature of Things whereby he has made Vertue a reward and Wickedness a punishment to itself are not onely a particular instance of God's Providence in that natural Provision he has made for the rewards of Vertue and the Punishment of Vice but are a natural Earnest and Pledge of all other acts of Providence which are necessary to this end When God made Vertue and Vice the natural Causes and Instruments of our Happiness and Misery it is certain that he intended that good Men should be happy and the wicked miserable Now does God ever intend things by halves will he not certainly effect what he intends These natural Rewards and Punishments are one
pray for and therefore it teaches us Having Food and Raiment there-with to be content But who could be contented with such a scanâ—y Provision while he sees the greater Prosperity of bad Men who dissolve in Ease and Luxury were there not a happy state reserved for them in the next World Where is the Man who would not comply with the Devil's Temptation to fall down and Worship him for all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them were he not to lose a brighter and a richer Crown for it Some times indeed God does bless good Men with great Plenty and Honour but he has no where promised to do so in the Gospel of Christ sometimes he does it not so much to reward good Men for Temporal things are not the proper Rewards of Piety and Vertue as to serve the ends of his Providence in the World he takes care of good Men to supply their wants and necessities here which is all that a perfect Vertue requires but he rewards them hereafter and yet this is not absolutely promised neither for our Saviour teaches us to take up his Cross to expect Sufferings and Persecutions for his Name sake and then we must be contented to want Food and Raiment to part with Houses and Lands and Life itself for his sake and our condition may be so afflicted and calamitous here that it may force us to say as S. Paul does If in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable And who would be the Disciple of Chriâ—â— upon these Terms to suffer so much for him in this World and to gain nothing by it in the next Thus on the other hand there is a terrible Vengeance threatned against wicked Men in the next World Lakes of fire and brimstone blackness of darkness the worm that never dieth and the fire that never goeth out but the Gospel threatens no Temporal Punishments against Sin Bad Men are very often punished in this World when the Wisdom of the Divine Providence sees fit and they very often escape too and are much more prosperous than good Men are here that there is no Threatning in the Gospel to restrain the Impieties of Men but only the Fears of the other World and a Future Judgement and if you take away these you destroy the Gospel of our Saviour 2. Many of our Saviour's Laws are founded on the supposition of a Future Judgment and are extreamly unreasonable if there be no Rewards or Punishments after this Life that if we will but allow him the ordinary Prudence of a Lawgiver a Future Judgment must be the Foundation of his Religion If there were no other Life after this the only Rule of our Actions would be to live as long and to enjoy as much of this World as we can But Christian Religion in many cases will not allow of this and therefore is no Religion for this World were there not another World to follow To begin with the Enjoyments of this World How many Restraints does the Christian Religion lay on us to lessen the Pleasures and Satisfactions of this Life It teaches us a great Indifferency to all the things of this World but how unreasonable is that if this World be our only place of Happiness For who can be indifferent whether he be happy or not It commands us to mortifie our sensual Appetites to crucifie the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts to live above the Pleasures of the Body to pluck out our right Eyes and to cut off our right Hands but what reason can there be to deny our selves any of these Enjoyments as far as is consistent with preserving our Health and prolonging our Lives if we have no expectations after Death nay if Men are contented to live a short and a merry Life what hurt is there in it if death puts an end to them It forbids us to lay up for ourselves Treasures on Earth which were a strange Command were there not greater Treasures to be expected in Heaven It forbids earthly Pride and Ambition an affectation of Secular Honours and Power but why must we submit to Meanness and Contempt in this World if this be the only Scene of Action we shall ever be concerned in for a mean and base Spirit is no Vertue and for the same reason it can be no Vertue to be contented with a low Fortune to be patient under Sufferings which if they will never be rewarded is to be patiently miserable and that is Stupidity and Folly but to have our Conversation in Heaven to live upon the hopes of unseen Things is Madness and Distraction if there be no Heaven no unseen Things for us The Laws of our Saviour require us in some cases to sacrifice the dearest Interests we have in this World and Life itself for his sake which is a sensless and unreasonable Command if he does not intend to bestow a better Life on us If there were no other Life after this no wise Man would forfeit more for any Religion than it is worth in this World and that would reach but a little way in Suffering Nor is our Saviour so unreasonable as to require it upon these Terms but tells us plainly Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul 16 Mat. 25 26. The Reasons of most of the Evangelical Commands must be fetched wholly from the other World and a Future Judgement and therefore we should have had the same Evidence for a Judgment to come that we have for the Christian Religion tho' there had been no such express mention made of a Future Judgment I cannot but observe here the true Reason of the Corruption of Christian Morals which are as much corrupted as the Christian Faith is That in expounding the Laws of our Saviour some Men have no other regard but to fit them to the ease and the conveniences of this Life and therefore reject any Interpretation of them which is severe to Flesh and Blood or will hazard their Ease and Fortunes in this World It is sufficient to Confute any Law of our Saviour or to Interpret it away to shew that there are great Temporal Inconveniences in it that to observe such Laws in such a sence would be very injurious to Mens present Interests and deprive them of many Pleasures and Advantages of Life It were easie to give many Instances of this but it shall suffice at present to confess that considering the State of this World and the Propensities and Inclinations of Humane Nature some Laws of our Saviour are very unreasonable were there not a Future Judgment to reward the Severities and Sufferings which good Men must undergo in observing of them and therefore we must have a care of rejecting any plain and express Law
the Gospel were never intended by our Saviour as the Rewards or Motives of our Obedience but only to eâ—courage and support us in our Pilgrimagâ— in this World that if we seek first tâ—â— kingdom of God and his righteousness 〈◊〉 we give up ourselves to the Obediencâ— of the Gospel and live upon the Hopes oâ— unseen Things and lay up Treasures iâ— Heaven all other things shall be added 〈◊〉 us God will provide what is needful for our passage through this World whateveâ— Difficulties and Discouragements we may meet with from Men. The design of the Gospel is to take ouâ— Hearts from this World to teach us noâ— to lay up for ourselves Treasures on Earth but in Heaven not to love this World nor the things that are in the World anâ— therefore it is impossible that Temporâ—â— Blessings should be a Gospel-Motive nothing in this World can be a Motive unless we love the World and therefore thiâ— can be no Motive of the Christian Religion which teaches us not to love the World unless the love of the World caâ— be a proper Motive and Argument to make us despise it and live above it And therefore I confess I have sometimes wished that there had been less stress laid upon the Temporal Rewards and Advantages of Vertue to perswade Men to Religion and upon the Temporal Evils and Miseries of Sin to discourage Men from it for this is not always true and if it were it is an Argument which will perswade no Men and if it did it cannot advance them to the heights and perfections of a Christian Vertue and therefore is no Gospel-Motive As for Instance Some Vertues are very healthful prolong our Lives and prevent a great many painful and mortal Diseases which the contrary Vices expose Men to such as Temperance and Chastity other Vertues are very proper Methods of Thriving in the World such as Diligence Prudence Justice others give us Reputation and Honour advance us to Rule and Empire and Publick Trusts Now this is sometimes true and sometimes not as the State of the World now is as I shewed you before that whatever natural Efficacy Vertue may have to make Men happy or Vice to make them miserable this may be in a great measure defeated by the external Circumstances of our Condition in this World and therefore this can never be a Motive that is it cannot be a reason why we should choose Vertue because it is not always a reason nay is as often a reason for Vice as for Vertue and if it be a good reason for one I cannot see why it should not be a good reason for the other for if it be a reason at all it is a reason for that side on which at present it is whether that be Vertue or Vice Indeed these Temporal Advantages of Vertue are not so much Reasons for Vertue as against Vice and that too only against such Vices or such Degrees and Instances of Vice as are destructive to Mens Health or Fortunes or Reputation however this Reason be it what it will will reach no farther than to such a degree of Vertue as will contribute to a happy and prosperous Life in this World and therefore will not raise us above this World will not teach us to despise Riches and Honours and Bodily Pleasures nay is not consistent with a mean Value and great Indifferency to present Things and therefore it cannot make us Christians and is a very improper Argument to perswade Men to be Christians it never made a Christian yet and never will do And therefore let us not think to conquer the Deceits and Flatteries of the World and the Flesh with such Arguments as these which have no strength â—n them which are more apt to make Men fond of this World then to conquer â—t But this is our victory which overâ—omes the world even our faith the hope â—nd fear of unseen Things or a Future â—udgment when God will eternally reward good Men and punish the wicked This is an Argument in all Times and in â—ll Conditions it will make us despise the World when it Smiles and Flatters and â—corn its Frowns Here are Hopes too big â—or this World and Fears too great and â—owerful for its Fears such Hopes as can â—upport us under the greatest Sufferings â—uch Fears as can imbitter all the sweets of Sin and therefore let us keep the Future â—udgment always in our eye let us fetch our Supports and Comforts from thence â—et us oppose these Hopes and Fears against all Temptations for here is our strength â—ll other Arguments are easily baffled but nothing can answer the Argument of Eternal Life and Death SECT VII Third Inference To refer all Iudgmenâ— to GOD. III. IF GOD will certainly Judge the World let us refer all Judgmeâ—â— to God or as St. Paul speaks Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will maâ—â— manifest the counsels of the hearts aâ—â— then shall every man have praise of God 1 Cor. 4.5 Nothing is more indecenâ— nor more dangerous than for Men whâ— must be judged themselves to take Godâ—â— Work out of his hands and to assume 〈◊〉 Praetorian Power to Judge Acquit anâ— Condemn whom they please without expecting the Judgment of God to Judge is God's Prerogative and he will Judge the World And what hast thou to do 〈◊〉 judge another man's servant to his owâ— master he shall stand or fall Why 〈◊〉 much hast to prevent the Judgment oâ— God by our rash ignorant uncharitable Judgments Judgment will come time enough for us all and therefore judge nothing before the time This is so common a Fault and does so much Mischief in the World and yet is so very unreasonable considering a Future Judgment that it will be of great use to Discourse it more particularly and if it be possible to Correct this Miscarriage which is one of the greatest Plagues of Humane Society It is very obvious to ask here What is the Fault of this Is there any living in the World without judging of Men and Things Must we not say that he is a very bad Man whom we see do very bad things Must we not distinguish between Vertue and Vice and between good and bad Men Must we not make good Men our Friends commend and imitate their Vertues and reject the Conversation of the wicked and beware of Knaves and Men of ill Principles and Designs And is it not necessary then to distinguish between good and bad Men that is to judge who are so Must we wholly refer the Punishment of Wickedness and the Rewards of Vertue to the Day of Judgement and because God will Judge the World must not Princes and Magistrates execute Justice and separate between the Pure and the Vile This is so very unreasonable so inconsistent with the wise Conduct and Government of our Lives and a prudent Care of ourselves so destructive to
Providence against all the Reproaches and evil Surmizes of Men for he will appear just when he judgeth and overcome when 〈◊〉 contendeth Let us not disturb our Heâ—â—â— with such Difficulties as we cannot understand now we know enough to believe that God is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works enough to makâ— us devout Worshippers of God and tâ— enquire farther is a dangerous Curiosity like looking into the Ark of God SECT IX â—ifth Inference To affect our Souls with a strong and vigorous and constant Sence of Iudgment V. SInce it is certain that GOD will Judge the World let us endeavour by all means possible to affect our Souls with a strong and vigorous and constant Sence of Judgment The Belief of a Future Judgment is worth little when it ends in Speculation the use of it is to govern our Lives and to prepare us to give a good Account of ourselves to God since we know that he will demand an Account of us but a meer Belief that we shall be judged will not do this unless we affect our Souls with a Sence of Judgment The Experience of the World and our own Experience of ourselves does sufficiently prove this we all profess to believe a Future Judgment and most of us do heartily believe it and yet there are too many among us who give little reason to the World to think they believe it who commit those Sins every day for which they know God will damn them when they come to Judgment which one would think those who believe they shall be judged could never do so 〈◊〉 a meer Belief of a Future Judgment 〈◊〉 not govern Mens Lives but then 〈◊〉 very Men when they are awakened 〈◊〉 a Dread and Fear of Judgment feel 〈◊〉 Vertue and Power of it on their Hearâ— it makes them hate their Sins and 〈◊〉 themselves for them it makes them 〈◊〉 devout and importunate in their Pâ—â—â—ers very sincere and passionate in their Repentance very resolved to forsake all thâ—â—â— Sins and to live a new Life and thâ—â—â—fore if we would have the Belief of a Future Judgment make us good Men 〈◊〉 must not only believe it but affect oâ—â— Souls with a great Sence of it which iâ— true of all the other Arguments and Motives of Religion as well as of a Futurâ— Judgment The proper Enquiry then here is How we shall awaken and preserve such a poâ—erful Sence of Judgment in our Minds Now the only general Direction thâ—â— can be given is Frequently to Thinâ— and Meditate on a Future Judgment foâ— nothing can affect our Minds but ouâ— Thoughts which make the Object present and give us a near View of it 〈◊〉 it is in the Objects of Sence the Eye affects the Heart and excites and moveâ— the Affections more than all the Arguments in the World if we look stedfastly upon a terrible and frightful Object it will strike Terrour into us if upon a pleasant and beautiful Object it will excite Love and Delight if upon a miserable Object it will affect us with a tender Compassion to see Men in great Want and Misery will melt and open that Heart which was hardened and shut against all the Arguments and Motives to Charity and long and frequent Consideration will have much the same effect on us that Sight has Judgment is a terrible thing to bad Men and if they would but seriously think of it it would terrifie them if they would but imagine sometimes that they heard that last-Trumpet sound which will awaken all-Mankind and raise them out of their Graves and summon them to Iudgement that they saw the Son of Man descend from Heaven attended with his mighty Angels to execute Vengeance on all them who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ that they saw the Earth all in flames about them and Hell opening her Mouth wide to receive them that they saw the Books opened and those Sins recorded which they had forgot and the Secrets of their Hearts disclosed and that they heard that terrible Sentence Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels do yâ—â— think that any Man who believes all this and would suffer himself seriously to think of it could bear up against the Terrour of it or that with these Thoughts about him he could court a Strumpet or spend his Time in Revels and Excess or Blâ—spheme God and Ridicule Religion or Cheat his Neighbour or Oppress the Poor and Fatherless or Forswear himself Noâ— we see this cannot be as often as we see â— miserable Sinner whose awakened Conscience distracts him with all these Scenes and Images of Terrour So that serious Consideration would make a Future Judgment very effectual to govern our Lives but the great Difficulty of all is to bring Men to consider and yet one would think it impossible that a reasonable Creature should not consider that he must be judged But so it is and there is no disputing against Experience and yet it is so dangerous and fatal a Neglect that it concerns us to enquire into the Causes and Remedies of it for could we Cure this it would quickly Reform the World give a new Resurrection to Piety and Vertue and secure Men from the Danger and Terrours of a Future Judgement Now there are two apparent Causes of this 1. That the Thoughts of Judgment are very uneasie and troublesome and that makes Men afraid and averse to think of it And 2. that Judgment is out of sight and they have nothing to mind them of it and their Thoughts are so taken up with other matters that they forget it unless they happen to hear a Sermon about it or some accidental mention of it which when they return to their worldly Affairs and Business they quickly forget again 1 st Men are very apt to avoid all Thoughts of Judgment because they are very uneasie and troublesome they startle at the mention of it at least do not love to talk too long nor think too seriously of it for it awakens their Consciences and makes them think what a sad Account they have to give how many things they have done and daily do which they can never answer to God when he comes to Judgment and therefore they choose to live quietly without disturbing themselves with such terrifying Reflections and the amazing Thoughts of what is to come Now methinks it is no hard thing to convince thinking Men of the Danger and Folly of this and to reconcile them to the Thoughts of Judgment For 1. To drive these Thoughts out of our Minds though it may give us present ease yet it will not mend our Accounts nor prevent our being judged God will judge us whether we will think of being judged or not were no Men to be judged but those who think of it there were as much reason to stupifie our Consciences and never to think of Judgment as there is for sick Men to take
go out of these Bodies they shall go to Christ 2 Cor. 5.6 8. and this made it so difficult a Choice to St. Paul whether he should desire to live or die by living he might do great service to the Church and therefore he was very well contented to live but if he departed he should be with Christ which is best of all For I am in a strait between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you 1 Phil. 23 24. And it is universally pronounced Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them 14 Revel 13. This evidently proves that good Men shall be happy as soon as they die and besides the express Authority of our Saviour in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus the reason of the thing proves that bad Men must be miserable that as the Happiness of good Men commences with their death so must the Miseries of the Wicked Bad Men indeed many times live very happily in this World for this is the time of God's Patience while he waits to be gracious not being willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance but the Day of Grace ends with this Life the next World is for Retributions we must there receive according to our Works and therefore though we should suppose that the perfect Rewards of good Men and the perfect Miseries of the wicked should be deferred till the Day of Judgment when the final Sentence shall be pronounced which shall bestow Heaven upon good Men and condemn the wicked to Hell yet the Punishment of bad Men must begin when they leave this World because God's Patience is then at an end and the Rewards of good Men must begin too because their Work and Labour is at an end And this has been the universal Belief of Mankind who have believed a future State though they knew nothing of a General Judgment when all Mankind should be summon'd before God's Tribunal yet they all believed that when bad Men died they immediately went to a place of Punishment and good Men to Elysium a place of Rest and Happiness for if we shall be rewarded and punished in the next World for what we have done in this it is natural and reasonable to think that our Rewards and Punishments shall begin as soon as we go into the next World 2. And yet we read of no other formal Judgment but that great and general Judgment when the Son of Man shall descend from Heaven with a glorious Retinue of Angels to Judge the World if we examine all those express Declarations of Christ and his Apostles concerning Judgment or those Parables of our Saviour which relate to it we shall plainly find that they concern the last and general Judgment It is in that day which relates to a certain determined Day of Judgment that many shall say unto him Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name 7 Matth. 22. It is at the end of the World when the Angels shall separate between the Wheat and the Tares between the good and bad Fish which were taken in the same Net 13 Matth. It is when the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels that he shall reward every man according to his works 16 Matth. 27. that is as St. Paul speaks when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ 2 Thess. 8 9. God hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man And when he must do this he tells us The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation 5 John 27 28 29. And in his account of his Judging the World he tells us When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all his holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd separateth his sheep from the goats 25 Matth. 31 32. Then it is when the Man who travelled into a far Country returns and calls his Servants to an Account how they have improved their Talents v. 14 c. Christ is the only Judge of the World for all Judgment is committed to the Son and he does not judge the World till his second Appearance till he returns in the Glory of his Father with his Angels The Apostle to the Hebrews indeed tells us It is appointed unto men once to die and after death the judgment which might seem to intimate a particular Judgment of all Men as soon as they die but he adds when this Judgment shall be in the next Verse So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many he died once for us because we must once die and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation That is he shall appear the second time to judge the World which shews that this Judgement after Death is the general Judgement 9 Heb. 27 28. And the truth is if all Men have a final Sentence past on them as soon as they go into the other World it is very unaccountable why Christ at the last Day shall come with such a terrible Pomp and Solemnity to Judge and Condemn those who are judged and condemned and executed already as much as ever they can be And therefore in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus we have no mention of their being judged but Lazarus was carried by an Angel into Abraham's Bosom the Angels being ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation 1 Heb. 14. Thus they minister to good Men in this World and do a great many kind Offices for us which we know not of and thus they minister to us when we go out of this World and conduct us to a place of Ease and Rest carry us safe through the Crowds of evil Spirits which fill these lower Regions into Abraham's bosom but the rich man was dead and buried and lift up his eyes in hell or Hades not Gehennah which signifies the State of separate Souls and it seems of wicked Souls and was in Torment but how he came thither it is not said there is no notice given us of any Judgment which sat on him or who carried him thither and therefore if we may guess by the Analogy of the Parable as Lazarus was carried by an Angel into Abraham's Bosom so Dives having no good Angel to guard him fell into
not to destroy the World till the wickedness of Mankind is grown incurable and past Remedy and till this is the state of the World how much wickedness soever there be in it it is too soon for a wise and good God to destroy the World he made But there seems 2. to be something more than this to justifie the final destruction of the World not only that the present race of Mankind is so universally corrupt that they deserve to be universally destroyed which was the case of the old World wherein there was but one Righteous Family but that Mankind is thus incurably wicked after all the wise Methods of God's Grace and Providence to reform the World for then it is time to put a final end to the state of this World and to the farther propagation of Mankind on it and to Summon all Men to Judgment to receive according to their Works This seems to be the reason why Noah's Flood did not put a final end to the World and why God did not at that time call all Mankind to Judgment because tho' the wickedness of that Generation of Men was so universal and so incurable that it justified their universal destruction yet God had new Methods of Grace and hidden Treasures of Wisdom in reserve for the reforming the World and therefore though he purged the Earth from its wicked Inhabitants he did not think fit to put an end to the race of Men but preserved Noah and his Sons in the Ark which was the only Righteous Family then living to propagate a new Generation of Men whom he would try with new Methods of Grace the last and most admirable and most effectual Method of Grace was reserved for the last Times the Mysterious Incarnation of the Son of God and the Power of Gospel-Grace And when this also shall have lost its effect when Atheism and Infidelity and all manner of Wickedness shall prevail when the Church it self shall be over-run with Heresies Schisms and a meer external form of Religion without the power of it when Men shall walk after their own Lusts when Faith shall fail Iniquity abound and the Loâ—â— of many wax cold then the end is at hand God has then tryed what Mankind will prove long enough and it is time to put a period to this World and to the race of Mankind and call them all to Judgment If what some learned Men teach be true that the Letters St. Iohn was commanded to write to the seven Churches of Asia were Prophetick of the seven different states of the Christian Church from the time of Christ till the end of the World we find that the very last state of the Church when Christ will spew her out of his mouth that is when he will put a final end to the Church on Earth is represented by the Church of Laodicea 3 Revel 14 c. And to the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write these things saith the Amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the Creation of God I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot I would thou wert cold or hot so then because thou art Lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth When a true Zeal and Concernment for the Faith and Practice of Christianity fails in the Church and Atheism and Infidelity and all manner of Wickedness prevails in the World these are â—resages of the near approach of a final Judgment Now if this be a fair and reasonable account of the destruction of the World and a Future Judgment we need not wonder that God has appointed so late a day for it seven or eight thousand Years is no long time for the duration of the World especially when we have had such a terrible Example of God's Justice and Vengeance in the destruction of the old World already We have reason to believe that this World should never have been destroyed but for the incurable wickedness of Mankind for nothing else can justifie the Wisdom and Goodness of God in destroying what he had made God could have judged and rewarded or punished particular Men without destroying the World but when Mankind is grown universally and incurably wicked it does not become God to suffer this Earth to be an eternal Nursery of Atheists and Rebels against the Majesty of Heaven and this makes it necessary for God to destroy it but then the Wisdom and Goodness of God requires that this should be done with great patience and long-suffering and after the disappointment of all the wise Methods of his Grace in reforming the World and then no Man can say that God has hitherto too long delayed the final Judgment some thousand years is no long tryal to save the World and Mankind whom he hath made from final destruction 1. And therefore let no Man laugh at a future Judgment and final destruction of this World as if it would never be because it is not yet God is in no hast to destroy the World but when he sees it ripe for Destruction that is the day he has appointed for Judgment Such Scoffers as these are certain fore-runners of that day and unless there be still a new Resurrection of true Faith and Piety which we hope for it cannot be far off how long soever such Men may think God delays yet their Iudgment lingreth not and their Damnation slumbereth not 2 Peter 2.3 Let us all remember what our Saviour tells us If that evil servant shall say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with the drunken the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not ware of and shall cut him asunder and shall appoint him his portion with the Hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth 24 Matth. 48. It is no Argument that Judgment is a great way off because Men are secure and can laugh at the thoughts of it for the more secure the World is the nearer it is to Judgment the very day that Judgment shall overtake them they shall least of all think of it as it must needs be when the World shall be so over-run with Atheism and Infidelity and therefore the day of Judgment is said to come like a thief in the night that is suddenly and by surprize when we are asleep and secure and least suspect it 1 Thess. 5.2 4. 2 Peter 3.10 As Christ threatens the Church of Sardis 3 Revel 3. If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee Thus 24 Matth. 37 c. Christ tells us that the day of Judgment or the coming of the Son of man is like the days of Noah For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage
it cannot continue so much longer there are some Prophesies to be accomplished still but how soon they may be accomplished we know not no Man questions but that the World now grows to an end and therefore it is time for every Man to think of Eternity CHAP. III. Who shall be our Iudge viz. the Man CHRIST IESVS III. LET us now consider who shall be our Judge That man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath giveâ— assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead where are two things to be considered First The Person who is to Judge us Secondly What Assurance we have that He shall be our Judge First The Person who is to Judge us That man whom he hath ordained that is the Man CHRIST JESUS for thus both Christ and his Apostles assure us that God hath appointed him to be the Judge of the World The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son 5 John 22. The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels and then shall he reward every man according to his works 16 Matth. 27. Thus St. Peter assures Cornelius concerning Christ He commanded us to preach unto the people and to testifie that it is he which was ordained by God to be the judge of quick and dead 10 Acts 42. But there is no need to multiply Texts in so plain a Case it is of more concernment to inquire why Christ who is the Eternal Son of God and a God Incarnate when he is spoke of as Judge of the World is most usually described as a Man or the Son of Man thus He is that man whom God hath ordained and the Son of man nay Christ himself tells us For this reason God hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man 5 John 27. Now the reason why our Saviour is described as a Man and the Son of Man when he comes to Judgment is because he shall visibly appear in Humane Nature to judge the World and therefore will be and will appear as much a Man as he did when he dwelt on Earth though he will appear also more like a God thus the Prophet Daniel describes it He saw in the night-visions and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed 7 Dan. 13 14. It is the Son of Man who has this Glory and Kingdom given him and which he must administer as the Son of Man And this seems the true reason why our Saviour so often calls himself the Son of Man not as some imagine with respect to the mean Circumstances of his Appearance in the World for this Phrase The Son of Man no where in Scripture relates to such an external Meanness and Poverty as distinguishes one Man from another but it either signifies no more than a Man or it respects the common Weaknesses of Humane Nature and when this Name is applied to any particular Persons it is never used of mean Men but always of Princes or Prophets But by this Title of the Son of Man our Saviour gives us to understand that he is that Great and Extraordinary Person known by the name of The Son of Man in Daniel's Visions whom God hath ordained to be the Lord and Judge of the World But I shall not pass over this Argument thus but shall more particularly consider the great Wisdom of this how necessary congruous and fitting it is that the Son of Man should Judge the World which will suggest a great many useful Meditations to us Now I shall reduce what I have to say to these two Heads 1. That it is very fitting and necessary that the Saviour of Mankind should be their Judge also 2. And therefore that the Man Christ Jesus who is the Saviour of the World should Judge it I. That it is very fitting and necessary that the Saviour of Mankind should be their Judge also and that upon two Accounts 1. Because the Authority to Judge is essential to the Notion and Authority of a Saviour To save Sinners signifies to save them from their sins which is the true Interpretation of the Name Jesus 1 Matt. 20. And to save them from their Sins is to deliver them from the Punishment of Sin that is from the Wrath of God from the Curse of the Law from Death and Hell to raise them from the Dead and to bestow Immortal Life on them Now there are several Acts must concur to perfect this Salvation but the last concluding and finishing Act is Judgment And he only is a complete and perfect Saviour who has Authority to Judge to Pardon and to Reward God is a Holy and Pure Being and can never be reconciled to Sinners till they are renewed and sanctified which makes it necessary for the Saviour of the World to instruct Mankind in their Duty and by the Power of his Grace to change their Natures and make them Holy as God is since without holiness no man shall see God and therefore he must be a great Prophet and Preacher of Righteousness to turn men from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God God is a very righteous Judge and has threatned Death against Sin and therefore the Saviour of Sinners must make Atonement and Expiation for Sin must deliver us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us that is must be our Priest and our Sacrifice must die for our Sins and intercede for us with God but all this while a Sinner is not saved till he is finally acquitted and absolved till he is actually delivered from the Curse of the Law and possessed of Eternal Life and Glory all things else are only Preparatory Acts but the Final Judgment perfects our Salvation for he who finally Pardons and bestows Heaven on us is our Saviour Christ might have been our Prophet our Priest and our Sacrifice without being our Judge but he could not have been our Saviour without it and therefore after Christ's Resurrection from the Dead after he had preach'd the Gospel and died upon the Cross to expiate our Sins he tells his Disciples All power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth 28 Matth. And St. Peter tells the Sanhedrim Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins 5 Acts 31. So that he saves by Power he is our Saviour and our Prince and this Power is the Reward of his Obedience and Sufferings Therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name
That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father 2 Phil. 9 10 11. His Power to save is attributed to his Intercession or Mediatory Kingdom Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make iâ—tercession for them 7 Heb. 25. And in like manner St. Paul attributes our Reconciliation to God to the Death of Christ but our Salvation to his Life that is to that Power he was invested with at his Resurrection from the Dead For if when we were enemies we were reconciled â—nto God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life That is actually delivered from the Wrath of God by the Power and Authority of a Living Saviour 5 Rom. 10. Upon the same account Christ is said to be delivered for our offences and to be raised again for our justification That is finally to Absolve and Justifie us at the Day of Judgment 4 Rom. 25. for we must observe that though Christ by his Death has made a general Atonement and Expiation for Sin and those Men are said at present to be justified who are in a justified State that is who are within the Terms of the Covenant for Justification who are such as Christ in his Gospel hâ—s promised to justifie yet properly speaking no Man is finally justified till he is finally acquitted and absolved at the Day of Judgment till he is judicially delivered from the Wrath of God threatned against Sin and actually sentenced to Life and Glory And if Christ cannot do this for us whatever other Benefits we receive by his Ministry and Death he is not a complete and perfect Saviour for he does not actually save us unless he have Power and Authority to Judge us that is finally to Absolve us from all our Sins and to bestow Heaven on us Which shews that the Saviour of Sinners must be their Judge because we are not actually saved till we are finally judged Moses was not a complete Saviour of Israel because tho' he brought them out of AEgypt yet he left them in the Wilderness but Ioshua was their Saviour and therein a Type of Christ who gave them Possession of the Promised Land 2. But besides the nature of the Thing that our Saviour must be our Judge that is must actually save us there is very great reason it should be so because this gives Authority and Efficacy to all the Methods of Salvation It will make Sinners afraid not to be saved by him when they know that he must Judge them As to shew this particularly It will give great Authority to his Laws and Counsels and great Credit to his Promises and Threatnings 1. It will give great Authority to his Laws and Counsels to remember that our Lawgiver will be our Judge that he who came into the World in Humane Nature to declare the Will of God to us shall come again to Judge us by that Gospel which he preached When God sends his Prophets to us there is great reason to reverence the Authority of God in them but much more when our Judge comes to preach to us himself for we may be sure he will not preach in vain the Laws he preached to us at his first coming shall be the Rule whereby he will Judge us at his second coming Especially when we consider that both our Prophet and our Judge is the Saviour of Mankind We may possibly flatter our selves that when God comes to Judgment he may relax somewhat of the Rigour and Severity of his Laws that he has reserved to himself a liberty of Dispensing with our Obedience to those Laws which by his Prophets he commanded us to Obey but we cannot think that our Saviour would lay any unnecessary Burden on us that he would require any thing of us under the Pain of Damnation but what he expects we should do that he will dispense with the Terms of the Gospel whicâ— are themselves a Dispensation with the Rigour of the Law for there must be an end of Dispensing somewhere unless Grace can dispense away all our Duty and dispense unreformed and impenitent Sinners into Heaven if this could be done there was no reason why the Saviour of the World should have preach'd at all or have given any Laws to Mankind if he would have no regard to them in judging the World but if the Judge of the World become a Preacher it concerns us diligently to hearken to him for whether we will obey his Laws or no we shall be judged by them 2. This gives great Credit to his Promises and Threatnings when they are made by our Judge himself who has Authority to execute them Has Christ promised Pardon of Sin to all true Penitents has he promised to raise our dead Bodies out of the Grave immortal and glorious to bestow a Crown and Kingdom on us then we may depend on it that he will do what he has promised for he who has promised is able also to perform He has Authority to forgive Sins to raise the Dead to receive all his Disciples into Heaven into the immediate Presence of God there to live and to rejoyce for ever and when he who came to save us and 〈◊〉 promised this great Salvation to us has Power to give it when he who has made these Promises has the disposal of Life and Glory and Heaven in his own hands this is a mighty Encouragement to us to be stedfast unmovable always abounding in the Work of the Lord for as much as we know that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And have not all impenitent Sinners as much reason to expect that Christ will certainly execute that Vengeance on them which he has threatned that he will condemn them to Eternal Night and Darkness to Lakes of Fire and Brimstone where there is Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth for evermore For he is the Judge of the World who has Power and Authority to do it and has declared that he will do it and then we have reason to take his word for it Men are apt to shelter themselves from the Terrors of the Law by the Merits and and Mediation and Mercies of a Saviour God indeed is very just and severe a consuming Fire and who can abide his comming But the Blessed Jesus is a merciful and compassionate Saviour He is so infinitely merciful but yet this merciful Saviour has threatned Everlasting Fire against incorrigible Sinners and he is our Judge too and if he will condemn us at the last Day what hope is there for us where shall we find another Saviour to deliver us It seems he is not all Mercy as Sinners are apt to flatter themselves No! he is a Judge and a terrible Judge and
if our Saviour will judge us it is dangerous to neglect so great Salvation That God did not intend meerly to fright Sinners with his Threatnings is evident from the Sufferings of our Saviour he could not save us without making Atonement and Expiation for our Sins and if he must undergo the Curse of the Law if he must suffer Death to redeem Sinners it is certain Sinners must have died if Christ had not died for them as St. Paul argues If one died for all then were all dead for would God have laid the Punishment of our Sins on Christ if he had not intended to execute the Curse of the Law against Sinners would he have delivered up Christ to Death for us if he had not intended that Sinners should die without a Sacrifice And when the Saviour of the World who came to lay down his Life for us to â—edeem us from the Curse of the Law threatens everlasting Destruction against impenitent and unbelieving Sinners what reason have we to hope that he will not execute his Threatnings those who are not redeemed by his Death must die themselves and it cannot be otherwise expected but that he who died to save us will execute the Sentence of Eternal Death on all those who will not be saved by him When he comes to Judgment he will remember the Shame and Agony the Infamy and Torments of the Cross which he under went for Sinners and this will make him revenge the Contempt of his dying and suffering Love he suffered for Sin once and though he were the Son of God he bowed and sweat and died under the weight of it but all this is despised by Sinners and goes for nothing and now he will die no more for them but they shall die for themselves shall feel the weight of God's Wrath themselves shall sweat and groan and die under it to Eternity II. It is very fitting and congruous that the Man Christ Jesus who is the Saviour should be the Judge of the World and that upon three Accounts 1. This is a very fitting Reward of his Humiliation and Sufferings 2. It gives great advantage to the Future Judgment that the Son of Man is the Judge of Mankind 3. It adds to the Glory and Triumph and Terrour of that Day to have a visible Judge 1. The Glory and Authorâ—ty of a Judge is a very proper and fitting Reward of Christ's Humiliation and Sufferings He became Man to save Mankind though he was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God yet he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross 2 Phil. 6 7 8. This was a very low Condescension for the Son of God to conceal his Eternal Majesty under so mean a Disguise of Flesh and Blood to become Man as we are to submit to all the Weaknesses and Infirmities of Humane Nature to choose a low and mean Fortune to be treated with Contempt and Infamy and to die a painful and accursed Death upon the Cross. All this he submitted to in Obedience to his Father's Will for the Redemption of Mankind but it was not fitting this Son of Righteousness should always lie under an Eclipse he must break forth at last with a new and surprizing Glory the World must see what a great and excellent Person he was who came to visit them in great Humility who took upon him the form of a servant and was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief and therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow both of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father V. 10 11. Christ is now exalted to the right Hand of God as a Reward of his Humiliation and Sufferings and appears in the true Glory of an Incarnate God but his Glory is now visible onely to the blessed Inhabitants of Heaven those who despised him persecuted him spit on him nailed him to the Cross those who in all Ages since have derided the Crucified Jesus and scorned his Religion and Worship see nothing of his Glory but when he comes to Judge the World then his Glory and Power shall be visible to all this will put an end to the Reproach of the Cross and turn it into Surprize and Wonder when they shall see what a glorious Person he is who submitted to so infamous a Death When he came into the World he appeared as other Men do as mean as the meanest Men clothed with a mortal Body of Flesh and Blood without any external Splendor of Birth or Fortune to recommend him but when this Son of Man shall return again to Judge the World his external Appearance will then be glorious so bright and transplendent that he will Eclipse the Sun as the Sun does the lesser Lights of Heaven then God will be as visible in him as Man was on Earth and shine through Humane Nature as the Soul does through the Body that an Incarnate God will be as visible as a Man Humane Nature will no longer veil and conceal the Glory of the Godhead but shall bear all the visible Impressions of the Deity and appear with the awful Majesty of God and this is a proper Reward for his mean appearance on Earth for when God becomes Man though there may be wise Reasons why he should conceal himself in Humane Nature for a while yet it cannot and ought not to be always so but if God becomes Man he will at one time or other make his Glory visible to all the World in Humane Nature It was a low and vile submission for the Son of God to be arraigned as a Male-factor before Pontius Pilate to be falsly accused unjustly condemned made a Mock King buffetted scourged reviled with the most bitter and insulting Scorn and nailed upon the Cross betwixt two Thieves but the Scene will be changed when he comes to Judge the World when his Crown of Thorns shall be bright Rays of Glory when the Wound in his Side and the Print of the Nails in his Hands and Feet shall be Springs and Fountains of Light when his Cross shall be turned into a Triumphant Charriot and Throne of Judgment and his Judge and Accusers and all the Enemies and Despisers of his Cross shall stand trembling before him this is the Triumph of the Crucified Jesus this is the Reward of his Infamy and Death and a proper Reward it is to make him the Judge of the World who was judged and condemned himself by Sinners The firm belief and perswasion of this now that God has made him the Judge
if an ordinary Judge of Assize be lookt on with so much Reverence and Awe what is the Glory and Majesty of an Universal Judge How will all the World fall and bow and tremble before him who with the Word of his Mouth can sentence them to Eternal Life or Death This is his Father's glory for he is the Natural Lord and Judge of the World and from him he receives this Authority to Judge the World The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father 5 John 22 23. To this Glory he is now advanced and we must now Obey and Reverence and Adore him as our Judge but it will give a visible Majesty to him when he thus comes in the Glory of his Father when the astonishing Glory of his Person is still made more Glorious and Majestick by the Authority of a Judge But his Retinue is very glorious also and adds to the Terror and Majesty of his Appearance for he shall come attended with Myriads of holy Angels bright and glorious Beings who incircle his Person and are the Witnesses and Ministers of his Justice We know a splended Retinue adds greatly to the Glory of a Prince or Judge a Multitude has something great and awful in it especially when this Multitude are all his Dependants Servants and Ministers and more still when every one of this Multitude are most excellent and glorious Creatures the Beauty and Perfection of the Creation whose single Glories we cannot now bear the sight of without great Apprehension and Amazement and what a mighty Prince is he who comes attended with the whole Host of Heaven who leave their heavenly Mansions to wait upon their Lord and to adorn his Triumphs But this glorious Retinue of Angels is not meerly for Pomp and State but they are the Ministers of his Justice and therefore are called his mighty Angels or the Angels of his Power 2 Thess. 1.8 And what a powerful Judge is he who has all the Powers of Heaven attending him to execute his Vengeance on Men and Devils This glorious Judge shall at the last Day come down from Heaven for thither he ascended after his Resurrection from the Dead and there he must continue till he comes to Judge the World but then the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God 2 Thess. 4.16 I see no reason why this should not be understood literally of an audible Voice and Shouting and an audible sound of the last Trumpet to summon all Mankind to Judgment for this makes the Appearance more solemn and awful and thus God descended on Mount Sinai when he gave the Law With thundrings and lightnings and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that was in the camp trembled 19 Exod. 16. And if he gave the Law with the sound of a Trumpet why not Judge the World with it too This Shout is the shouting of the holy Angels begun by the Voice of the Archangel in their descent with Christ and signifies what such Shoutings do among Men either great Joy and Exultation or Alacrity and Courage thus Men shout for joy when any thing happens which highly pleases them thus Souldiers shout when the Signal is given for Battle Thus when our Lord shall say Come ye holy Angels go down with me to Judge the World they will shout for joy that that day is come which will put a final end to the Kingdom of Darkness when the Devil and his Angels and all wicked Men shall be cast into the Lake of Fire and good Men rewarded and crowned and received into the immediate Presence of God in Heaven For this is matter of Joy to all holy Angels to see the final Conquest of all the Enemies of CHRIST'S Kingdom to see the Triumphs of Justice to see all Impiety and Wickedness shamed condemned and punished and the World cleansed from the Pollutions of it to see their numbers encreased by the advancement of good Men into Heaven who will now be united to their Company and joyn with them in singing Halelujahs to Him that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lamb for if there be Joy in Heaven at the Repentance of one Sinner what Exultation and Acclamations will there be to see the whole number of GOD'S Elect raised again with glorious Bodies and receive that Kingdom which was prepared for them before the Foundations of the World When our Lord shall say Come ye holy Angels and be the Ministers of my Justice and execute my Vengeance upon a wicked World upon the Devil and all bad Men and gather together mine Elect from the four Corners of the Earth with what Shoutings will they receive their Commission with what Alacrity and Courage will they execute it for so our Saviour himself represents it that the Angels are not meerly Attendants of State but his Officers and Ministers whom he employs in Judging the World thus he expounds the Parable of the Tares 13 Mat. 41 42 43. He that soweth good seed is the Son of man The field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom but the tares are the children of the wicked one The enemy that sowed them iâ— the devil the harvest is the end of the world and the reapers are the angels As therefore the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire so shall it be in the end of the World The Son of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather forth out of his kingdom all things that offeâ—â— and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be â—â—iling and gnashing of teeth Then shall the righteous shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father And thus he expounds the Parable of the Net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind Which when it was full they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels and the bad they cast away So shall it be at the end of the world the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth v. 47 48 49 50. What is meant by the trump of God with which Christ descends from Heaven is hard to say only thus much we know that it is such a Trumpet at the sound of which the Dead shall rise as St. Paul expresly tells us 1 Cor. 15.51 52. Behold I shew you a mystery We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed And therefore this last Trump seems to be what our Saviour calls the Voice of the Son of
and this Punishment bad Men have by being suffered to stand by and see the glorious Rewards of the Righteous But there is a further reason also for this that good Men when they are acquitted and absolved shall together with their Lord sit in Judgment on the wicked World 1 Cor. 6.2 3. Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world Know ye not that we shall judge angels How far this extends we know not but it seems such a thing there is as was universally believed in the Apostle's Days as appears from his Appeal to their own knowledge of it but if they must Judge the World it is reasonable to think that their own Judgment must be over first I shall name but one thing more which I have had several occasions to take notice of already and that is That at the last Judgment this Earth shall be destroyed with Fire as S. Peter expresly tells us The day of the Lord shall come like a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 This has been an old Tradition that the World shall be destroyed by Fire and some Men are very curious and inquisitive by what Natural Causes this may be done for they are not willing to allow that God either made or destroys the World by an immediate Power for the less they leave for God to do the less they are concerned about him but though it is hard to perswade some Men now that there was any need of a God to make the World which they think could make itself without him yet the last Judgment shall convince them that it is God that destroys it when they shall see the World fired by a flame streaming from his Throne as is not improbable by the Description of the Prophet Daniel A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him 7 Dan. 10. The only Question is Whether the World shall be fired at Christ's first appearance to Judgment or after the final Sentence pronounced against bad Men The first does not seem probable because Christ himself shall place his Throne in the Air and all Mankind shall be gathered before him to Judgment and a fired World is not a proper Scene for such an Appearance and the burning of the World seems to be an Act of Judgment and Vengeance as St. Paul tells us He shall descend from heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God 2 Thess. 1.8 So that the Devil and bad Men shall first be condemned to Everlasting Fire and then their Punishment shall begin in a Fired World Thus I have given you a brief View of the Circumstances and Manner of Christ's Appearance and the Awful Solemnities of Judgment every part of which is for the Glory of our Lord for the Comfort of good Men and a Terrour to the wicked God grant we may so think of this Day before hand that we may not feel the Terrour and Astonishment of it when it comes CHAP. V. Who are to be Iudged viz. The World or all Mankind V. LET us consider who are to be judged and they are the World or all Mankind for I shall take no notice of the Judgment of the Devil and the Apostate Angels which we know no more of but only that they shall be judged that the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day Jude v. 6. Why their Judgment is deferred so long we cannot tell for it is plain that the Angels fell from their first Estate before Man and how long we know not for it was the Serpent that beguiled Eve but this we know that whatever their first Apostasie was they have a great deal more to answer for now and must expect a more terrible Condemnation All the Sin that is in the World is originally owing to the Temptation of the Devil who seduced our first Parents in Paradise and has ever since been the great Tempter to Wickedness and Apostasie from God and therefore he is in some degree entitled to all the Wickedness of Mankind And this is a good reason why the Devil and his Angels and all bad Men should be judged and condemned together those who tempt and those who are overcome by Temptations the Prince of Darkness and all his Subjects whether Angels or Men. Hell is the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels not for Men but when he has drawn Mankind into the Apostasie it is fit they should share in his Punishments too and when our Lord comes to Judge Men who have been seduced and corrupted by Evil Spirits there is no reason to think that wicked Spirits should escape who have seduced and tyrannized over Mankind But that which we are at present concerned in is the Judgment of Mankind That God hath appointed a Day wherein he will Judge the World or the whole Race of Men as St. Iohn represents it I saw the dead small and great stand before God 20 Revel 12. No Man who believes a Future Judgement makes any doubt of this but that all shall be judged For if any why not all We are all alike God's Creatures we are all equally accountable to him and though we have very different Talents yet we have all some Talent or other to improve for our Master's use And therefore I shall not go about to convince any Man that he is to be judged as well as the rest of Mankind but there are some Persons who are apt to forget this who have yet as much occasion to think of a Future Judgment as any other Men and therefore ought to be minded of it and they are those who are very Rich and Great or very Poor or in the Vigour and Gaiety of Youth 1 st Rich and Great Men Princes and Potentates Men of Honour and Fortune who are exalted above the common Level of Mankind These must all be judged as well as the meanest Men though they are not very apt to think of it great Power and great Riches make them reverenced and adored like so many little Deities in this World all Men court and flatter them and make a great distinction between them and those of a meaner Rank and Fortune and this is apt to swell their Minds they look down upon the rest of the World as very much below them and think they merit much when ever they look up to God for such great Men as they are to worship God and lift up their Eyes sometimes to Heaven they imagine is so great an Honour to God and Credit to Religion that a very little matter will be accepted from them they see Humane Judicatures very often have great respect for Mens persons in Judgment and they hope God will consider their
have not strawed Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury Take therefore the talent from him And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth 25 Matth. Here we plainly see that this Servant was not punished for spending his Master's Money for he returned him the Talent which he gave him Lo here thou hast what is thine but for not improving it as his other Servants had done He was an unprofitable Servant who had brought no advantage to his Master And thus it is plain Men judge of Servants He is a very wicked Steward indeed who embezels his Master's Goods but he is an unprofitable Servant who makes no Improvements and thus God will judge of us as we think it reasonable to judge of our Servants And good GOD when we consider how many Talents we are entrusted with it should make us tremble to think whaâ— little Improvements we make of them Every thing that is improveable to the Service and Glory of God is a Talent and if we do not improve it to God's Glory and to do good in the World it is a Talent hid in a Napkin or buried in the Earth As to give some short Hints and Intimations of this for a just Discourse about this matter would be too long a Digression Power must be allowed to be a Talent and a very improveable Talent for every degree of Power gives Men great opportunities of doing good some Men move in a high Sphere and can give Laws to those below their very Examples their Smiles or Frowns are Laws and can do more to the Reforming of the World then the wisest Instructions the most convincing Arguments the most pathetical Exhortations of meanner Men. But though few Men have such a Power as this yet most Men have some degree of Power to be sure every Father and Master of a Family has his Authority reaches his Children and Servants and were this but wisely improved it would soon reform the World But how few are there who improve this Talent who use their Power to make those who are under their Authority obedient to God which is the true Use and Improvement of Power Riches I suppose will be allowed to be another very improveable Talent for what Good may not a rich Man do if he have a Heart to do it He may be Eyes to the Blind and Feet to the Lame a Father to the Fatherless and a Husband to the Widow a Tutelar Angel and even a God to Men. And Riches are a Trust and a Stewardship of which we must give an Account To spend them upon our Lusts in Rioting Luxury and Wantonness this is to wast our Master's Goods and to keep them safe without doing any good with them is to hide them in the Earth as the unprofitable Servant did his Talent and if we must be judged and condemned for not improving our Talent for not putting our Lord's money to the exchangers that when he comes he may receive his own with usury as our Saviour tells us rich Men ought to examine their Accounts and see what Encrease they have made of their Talent not how they have multiplied their Gold and Silver but what good they have done with it Once more Wisdom and Knowledge especially the Knowledge of God and of Religion is a very improveable Talent for there is nothing whereby we can more advance the Glory of God or do more good to Men To Instruct the Ignorant to Confirm the Doubtful to Vindicate the Being and Providence of God to Shame and Baffle Atheism and Infidelity to Expound the Doctrines and Laws of our Saviour and Rescue them from perverse Glosses and Comments this makes the Glory of God more visible to the World and serves Mankind in their greatest and dearest Interests it feeds their Souls with Knowledge and Understanding directs them in the Way to Heaven and minds them to take care of their Eternal State This indeed is the peculiar Care and Charge of the Ministâ—â—s of Religion they are the stewards of the mysteries of GOD those whom our Lord has made rulers over his houshold to give them meat in due season 24 Matth. 25. And St. Paul tells us It is required of these stewards that they be found faithful But this is a Talent which those may have in great perfection who are not by Office the Guides of Souls and where-ever it is it must be improved and must be accounted for We may many times do more service to God and more good to Men by giving wise and wholesome Instructions than by giving an Alms This every Man who knows enough to take care of his own Soul can do in some measure and this he must and ought to do as well as he can but so few Men think of this or charge themselves with it as belonging to their Account that it is fit to mind you of it IV. We shall be judged not only for our own personal Sins but in many Cases for the Sins of other Men which we have made our own There are a great many ways whereby we may bring the guilt of other Mens Sins upon ourselves when we tempt and provoke Men to sin by our Authority Counsels Examples when we perswade intice threaten or shame Men into Sin when we neglect our Duty to those who are under our Government do not instruct them better do not forewarn them of the danger they are in of being miserable in this World and in the next when we do not restrain them when we can nor punish them for their Sins when we are Partners with them in their Wickedness or the Instruments of it when we corrupt and debauch their Understandings with the Principles of Atheism Infidelity or Scepticism whatever Wickedness Men are drawn into by these means is chargeable upon ourselves and must be added to our Account as in reason it ought to be for if we are the cause of other Mens Sins we must bear the guilt of them too And if this be so what a terrible Account have some Men to make which they never think of How many have they corrupted by their Examples or Counsels or some other way And how will this aggravate their own Condemnation when they carry a long Train and Retinue of undone Souls to Hell with them That if Men will not be good themselves they ought to take care how they make others wicked this they get nothing by but a double Damnation and they will find it enough to be damned for themselves V. We shall be judged also for our Secret Sins Thus Solomon tells us God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil 12 Eccl. 14. And St. Paul tells us That God shall judge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ according to the gospel 2 Rom. 16. And therefore David
have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. By grace you are saved tbrough faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works least any man should boast Not by works of righteousness which we have done but by grace hath he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost But then it is as plain on the other hand that God will render to every man according to his deeds that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body according to what we have done whether it be good or bad That Christ will condemn all wicked Christians whatever their Faith be Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity What shall we say then to this matter both these Propositions must be allowed to be undoubtedly true We are justified by Faith we are saved by Grace without the Works of the Law and we shall be judged according to our works and shall receive what we have done in this body whether good or evil That is we are justified by faith justified freely by God's grace through the redemption which is in Christ Iesus and through faith in his blood and yet shall be condemned at the last Judgment if we live wickedly This is a matter of very great consequence to be plainly stated because a great many Christians encourage themselves in sin with vain hopes and eternally perish by a presumptuous Faith and Reliance on Christ. I. Now in the first place that whatever mistakes or misapprehensions Men may have about the nature of Faith and Justification may not endanger their Souls by encouraging them in sin I observe that we must reconcile the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works to our being judged by our Works not expound away the Doctrine of our being judged according to our Works to reconcile it to our Notions of Justification by Faith And there are manifest Reasons for this 1. Because it is as expresly taught in Scripture that we shall be judged by our Works as it is that we are justified by Faith and therefore we must not oppose our Justification by Faith to our being judged by our Works for that is not to expound Scripture but to confute one Scripture Doctrine by another to prove that we shall not be judged by our Works though the Scripture says we shall because the Scripture also teaches that we are justified by Faith without Works Now if it be allowable to reject any Scripture Doctrine or to confute one Doctrine by â—â—other we may with as good reason 〈◊〉 them both by each other and belâ—â—â—â— neither for if they can't be reconciled but we must deny one our being judged by our Works does as plainly prove that we are not justified by Faith without Works as Justification by Faith proves that we shall not be judged by our Works We must distinguish between expounding and reconciling Scripture and confuting it and therefore whatever we believe about Justification by Faith we must still confess we shall be judged by our Works For 2. There is great reason to expound Justification by Faith by our being judged by Works because when we are told in Scripture That God will render to us according to our deeds that every man must receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad These are plain proper expressions without any Figure or Metaphor in them and therefore are capable of no other sence than what the words at first view signifie We shall receive what we have done if we have done good we shall be rewarded if we have done evil we shall be punished good Men shall be received into Heaven and all wicked Men even wicked Believers as well as wicked Infidels shall 〈◊〉 cast into Hell this every Child understands to be the meaning of these Words and no other sence can be made of them and therefore since this is so plainly and so frequently taught in Scripture whatever we believe else we must believe this if we believe the Scripture But now when we read of being justified by Faith without Works every word is capable of very different sences and we know is expounded very differently by learned Men according to the different Hypothesis they intend to serve by it and then we must confess it is not so certain what is meant by Justification by Faith without Works as what is meant by being judged according to our Works at least so much must be allowed that we must prefer that sence of Justification by Faith which agrees with our being judged by our Works before any other interpretation which contradicts or overthrows this plain sence of a Future Judgment As for instance Some by justifying understand making just and righteous that to justifie the ungodly is to make a wicked Man good by the power and efficacy of Faith but then to justifie the ungodly without the Works of the Law or to make a wicked Man good without good Works does not found very well and therefore others more reasonably and more agreeably to Scripture understand justifying in a forensick sence for absolving acquitting declaring and accounting Men just and righteous and treating them as such that is imputing righteousness to them though in a strict and proper sence they are not inherently righteous And then this forensick Justification may either signifie our being justified at Baptism when by the profession of our Faith we are incorporated by Baptism into Christ's Church and are made the Members of his Mystical Body and have all our sins washed away in his Blood and come pure and innocent out of the laver of Regeneration and thus the most ungodly Sinners are justified by Faith in Baptism without Works or any antecedent righteousness of their own or else this Justification may be extended to the Future Judgment that at the last Day of Account we shall be justified acquitted absolved rewarded by Faith without Works but this does not agree very well with our being judged and receiving according to our Works the Scripture expresly teaches that we are justified by Faith without Works and that we shall be judged by our Works but never saith we shall be judged by our Faith which seems to make a great difference between being justified and being judged for if we are justified without Works and judged by our Works justified by Faith without Works but not judged not acquitted and rewarded by Faith without Works to be justified and to be judged cannot signifie the same