is not in the power of any mortal eye though never so impartial to discern rightly of him or his actions Besides there are few men so impartial in their judgment as to take in all circumstances even of outward appearance we too frequently pass censure according to our own preconceived opinions and prejudices and are often biassed by our zeal interests or affections which do usually as much mis-represent persons and actions to our understanding as coloured Mediums do objects to the eye Thence arises the great difference between the several judgments men make of the same things Nay so deceitful is the heart of man so hardly to be searched into that we are not competent Judges of our own actions We have many arts to deceive our selves many secret evasions and false pretences to beget an opinion of our own worth and righteousness and to hide our selves if I may so say from our own souls and then how can we hope to make a right judgment of other men But now the Lord who is to come is of infinite knowledge and 't is his Prerogative alone to understand the thoughts of man and the counsels of his heart This God testifieth of himself Jer. xvii 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it I the Lord search the heart I trie the reins even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings Again Prov. xxiv 12. If thou sayest behold we knew it not doth not he which pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it The all-seeing eye of God can discern those inwards acts of piety which a good man is imployed in though they meet with censure and reproach among men and can as easily unmask all the false pretences of the Hypocrite since all things are naked and open before him Now the consequences of these considerations to dissuade us from judging before the time is easie and obvious For what more reasonable motive to restrain our curiosity in prying into and censuring the actions of others than that the exact knowledge of those things is too wonderful for us and that we cannot attain to it and withall that there is a judgment to come when if we make a false and uncharitable judgment we shall be plainly convinced of it before God and all his holy Angels and then who can persuade himself that it will not be a matter of great shame and confusion of face to see those men whom we had unjustly censured and reviled receive praise from the unerring judgment of God and for those very actions which we here condemned made partakers of the reward of Righteousness the Crown of Glory and Immortality 2. A further consideration to dissuade from all uncharitable judgment is that the Lord who is to come and he alone hath power and authority to judge That Lord whose Creatures we are and on whom we depend daily for our support and well-being hath onely absolute right and dominion over us and except in those cases where he hath delegated his authority to Princes Parents and other Governours to judge of and determine those outward actions that concern Society he hath reserved the power of giving Laws to mankind and of judging according to them to himself onely And therefore besides the presumption which while we judge others we are guilty of our selves by boldly intruding into those things which we know not we do withall sacrilegiously invade the royal Prerogative of God to whom alone judgment belongeth This is St. James's argument James iv 12. There is one Law-giver able to save and to destroy who art thou that judgest another And S. Paul to the same purpose Rom. xiv 4. Who art thou that judgest anothers servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth But to conclude Thirdly and lastly we ought not to judge before the time because the Lord cometh who will be the severe avenger of all uncharitable judgment of our brethren This he himself assures us S. Matt. vii 1 2. Judge not that you be not judged for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again And from this ground S. Paul argues Rom. ii 1. Therefore thou inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self for thou that judgest dost the same things Verse the third And thinkest thou this O man that judgest them that do such things and dost the same that thou shouldest escape the judgment of God Now I conceive the Apostles Argument is equally cogent whether he be understood here to speak of the same sins in specie or rather of other sins of equal guilt Since the unreasonableness of judging our Neighbour for some particular sins when we are guilty of others as heinous is altogether as evident as though we did the same things we condemn him for And therefore S. Paul himself in the latter part of that Chapter when he pursues the same argument makes his instances not only in sins of the same kind but of equal degree Verse 22. Thou that abhorrest Idols committest thou Sacriledge And now let any man consider how dreadful his condition must needs be at the judgment of the great day if the Lord who is to come should be extreme to mark what he hath done amiss and should deal with him according to the utmost rigour of the Law and then he cannot want sufficient arguments to persuade him to a meek and candid interpretation of the faults of others especially if he call to mind that God hath declared that he shall have judgment without mercy which hath shewed no mercy which shewing of mercy doth not consist barely in the relieving the wants of those that are in misery but in an universal charity as well in our thoughts and judgments of others and in an humble forbearance of their faults and infirmities as in other acts of bounty and liberality It remains now since we all believe and are assured that our Lord will certainly come to judge the World that we behave our selves as men that wait for his coming as by all other Exercises of Holy Living so more particularly by Meekness and Charity towards others that laying aside all rash and uncharitable censures of other men we may be in some measure capable of receiving the promise of our Saviour Luke vi 37. Judge not and ye shall not be judged condemn not and ye shall not be condemned SERM. III. JOHN vij 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self HE that considers with himself the great variety of Opinions in matters of Religion which have prevailed in the Christian World and the great zeal and animosities wherewith men of different persuasions are wont to maintain the distinguishing opinions of their Party scarce
diligence add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you effectually into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Now these and the like Exhortations would be of no force at all to persuade us if these promises could be attained without the performance of these conditions In a word in all the descriptions of a Judgment to come there is nothing plainer than this that I now plead for that God will reward every one according to what he hath done I shall mention but two places more Rom. ij 6. God will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentiles For there is no respect of persons with God The other place is Mat. xxv where our Saviour having given us a large description of those good Works which shall then be rewarded and having there represented the vanity of those mens excuses who had not wrought them he concludes with this sentence these shall go away into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal There remains onely to draw some inferences from what hath been said that may be of use to us for the government of our lives 1. If there be a Judgment to come wherein men shall receive rewards and punishments according to their actions whether good or bad it is easie then to understand how much those men deceive themselves who hope to be saved by vertue of any absolute and inconditionate decree For if God have from eternity fore-ordained such and such particular persons to eternal life and others to eternal damnation without any consideration of their actions whether good or bad then certainly God cannot proceed in judgment according to the method before described nor could the promises and threatnings of the Gospel have any force of persuasion to engage men in the practice of Vertue or to discourage them from Sin and Wickedness In vain would the Apostle here make use of the terrours of the Lord to persuade men if God have before determined that such a certain number of them shall not escape the wrath to come whatsoever diligence they use on their parts On the contrary the promises of the Gospel cannot have any reasonable force to engage men to obedience if once they knew and believed that their future state was from everlasting unalterably fixed so that they could not fall short of it by any neglect Nay upon this supposition all the various methods of persuasion which God uses in Scripture to bring men to repentance and a better life prove nothing else but illusion and hypocrisie For that God should so often by his holy Prophets and Apostles invite and exhort and beseech all men that they would turn from their evil ways and live when in the mean time he hath excluded many myriads of men from any possibility of salvation by an absolute and irresistible decree which no endeavour of theirs can revoke or cancel this way of proceeding cannot by any means consist with that truth and sincerity and goodness which is inseparable from the divine nature We must therefore conclude that if there be a Judgment to come when all men shall receive rewards and punishments according to what they have done then certainly no man shall ever be excluded from those rewards but by his own fault nor yet any man obtain the same but by a due diligence in working out his salvation and performing those conditions upon which they are promised 2. From what hath been said concerning the method of Gods proceeding at the Judgment of the last Day we may also observe that those men do extreamly mistake the conditions of salvation who talk of being saved by Faith as it is distinguished from good works and obedience who take so much pains to cry down the value of our good works as though they had little or no influence in the justification or salvation of a Christian For surely if we shall be judged according to what we have done Faith alone cannot be the whole condition required on our parts in order to our salvation It is true indeed glorious things are spoken of Faith in holy Scripture but these things must not be understood of a bare assent to the truth of the Gospel which is the proper importance of that word Faith but of such a Faith as is a principle of life and action such a Faith as hath influence upon the whole course of our lives and is not contradicted by our practice and conversation a Faith that worketh by love and is fruitful of good works and obedience Thus it is not to be considered as a single Vertue and separate from the rest but as being the fruitful parent of all other Christian Vertues and including them in it For if we understand Faith in a more strict sense as distinct from an holy conversation it is no more than the Devils themselves may pretend to and yet this is so far from being any relief to them that it is the great aggravation of their misery To know and be assured of the glorious things revealed in the Gospel and to know withal that they themselves are finally excluded from the benefit of them this doubtless is a mighty aggravation of their horrour and we may well conclude as S. James doth that they believe and tremble nay that this belief doth make them tremble 3. If we shall be judged according to what we have done in the body it then follows that all that is to be done by us in the great work of our Salvation must be performed in our life time whilest we are in the body Now must we give all diligence to make our calling and election sure and not leave any thing to be done after our death either by our selves or others This I observe in opposition to that Doctrine of the Church of Rome which supposes that some sins are expiated after death and purged away by the fire of Purgatory and by the Prayers and Sacrifices of those that are left alive But this is not onely a vain and groundless opinion but certainly doth much tend to the hindrance of Piety and lessening mens care of their future state As the Tree falleth so it lieth As a man goeth out of this World such will be his future state and he will be judged according to what he was when he left the body according to what he had done in the body 4. If it be thus certain that we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body this certainly ought to awaken our diligence in the business of our Salvation that to day while it is called to day we break off our sins by a sincere and hearty repentance that knowing the terrours of the Lord we pass the time of our so journing here in fear For surely did men seriously consider that there is a day coming when all the hidden works of darkness shall be made manifest when the secrets of all mens hearts shall be revealed when all the close impieties which had passed here undiscerned should be laid open before God and all the World they would not now so fondly flatter themselves with hopes of secresie or impunity Did men seriously reflect upon the terribleness of that great day when God shall appear with ten thousand of his Saints to take vengeance on them that have not feared his name did they often think upon that dreadful sentence which will then be pronounced against all impenitent sinners Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels this certainly if any thing would put a check to the bold impiety of this Age. Men would not then dare so openly to defie Heaven and blaspheme the Majesty of the great God who will at that day appear so terrible nor would they continue by their hardness and impenitent hearts to treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God On the contrary as the terrours of that day ought to make us sensible of our danger if we continue in disobedience so the glorious reward which shall at that day be given to those that have lived obediently to the will of God ought to be a most effectual motive to persuade us thereunto For what greater encouragement to our duty than the consideration of those great and glorious things which God hath prepared for them that love him Who would not willingly forsake all the flattering joys and transitory pleasures of this life that he may secure to himself such an inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away which God the righteous Judge shall give him at that day Or who would not despise all the sufferings of this life which may possibly attend him in the practice of his duty when he remembers that these light afflictions which endure but for a moment work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Now the great God grant us all his grace that we may have the judgment of the last day always present to our minds that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we may live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ that when we come to stand before that great Tribunal we may be presented pure and unblamable in his sight and that not for any merits of our own but through the mediation of our blessed Saviour To whom with the Father and Eternal Spirit be ascribed as is most due all power praise thanksgiving and obedience for evermore FINIS
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus The Judgment therefore here and elsewhere so frequently forbidden cannot be meant of the Judgment of authority in matter either Civil or Ecclesiastical 2. Neither are we forbidden all kind of judgment of the persons of men from their outward and visible practices though we have no superiority over them we are still allowed the judgment of discretion to distinguish between man and man to know whom to avoid and whom to associate our selves with and it is a great part of Christian prudence so to do The actions of many men are so plain and notorious that they are not capable of a mild and easie interpretation and should we stay till publick authority had set a mark upon such persons before we provide for our own innocence and security by forsaking their acquaintance and conversation we may in time grow partakers in their iniquity and be defiled by them Bad Company and Example do insensibly prevail upon our minds and betray us into evil and unless we were allowed to make a judgment of some persons from the actions we see we could have no reason to stand upon our guard or beware of them Nay further Christian Charity it self which obligeth us against all rash and malicious censures of other men doth in many cases not onely allow but exact of us to make a judgment of and be jealous over them that we be able to afford to them seasonable reproof and admonition before they are confirmed in a habit of sin And to this kind of Judgment if it be exercised with true charity and moderation out of a zealous concern for the soul of our offending Brother there is a reward annexed S. James v. 19. Brethren if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he that converteth a sinner from the evil of his way shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins Now we should be excluded both from this duty and blessing if it were not Iawful to judge of men in some measure by what we hear and see 3. We are not forbidden to judge and pass censure upon our selves For this is elsewhere made our duty and prescribed to us as a great means to escape the Judgment of God For this S. Paul tells us 1 Cor. xi 31. If we would judge our selves we should not be judged And the reason is plain For would men find leisure seriously to examine their own lives and actions and to judge impartially of them they would not then so freely indulge themselves in those practices to which they know the judgement of God is due They would think themselves obliged in all times and places to a more strict and circumspect walking with God and when they have through inadvertency and neglect yielded to temptation by a due examination and judging of themselves they would be convinced of the necessity of an hearty and sincere repentance before they go hence and be no more seen The power of Conscience was given us by God for that end that we might be enabled to judge of the good and evil of our actions and be thereby more vigorously engaged to continue in well-doing and eschew evil upon a prospect of a future and more dreadful judgment that would otherwise ensue When therefore S. Paul tells us verse 3. that he judged not his own self This is not to be understood as though he made no judgment at all of his own life and actions and particularly of his discharge of his Apostolick Office mentioned in the former Verses but that he was not finally to rely upon his own judgment but that although he knew nothing of himself as he declares Verse 4. yet he was not thereby justified in as much as he was afterward to be judged by the supreme Judge of all the Earth who knew better how he had behaved himself and would judge more impartially than he himself could and then immediately subjoins the prohibition of the Text Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come These things therefore being excepted from the general prohibition the sin which is here forbidden is the uncharitable practice of censuring and condemning other men without any probable or just grounds when men take occasion from little circumstances and appearances to judge the person of their Neighbour and the inward thoughts and inclinations of his heart When they take up an ill opinion of him from every idle report and stick not to spread and divulge the same to his prejudice When they take all occasions to lessen and detract from the good he doth and aggravate the evil This unchristian practice is capable of many degrees and aggravations which I shall not insist on particularly I shall onely take notice in general that whoever will consider calmly with himself how he would have his Neighbour deal with him in the like matter with what candour and simplicity he would have him judge of the outward circumstances of his life how loth he would be to have the worst interpretation made of all his words and actions and how willing he would have others be to admit his excuses if not to take away yet at least to lessen and alleviate the guilt of any miscarriages such a one cannot but understand what those degrees of uncharitable judgment are which are here forbidden I proceed therefore to the second thing propounded to shew the great unreasonableness of this practice and this will appear from these three considerations 1. From the baseness of its original 2. From the greatness of the injury done to the person we censure unjustly 3. From the mischief which redounds to the Publick by uncharitable judgment of one another 1. For the original of this practice of censuring and reviling one another I think it may ordinarily be resolved into one of these three Principles 1. Secret pride and over-valuing our selves Men who are destitute of real worth and yet have a mighty opinion of themselves have no other means to buoy up themselves in that conceit but to pick faults in the life and actions of other men And this I doubt is the humour of too many pretenders to the strictness of Religion who if they declare a great abhorrence of some particular fault of their Neighbours which is contrary to their own natural inclination or present interest are apt vainly to please themselves with the opinion of their own righteousness and to vaunt it in the language of the Pharisee Luke xviii 10. God I thank thee that I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican Now the unreasonable folly of this method of proceeding no man can be ignorant of that considers the nature and genius of true Religion that it doth not consist in the abstinence from some particular sins which I may apprehend others to be guilty of but in an universal obedience to all the commands of God And therefore what
promise of the divine Spirit to enable them in the discharge of their holy Office and therefore that they ought to be attended to with such reverence as is due to the Ambassadors of God to the interpreters of his mind and will Not that the truly humble man is bound to yield a blind assent to whatever he hears delivered from a Pulpit or that he is presently to renounce his own reason and understanding whenever it is contradicted by his immediate Pastor No we do not claim this dominion over the reason and consciences of our brethren We do not require an absolute assent to all we say onely thus much an humble man will and ought to think his duty not to oppose every private scruple of his own to the received doctrine of the Church in which he lives much less to separate from it without manifest and plain grounds He ought rather to distrust his own private judgment when it stands in competition with the publick sense of the Church and to use all possible diligence for further information before he be positive in his opinion He ought to apply himself with all humility to his Superiours to desire satisfaction from them and he ought to attend to them with patience and submission and to be very cautious lest any prejudice or self-interest should be the ground of his persuasion and then if after a due diligence he find himself still unconvinced yet still humility will oblige him not to judge those who differ from him nor to withdraw himself from the publick service of God as long as there is nothing required of him as a condition of Communion which he is not fully convinced to be be unlawful Now he that proceds with this humility and deliberation in the examination of those doctrines of the Church which seem doubtful to him This humble temper will either lead him to the means of satisfaction from the instruction of his Superiours or at least will secure him from the danger and malignity of his Errour For simple Errour is not dangerous in it self unless it arise from a culpable cause or unless it lead to sin or disobedience And this an humble man will hardly be tempted to for the sake of any private Opinion 4. An humble and modest man will be willing to yield to such Arguments as the matter he enquires about is capable of and will not require greater evidence for revealed truths than the nature of the things will admit of And indeed the want of this temper of mind may justly be accounted the fundamental Principle of Atheism and Irreligion Many disputers there are in the World who think it an Argument of Wit and Parts to be able to defend a Paradox and to stand their ground against all opposition These men seek not Truth but Victory and do not so much endeavour to satisfie themselves as to amuse others and therefore as long as they are able to raise an Objection which they think their Adversary cannot answer they take it for granted that it is unanswerable and think that a sufficient reason to deny the force of all positive Arguments whatsoever Now this perverse and conceited way of disputing renders men very unfit to enquire after truth in any kind of Science but especially in Religion for the doctrine of the Gospel is not capable of such proofs but that a perverse and unteachable Spirit may find some kind of evasions to abate the force of them and may raise some kind of groundless suspicion that possibly things might have been otherwise than they are there represented The evidence of Christian Religion in these days doth in great measure depend upon the historical truth of those relations of matters of fact which were done by our Saviour and his Apostles in confirmation of the doctrine they taught and the truth of those things is attested by as credible witnesses as any matter of fact ever was and matters of fact are not capable of any other or better proof than the testimony of those who were eye-witnesses of them But yet still a man that were perverse and obstinate might say that the evidence of sense is more convincing than that of witnesses That seeing is believing and if I could see some of those signs and wonders wrought now which are reported to have been done in our Saviours time I would believe But as for these Historical narrations if either the Authors of them were themselves deceived or did intend to deceive or delude posterity neither of which is absolutely impossible if either of these things should have been those relations are no evidence at all Now although it be the most absurd and unreasonable thing in the world to suppose that so many thousands of the Primitive Christians should lay down their lives so cheerfully in testimony of the truth of the Gospel without being satisfied about it themselves or with intention to deceive others Though this be the absurdest thing in the world yet if any man will be so perverse as to think so of the Apostles and first Christians what further Argument can be used to convince him For what further evidence can we expect of any mans sincerity in what he saith than that he will lay down his life to attest it as they did And then for their knowledge in these things we may well appeal to the divine wisdom wherewith they spake and wrote that such men could not be deceived in the plainest matters Yet still the testimony of the Apostles and first Christians is not so great evidence as that of sense though it be as great as the nature of the thing is capable of And therefore a man that is resolved to yield to nothing but sensible demonstration must expect to go away unsatisfied as to the truth of the Gospel because it is not now capable of that kind of evidence But now an humble Enquirer after truth that sought for knowledge in order to practice such a one would not be thus obstinate and refractory in his proceedings He would content himself with such evidence as the things he enquires about are capable of and will require no greater And indeed it is reasonable to suppose that those perverse disputers who are not content with that rational evidence we have for the truth of the Gospel would not be convinced though they saw a miracle For our Saviour hath plainly told us in a like case If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they believe though one arise unto them from the dead The Law of Moses was at first confirmed to the Jews by miracles but afterwards they were to be content with the testimony of their Fathers concerning it and those who would not believe the doctrine of Moses upon that evidence according to our Saviours judgment would not be convinced by the greatest miracle even the resurrection of one from the dead The case is now the same with us as it was with the Jews in our Saviours time At the
first promulgation of the Gospel it was confirmed from Heaven by such signs and wonders and mighty works which could not have been wrought but by the almighty power of God attesting the truth of what our Saviour and his Apostles taught But the doctrine of the Gospel being once sufficiently confirmed God expects now that man should rest satisfied with that evidence which he then gave and is conveyed down to us by the testimony of those who were witnesses of those miracles and mighty works with which it was then attested Nor is it to be expected that God should now work miracles to convince the obstinate since the evidence he hath already given is sufficient for those who are humble and teachable and will render the obstinate inexcusable Men may therefore if they please dispute themselves out of their Religion upon I know not what vain surmises and set up for Wits and men of more than ordinary reach not to be imposed on by any Historical Narrations though never so well attested but in the end they will find how far this perverse and arrogant humour falls short of true wisdom when for the sake of that they reject the divine and heavenly doctrine which if carefully attended to and obeyed is able to save their souls By what hath been said it is easie to understand how necessary a qualification humility is in order to our enquiry after truth and how effectual it is to make us fit for the reception of it 4. A fourth branch of duty very advantagious to us to make us capable of divine knowledge is calmness of temper and moderation of passions He that comes to enquire after truth must bring with him a quiet and sedate temper he must be willing to hear patiently what can be said on both sides and by no means engage his passion on either part till he hath first satisfied his Reason about it Our passions are then very useful and beneficial to us when they promote our vigour in the prosecution of things that are vertuous and praise-worthy and when they encourage us to make a bold resistance against all things that are wicked and unworthy of us but then that we may be assured that our passion is duely exercised it is necessary that our reason should have first throughly considered of the matter and given in its impartial sentence before we suffer our passions to interpose in our examination of truth For when once our affections are engaged on any side they do certainly biass the judgment and make it admit of every small appearance or shadow of truth which seems to favour the opinion we have a fansie for and to reject with disdain the strongest reasonings when they are opposed to what we desire should be true Men do not then sincerely seek for truth but endeavour to prove that true which they have a mind to and though they happen to be mistaken they will not then endure to be better informed and are impatient of any contradiction And this is accounted one great reason why among so many Writers of Controversie so few have ever changed the opinions they at first maintained or have yielded the cause when they have been fairly and fully answered Alas it is hard for them to renounce those beloved notions which had been impressed on their minds in their younger years and they had rather take hold of any shift or evasion then grant they had been in an errour But if they find their own reason begin to waver being in part convinced by the force of contrary reasons they fly for refuge to the Authority of others and fortifie themselves with this consideration that such and such men are men of noted learning and piety and yet they are all of this opinion and yet doubtless they understood the force of those arguments better than we do and would have yielded to them had they thought them convincing Thus when Reason of it self would yield yet their affection to the cause and the men that maintain it makes them hold out still and though they have a glimpse of truth they dare not they cannot receive it But the passion I intended principally to speak of as being a great hindrance to our receiving the Truth is that of Anger which is a boisterous unruly passion and disorders all the powers of the reasonable soul and makes them wholly unfit for any impressions of truth A man that is angry and impatient will not allow his Adversary leave to speak out half an argument but presently he is provoked and then he is not able to make a reasonable defence though he should have the truth on his side he doth not then consider what is most fit and proper to be said but casts out at random what his passion first suggests to him all his thoughts are then in commotion and like the troubled waves will not receive any perfect image of things and you may as well hope to convince a mad man as him Now this heat of passion as it makes men very unfit to be wrought upon by others so it commonly suggests to us very improper ways of arguing when we endeavour to convince them who differ from us This temper of mind produces those sharp and satyrical Treatises whereby some men endeavour if not to convince yet to shame and silence their Adversaries by exposing their persons and representing them to the World under odious Characters Now certainly what ever these men may hope this method of railing and reviling though the persons they accuse may really deserve all that is said of them yet I say this is not a fit method for the propagation of truth For as the piety of one man ought to be no defence or security for his errour so neither ought it to be any argument against the truth that it is defended by a bad man and therefore all the Arguments that are levelled against the person of our Adversary are wholly besides the purpose they tend onely to the breach of Charity not to the convincing any mans judgement that differs from us And certainly our blessed Savior when he gave us so many precepts of meekness and charity towards all men when he so often requires us not to judge and condemn our brethren over whom we have no jurisdiction when he represents to us the danger of uncharitable speeches S. Matt. v. 22. Whosoever shall say to his brother Raca shall be in danger of the council and whosoever shall say Thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell-fire When our Saviour so often inculcates these and the like precepts requiring so humble and charitable demeanour towards our brethren both in thoughts words he cannot be supposed to give the least permission to his Disciples to endeavour to propagate or defend any part of his doctrine by reproachful and contumelious usage of the persons they contend with Sure I am his own example was infinitely different from what men practise in these days Our Saviour had certainly more
appearance We must all appear all men that ever lived or shall live upon the Earth high or low rich or poor no order or degree of men excepted we must all then make our appearance 5. There is something considerable in the appearance it self Doctor Hammond interprets the Phrase We must appear onely with analogy to Tribunals of Justice among men that as Prisoners at the Bar are wont to be set in a conspicuous place in order to their Trial so we also must give our appearance before the Judgement Seat of Christ But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a more important signification and must be understood not onely of our being actually present at Gods Tribunal but we must appear or be made manifest as the same word is interpreted in the following Verse and then the Apostle means thus much that all our hidden actions and secret designs which are now undiscovered by men shall then at the Judgement Seat of Christ be made manifest and laid open to us before God and all his holy Angels We have now many ways to hide our selves and to disguise our actions from the knowledge of men we can now put on the Mask and Garb of a Righteous man and appear as such to the World when our hearts are full of wickedness and deceit but at the Judgment of the Great Day all these arts will avail us nothing our false pretences will then be discovered our disguise pulled off our hypocrisie made visible and manifest inasmuch as all things are naked and open before him with whom we have to do and we must all appear 6. Here is the method that will be used at the Judgment Seat of Christ Every one shall receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 7. Here is the use S. Paul makes of all these considerations Knowing therefore these terrours of the Lord and being assured how dreadful this appearance and the event of it will be we persuade men that they would now behave themselves as men that must then appear but to insist particularly on all these circumstances would be too large an Exercise of your Patience I shall therefore confine my Discourse to these three things 1. I shall endeavour to remind you of those grounds and reasons by which we may be assured of a Judgment to come that we must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ 2. I shall consider the method of proceeding at the Day of Judgment Every man shall receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 3. I shall draw some inferences that may be of use to us in the government of our lives First of the truth and certainty of a Judgment to come And this will appear upon these following accounts 1. From the dictates and testimony of our own Conscience 2. From the Nature of God and his Attributes 3. From the concurrent testimony and belief of all Nations 4. From the particular revelation of this truth in holy Scripture 1. If we look into the secrets of our own souls and examine the natural powers we are endued with they will afford us great evidence that there is a Judgment to come when we shall be called to account for our actions here and be rewarded or punished according to them The knowledge of good and evil and the obligation to do one and eschew the other is naturally written in the Soul of Man nor can any man be wicked without violence to his own reason and best faculties Every man bears about with him a secret Monitor in his bosom which upon the temptations to evil doth faithfully forewarn him of it and upon the commission of evil doth afflict his soul with a sense of guilt and with a fearful expectation of punishment due upon it On the contrary there is a secret joy and satisfaction naturally springs up in the soul of a good man which is an exceeding support and comfort to him in the discharge of his duty which enables him to bear many difficulties and oppositions which oft-times attend him in the practice of Vertue his conscience breeding in him a strong confidence and assurance of some future recompence for his good deeds Now that conscience is thus active and busie to forewarn men of the evil which they are about to do and to set before them in order the evils they have done and to support them in doing good every man that gives himself the leisure to attend to the motions of his own mind may be convinced by his own experience Or if we would rather learn from the experience of others it were easie to produce a crowd of Witnesses which give us large descriptions of the unsupportable burden a troubled spirit and the great comfort and security of a conscience void of offence And now would we know the true ground and foundation of those hopes and fears which the conscience naturally suggests to us according to our actions whether good or bad there is no sufficient reason of them can be assigned but this that they are the voice of God and Nature forewarning us of another state after this when all men shall be recompensed according to that they have done here For that the fears and disquiets of a guilty conscience are indeed the effects of Nature and are not grounded upon the apprehension of temporal punishment or of the Laws of men as some vainly suppose is sufficiently evident in that those persons who have been beyond the reach and above the fears of any earthly Tribunal have yet been the greatest examples of this force of conscience The Story of Caligula is in every bodies mouth and is indeed a signal instance of this truth He who was possessed with so unlimited a Soveraignty over a great part of the Known World and exercised his power with so extravagant a cruelty was yet upon every flash of Lightning and clap of Thunder awakened to a sense and fearful apprehension of the power and justice of that God whom at other times he was wont to defie But not to dwell upon a single instance a further evidence that these Fears are the effects of Nature may be gathered from hence that the sting of conscience is most remarkable in those actions which are done in secret and far removed from the knowledge of men For though we seek the darkest retirements where no mortal eye can trace our steps or behold our doings yet there our conscience is as a thousand Witnesses continually upbraiding us with what we have done and afflicting us with terrours which can proceed from nothing else but from a secret conviction of soul that there is a God whose power and knowledge reaches to all places even to our most secret retirements and who will one day bring upon us punishments proportionable to our deservings I will not insist longer upon this Argument than to take notice that S. Paul himself seems