whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead 17 Acts 30 31. While Men were ignorant of the other World or had only some uncertain Reports of it mixed with fabulous Stories to increase and nourish Superstition their wickedness was very pitiable and shall meet with a more favourable Judgment but we can now pretend Ignorance no longer and therefore now God commands us to repent Upon this Principle it is that our Saviour upbraided those cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes but I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Iudgment than for you And thou Capernaum who art exalted unto heaven shalt be brought down to hell for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day but I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee 11 Mat. 20 21 22 23. Those mighty Works our Saviour wrought in these Cities were such powerful Convictions as rendred their Infidelity inexcusable and that aggravated their Condemnation And for the same reason our Saviour threatens that unbelieving Generation who saw all his mighty Works and heard his admirable Wisdom which was so much beyond whatever was seen or heard before The men of Niniveh shall rise in judgment against this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Ionas and behold a greater than Ionas is here The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here 12 Luke 41 42. The greater the Preacher is the greater Works he does and the greater Evidence he gives of his Divine Authority still the guilt and condemnation proportionably increases and then the Infidelity of those who live in a Christian Nation and the Wickedness of professed Believers who have so much greater certainty of the Rewards and Punishments of the next World than either Chorazin or Bethsaida or Capernaum then had exceeds them all and their Punishments will proportionably exceed Thus the Gospel has fully acquainted us with the whole Dispensation of Grace in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life 3 John 16. That Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 2 Tit. 14. That he has made atonement for our sins by his Blood That herein God hath commended his love towards us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us that when we were yet enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son 5 Rom. 8.10 And we know the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be rich 2 Cor. 8 9. Here is a new Scene of Grace and Love opened which the World was unacquainted with before which presents us with new Arguments and lays new Obligations on us to serve God Arguments and Obligations so endearing so powerful that one would think Human Nature could not resist them could not get loose from them If we will not reverence the Authority of God yet how can we resist his Love If it be not enough to entitle God to our Service that he made us shall we deny his Purchase too When he has bought us with a price the inestimable Blood of his own Son Ought not the love of Christ to constrain us Could he do any thing more for us than redeem us from Death and Hell Could he redeem us at a dearer rate than with his own Blood When he could get nothing by it but the pleasure and satisfaction of making us happy and the glory of being the Saviour of Sinners It is a reproach to Humane Nature to think that such Love as this should not convert the World and subdue Mankind to the Obedience of God It is plain this gives God a greater Right to us than meer Creation and therefore gives every sin of Christians a double guilt if Heathens sinned against their Maker Christians sin against their Maker and their Saviour too And to sin against Love against suffering redeeming forgiving saving Love is a very different thing from sinning against Authority We may call it folly or madness to disobey our Soveraign Lord who can and will punish our Disobedience but to abuse to affront to grieve Love is not the sin of Men though too many Men are guilty of it but of a diabolical Nature I have nothing to say of it but that it is the greatest provocation in the World and all Men think so and thus much worse the sins of Christians are than the sins of Heathens But the Love of God and the Grace of Christ are not the only motives and arguments which our Redemption by the Death of Christ furnishes us with but there are a great many other and such powerful ones as must greatly aggravate our guilt to sin against them There is not a greater preservation against sin than to have a just sense of the Evil of it and a thorough Conviction of God's irreconcileable hatred and displeasure against it and that he will certainly punish it Now indeed Nature does in some measure teach this the Reason of Mankind condemns it Modesty preserves us from some sins Natural Aversions from others till both the Modesty and Aversions of Nature are conquered by a Custom of sinning but then on the other hand the inclinations of Flesh and Blood very strongly tempt us to some sins which are very grateful to Flesh and Blood and to other sins to gain opportunities to gratifie those inclâ—â—ations and when Men taste the sweets of sin and find the present advantages of it this bribes their Reason to speak more favourably of it and to attribute the shame and aversions of Nature to Education and Popular mistakes Thus though men have a natural Sense of God's displeasure against sin and natural Conscience threatens the Judgments of God against sinners yet the experience of the World tells us that most Men flatter themselves that God may be appeased and reconciled to them without forsaking their sins not only the Heathens but even Iews themselves thought this might be done by their sacrifices and the other external rites and ceremonies of their Religion as appears from the frequent complaints of
is the sum of the Law and the Prophets The universal Rule of Moral Justice and Goodness which is to do that which is for the natural good of Mankind whatever our sense and experience tells us is naturally good and beneficial to ourselves which would be a very imperfect Rule if there were not an inseparable connexion between Moral and Natural Good The not observing this is the true reason why some Men can form no Notion at all of Moral Good or Evil but think Vertue and Vice to be meer arbitrary Notions which have no foundation in the Nature of Things as indeed they can have none but only this that Vertue is to love and choose and do that which has a natural good in it which is good to ourselves or others that Vice is to love and choose and do that which has some natural evil in it or which is hurtful to ourselves or others as for instance Charity which is one of the most excellent Vertues of the Christian Life consists in doing every thing which is for the good of Men in feeding the Hungry clothing the Naked relieving the Injured and Oppressed the Fatherless and the Widdow in directing advising assisting comforting Men in difficulties and distress in forgiving Injuries concealing Faults judging charitably and in all such other acts of Goodness as are greatly for the benefit of Mankind whereas the contrary Vice does all the contrary Evils and Mischiefs to the great hurt and injury of Men and whoever considers this must confess that Moral Good and Evil is as real a thing as Natural Good and Evil is and I suppose no Man who has his senses about him will deny that there is such a thing as Natural Good and Evil as for instance Pain and Pleasure and then his same senses will in abundance of instances tell him the essential difference between Moral Good and Evil On the other hand the true and onely reason why Men so vastly differ in their Notions of Moral Good and Evil is because in many instances they are not agreed what Natural Good and Evil is some Men call nothing good or evil but what is good or evil to their Bodies such as Pain and Pleasure and the Causes and Instruments of them Health and Sickness Riches and Poverty and the like others think and with much greater reason that we should take our Souls into the account too that whatever is for the ease and pleasure of our Minds whatever adorns and perfects a reasonable Nature is a Natural Good to Men as Wisdom and Knowledge and regular and well-govern'd Appetites and Passions do and therefore these are the foundation of Moral Vertues too but whatever debases our Natures and is a reproach to the reason and understanding of a Man whatever thrusts him down into the rank of brute Creatures and either disturbs his ease or changes the pleasures of a Man for those of a Beast are great Natural Evils too if the perfection and happiness of Humane Nature be a Natural Good and therefore to choose and to act such things is morally evil This is enough to shew what Moral Good and Evil is that it has a necessary relation to Natural Good and Evil and it were easie here to prove were it not too long a Digression that all the Laws of the Gospel do either command what is for the good and happiness of Mankind of every private Man and of publick Communities or forbid such things as are hurtful and prejudicial to them but my present Design will not suffer me to straggle so far out of the way II. The second branch of this Argument is That according to the â—eneral sence of Mankind what is good ouâ—ht to be rewarded and what is wicked ought to be punished For the proof of this I shall appeal in the first place to all Civilized Nations who live under Laws and Government for there is no such Nation but thinks fit to restrain Wickedness by a publick Vengeance on those who commit it indeed their Laws and Punishments are not always the same nor do they all punish the same Crimes nor with the same Punishments but all of them punish such Crimes as they think injurious to the Publick which is the principal concernment of Civil Government and inflict such Penalties on them as they judge proportioned to such Crimes or sufficient to restrain the commission of them some Capital some Pecuniary Mulcts Confiscation of Goods loss of Honour Corporal Punishments Imprisonment Banishment or some publick Marks of perpetual Infamy which is a certain argument that the Wisdom of all Nations thinks it fit that Wickedness should be punished that those who do Evil should suffer evil and indeed all Mankind is so sensible of this that there is not a greater Reproach to any Government then the Impunity of Vice nor a greater Glory to it than the strict and equal Administration of Justice Where publick Justice fails as it does in a great many instances we must next appeal to private Revenge to understand what the sence of Mankind is about the desert of Sin for there is not a more natural nor more eager Passion in Humane Nature all Men naturally desire to return the Injury they suffer upon the heads of those who do it and account it no Injury but a great act of Justice to do so In many Nations some private Injuries have been left to private Revenge and the Jewish Law itself permitted a Retaliation of Injuries an Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth though it did not permit the injured Person to take this Revenge himself but made the publick Magistrate the Judge of it It may be you will wonder I should appeal to the impatient thirst and appetite of Revenge to prove the sence of Mankind that Sin ought to be punished when private Revenge itself is a great Evil and forbid by the Gospel of our Saviour but for all that Revenge is a natural Passion and speaks the furious rage and language of Nature that Sin ought to be punished It is that Passion in us which ministers to punitive Justice as a natural tenderness and compassion does to Charity and therefore the passion itself is not sinful though the irregular exercise of it is it is implanted in all Mankind as the love of Justice is but all Men must not execute Revenge no more than every Man can administer Justice where every Man is a Minister of Justice he may execute his Revenge too that is where there are no publick Laws and Government but when we are incorporated into Civil Societies private Revenge is superseded by publick Justice and to revenge ourselves is an Offence against the State but this publick Justice is executing Revenge still tho' without that partiality and passion which Men betray in their own cause and tho' our Saviour forbids private Revenge it is not because Sin does not deserve to be punished but to teach us those great Christian Vertues of Patience
they deserve and all that they proposed to themselves their Religion is a Courtship to Men not the Worship of God and this Principle will reach but a little way only to some external and popular Acts and is calculated only for the prosperous Times of Religion when it is in Fashion and Reputation and will give Men Credit and raise their Fortunes in the World but those who are Religious and do good for God's sake to approve themselves to him have a steddy and universal Principle of Righteousness which is as certain and immutable as God is and if God will certainly judge us if we must receive our final Doom and Sentence from his Mouth I know not whom we are concerned to please but him I am sure none in opposition to him As for Instance The Censures of the World are a great Temptation to most Men when instead of Praise and Honour an unfashionable Vertue meets with Infamy and Reproach and Pulick Scorn but St. Paul's answer will fit all such cases It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful but with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment he that judgeth me is the Lord 1 Cor. 4.2 3 4. While we can approve ourselves to God that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have our conversation in this world The different Judgments of Men ought to be despised whatever Sentence they pronounce can have no effect for they are not our Judges but must be judged themselves and if we can appeal to God who is our Judge all the rest is but Pageantry and Childrens Sport a Ludicrous Imitation of Judgment which sometimes ends Comically enough when their Parents or Masters happen to see them the Judge and Jury are whipt and the condemned Innocent escapes But what will it avail us when we come before God's Tribunal that we have been not only absolved but praised admired applauded by Men who are incompetent ignorant or partial Judges So that if God be our Judge we have nothing else to do but to approve our selves to him we have but one Masteâ— to please and he more easily pleased too then Men commonly are who are never all of a mind and therefore can never all be pleased and seldom continue long of the same mind and therefore cannot always be pleased our Saviour himself experienced this Inconstancy when the loudest Hosannahs in three or four days time were changed into Crucifie him So little regard is there to be had to the good or bad Opinion of Men no wise Man will be contented to stand or fall by it and whoever makes this the Principle of his Actions can never be a good Man long but he who approves himself to GOD will like Religion never the worse for being reproached will be contented with the private Applauses of his own Conscience to shelter him against the most outragious Obloquies will take as great care of the frame and disposition of his Mind as of his outward Actions because tho' Men cannot see his heart God does will be as devout in his Closet as at Church will fast without any external show and appearance of Fasting and give Alms without the sound of a Trumpet with such secrecy as if it were possible to conceal it from himself that his left hand shall not know what his right hand does for he is not concerned that Men should know any thing of this and nothing is so secret but God knows it and his Father which seeth in secret shall reward him openly 6 Matth. 1 c. 2. As we must approve ourselves to God who is our Judge so we must fetch the Reasons and Motives of Obedience from a Future Judgment from those Rewards God has promised to bestow at that day on good Men and those Punishments he will inflict upon the wicked these as far as concerns Rewards and Punishments are the only Gospel-Motives of Obedience I say as far as concerns Rewards and Punishments because there are other Gospel-Motives of Obedience besides Rewards and Punishments such as the great Love of God in giving his Son for us the great Love of Christ in giving himself a Sacrifice for us which is a powerful Obligation on us to live to him who died for us and the powerful Assistances of the Holy Spirit to work in us both to will and to do which renders our Obedience possible and easie but the Motives of Obedience from the Rewards of Vertue and Punishment of Wickedness muâ—â— be fetched from a Future Judgment for these unseen and absent Rewards and Punishments are the only Object of Faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen 11 Heb. 1. And Faith is the only true Principle of Gospel-Obedience present Rewards and Punishments were the Motives of the Mosaical Covenant and this is a legal Spirit to serve God in expectation of a present Reward or for fear of some Temporal Punishment but future Rewards and Punishments are the Motives of the Gospel the Exercise of Faith and the true Spirit of Sons the not observing which was the occasion of that foolish Mistake that to serve God for a Reward is a legal and servile Spirit which is true if we speak of Present and Temporal Rewards but not of those which are Spiritual and Eternal And if we will be true and sincere Christians here we must fix our eye and with Moses have respect to â— future Recompence of Reward for no other Motives will fit all Times nor conquer all Temptations nor extend to all Acts of Religion Those who serve God for a present Reward to make their Fortunes in this World must quit his Service when Religion exposes them to Sufferings and Persecutions and to the loss of all things for Christ's sake those who abstain from Sin for fear of some Temporal Punishments must commit such Sins when they shall suffer more by not committing them when Men serve God for Temporal Hopes or Fears whenever the World promises greater Prosperity or threatens more terrible things they must necessarily change their Master for they must take that side on which the present Advantage lies Good Men sometimes meet with a Reward in this World Vertue may in some Junctures make Men Rich and Honourable but whoever courts Vertue for Riches and Honours will never court a poor and despised Vertue that is he does not indeed court Vertue but Riches and Honours and will rather take as much Vertue with them as is necessary to that purpose than go without them but Riches and Honours with or without Vertue are always welcome Whoever makes the Advantages of this Life his Reasons and Motives to Vertue will do no more good than will advance his present Interest and will be good no longer and this is a very sorry Vertue it had need have some Reward in this World for it will haâ—â— none in the next Those Temporal Promises which are contained in
such matters as we can give no account of there may be plain Reasons assigned why no account can be given of them in this World 1. As for the first it is easie to give many Instances of it There are many things which Mankind greatly complain of and for which they think themselves very hardly used by God which upon a true Estimate of things considering the corrupt State of Humane Nature are greatly for the Happiness of the World and though they were inflicted as Punishments by God yet have an excellent temperament of Wisdom and Goodness This I have formerly shewed you as to that Sentence of Death which God pronounced against Mankind after the Fall of our first Parents Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return and as to his shortning the Lives of Men after the Flood and I shall now give another Instance in that Curse God pronounced upon the Earth for the Sin of Man to which we owe most of that Pain and Toyl and Labour which is under the Sun and most of the Miseries and Calamities of Humane Life and if in this also the Wisdom and Goodness as well as the Justice and Severity of God appears I hope it will convince us how reasonable it is to be modest in our Censures of Providence and to conclude that God is equally wise and good in those things which we do not understand The Justice of this is very evident for when Man who was the Lord of the Creation had rebelled against God it was very just for God to punish him and the most proper Punishment which he could inflict on him next to his own Mortality was to Curse those Creatures which were made for his use and delight as God told Adam when he had eaten the forbidden Fruit Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife and eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee saying Thou shalt not eat of it cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread until thou return to the ground for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return 3 Gen. 17. For I need not tell you this Curse upon the Ground was no punishment to the Ground which was sensible of no hurt but to Man who was to live upon it it defaced the Beauty and Glory of the Creation and entailed a toilsome and painful Life on him it made his Food less wholsome and more hard to come by and whereas all Creatures before were in perfect subjection to Man according to the grand Character of the Creation Have dâ—minion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth on the earth 1 Gen. 28. Now we find by experience that they have cast off this Yoke and very often revenge the Quarrel of their Maker upon apostate Man Thus Man fell from the Glory and Happiness of his Nature and yet if we wisely consider things we shall find excellent Wisdom and Goodness even in this Curse For Man having corrupted himself the best State he could be put into was an industrious and laborious Life to force him to work hard to get his living and to earn his Bread with the sweat of his Brows which was the necessary and immediate Effect of God's cursing the Ground that whereas before the Earth would have supplied Man with all things for his Necessity and Delight without his care and labour now it would not yield its Increase of itself but brought forth Briars and Thorns And as difficult a State as this is it was very fit for fallen Man 1. A laborious Life is of great use to subdue the fleshly Principle and to prevent the opportunities and occasions and temptations to Sin The experience of the World tells us that nothing more corrupts Mens Manners than Idleness the Flesh grows rampant with Sloth and Luxury and Time it self is so uneasie and troublesome when we have nothing to do that Men rather chuse to be wicked then to be idle and therefore God who foresaw the Degeneracy of Mankind by the Fall hath provided work for us that with the sweat of our Brow we must eat our Bread 2. This does not only imploy the Bodies but the Minds of Men Puts them upon the study of Philosophy and the invention of Arts and Sciences upon observing the Works of Nature and Dependence of Causes and Effects to observe the Motions of the Heaven the Sun and Moon and Planets thereby to know the Seasons of the Year and to fix the time of their return it is this Necessity to which we owe the most useful Discoveries in Nature which is not only very beneficial to the World but a very delightful Entertainment and the most natural Ornament and Perfection of our Minds 3. The Necessities of Humane Life are the foundation of Humane Societies and make Men combine together for mutual Help and Comfort for though Man is a sociable Creature and delighted with Humane Conversation yet in this degenerate State nothing is a greater endearment than our mutual Dependence upon each other that we cannot live single and apart because we want a great many things which the Skill and Labour of other Men must supply us with Now this obliges us to the exercise of all friendly and sociable Vertues brings us under Government without which Humane Societies cannot subsist and this lays great Restraints upon the Lusts of Men and by a strict Discipline trains them up to the practice of Moral Vertues which is a good means to correct the Degeneracy of Humane Nature it inspires us with Principles of Love and Humanity of Justice and Charity and softens and polishes our Natures by the mutual Endearments of Conversation it makes us Friends to Mankind gives us a sence of Injuries and an Abhorrence of them and which is more then this it gives publick Countenance and Encouragement to Religion for Publick Government must encourage Religion because Religion is its greatest Defence and Support and this makes some Men sincerely Religious and Devout and forces some external signs of Honour from those who have little sence or reverence of a Deity which though it does no good to them is for the advantage of the World So that this Curse in the necessary Consequences of it is the greatest Blessing to Mankind which is an abundant Justification of the Wisdom and Goodness of God in it A more easie State of Life did better become a State of Innocence but since the Fall such an easie careless unconcerned Life would have sunk him lower into Sensuality and made his Recovery more desperate and hopeless It were easie to give many Instances of this nature to justifie the Divine Wisdom and Goodness in such passages of
and unriddle all the secret Mysteries of it when God comes to judge the World iâ— is to justifie himself as well as to judge Men for what St. Paul says is most properly applicable to the last Judgment Let God be true and every man a liar as it is written That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged 3 Rom. 4. And St. Iude makes this one great end of the last Judgement The Lord shall come with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jude 14 15. How many such hard Speeches do we daily hear against the Divine Providence and how hard are good Men who know but little of the matter put to it to answer the Cavils and Reproaches of Atheists and Infidels we can indeed say enough in general to vindicate the Divine Wisdom and Justice and Goodness but there are a thousand particular Cases which seem very hard which we can say nothing to because we know nothing of them But when all the World shall be summoned before God's Tribunal all the Ages and Generations of Men we shall then have a perfect History of Providence and that will expound the Reasons of Things which are now obscure when we shall hear how every particular Man every Age and Generation of Men every Country and Nation have behaved themselves and how God dealt with them what Talents they were entrusted with and what Account they give then all Mouths will be stopped and the whole World will become guilty before God 3 Rom. 19. Then we shall see an entire Chain of Providences and all the various and intricate Turnings of the Divine Wisdom in its different Forms and Administrations but still within the Sphere and Circle of Justice and Goodness How shall we then admire God when we shall see all these wonderful and curious Scenes unfolded when we shall observe the gradual and regular Advances of Goodness in the several Ages of the World proportioned to the Wants and Capacities of Men till it came to the full Maturity and Perfection of Gospel-Grace what a delightful Prospect will this be to good Men how will it enlarge their Knowledge encrease their Wonder inflame their Devotions How will it confound bad Men especially all the prophane Scoffers at God and his Providence how will this aggravate and encrease their Torments that they will be forced to admire and justifie God in their own Damnation which must turn all their rage and fury upon themselves This is reason enough why God should judge the World all together to justifie himself to all his Creatures and to make a glorious Discovery of all the Wonders and Mysteries of his Grace and Providence good Men see enough at present to admire and praise God but now as St. Paul tells us We know in part and we prophesie in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away When I was a child I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things For now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known 1 Cor. 13.9 10 11 12. The Divine Wisdom will never appear so glorious as at the Day of Judgment because it will never be so perfectly known as then when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and admired in all them that believe 2 Thess. 1.10 What good Man would not long to see that blessed Day which will perfect his Soul with the Knowledge and Love and Admiration of God and give him such clear raised and divine Thoughts and Passions as are fit for Heaven and the immediate Presence of God whither he is a going what wise Man will not reselve to be very good that at that Day he may see the Glory of God with out Terrour and Astonishment with all those Raptures and Extasies with which such new and bright Appearances of the Divine Wisdom will fill the Soul 2. God summons all Mankind together to Judgment that Men and Angels may be Witnesses of his equal and impartial Justice We are all equally God's Creatures the Rich and the Poor the Honourable and the Vile and the Prince and the Subject are alike to him and Justice requires that they should be alike that the just Judge of the World should respect no Man's Person in Judgment Now there is no such way to convince all the World that God is an equal and impartial that is a very just and righteous Judge as to judge all the World together for then they themselves may see whether God be partial or not But there is a great deal more I mean by this for the Providence of God in this World is very liable to the Charge of Partiality that he has not an equal Regard to all his Creatures I do not mean with reference to their Fortune and Station in this World that some are Rich others Poor some Princes and Nobles entrusted with great Powers others Subjects and exposed to the Wills and Lusts of Princes for this is more easily accounted for such different Ranks of Men being necessary to good Order and Government in the World but I mean with respect to their Souls and their eternal State that God has not taken equal care to Instruct all Mankind in their Duty to acquaint them with the Danger of Sin and the Rewards and Punishments of the next Life and the Certainty of a Future Judgment and this is too visible to be denied God suffered Mankind to fall into Idolatry and when they had corrupted their Natural Notions of Good and Evil sent no Prophet among them to Instruct them better and when after some Ages he called Abraham out of Vr of the Chaldees and having tried his Faith and Obedience entred into Covenant with him yet he confined his Covenant to his Posterity whom he chose for his peculiar People and took no visible care of the rest of the World and though this was a great Priviledge of Israel above the rest of Mankind yet the Mosaical Law was but a weak and imperfect Dispensation but a Childish Pedagogie and the Iewish Church but in the State of Servants or of an Heir under Age. And though God did at last send Christ into the World to make a perfect Revelation of his Will yet it was towards the end of the World and what a wonderful difference has this made between those who enjoy the Light of the Gospel and the rest of Mankind as if they had not all the same Maker or were not equally his Creatures and yet how little a part of the World is there still which have the Gospel preached
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
to have their whole Lives to unlive again to abhor themselves for what they have done and to look forward with trembling into the other World for such late Penitents generally carry the Marks of their Repentance in Shame and Sorrow to the Grave with them All this Young Men may prevent if they will but think of Judgment in their Youth and govern their Lives under a sence of it This will make them remember their Creator in the days of their youth and consecrate their tender Age to his Service it will preserve them from youthful Lusts from all enormous Crimes and give them the humble Assurance and Confidence of dutiful Children in their Addresses to God when they draw near a conclusion of their Lives they review their past Victories over the World and the Flesh with the securest Triumphs The little Follies and Indiscretions and Miscarriages which the best Men are subject to will keep them humble and teach them to trust only in the Merits and Intercession of Christ but when they have made it the whole business of their Lives to please God though with the common Weaknesses and Infirmities of Humane Nature they feel great Peace of Mind and assurance of the Love of God and the nearer their Work is to an end the more securely they triumph What a happy State shall we think this when Death and Judgment are in view to feel so sweâ—â—â— Calm in our Breasts to have so joyful a Prospect before us And who would not think of Judgment when he is young that the hope and expectation of it may be the Comfort and Support of Age that then he may review his past Life not to undo what he has done but to tast the Pleasures and to reap the Rewards of it in present Peace of Mind and great Hopes 2 ly There is another Advantage which Young Men may make of the early thoughts of Judgment which old Sinners have lost and can never retrieve by all their Repentance viz. To make great Advances and Attainments in Piety and Vertue which will greatly augment their Reward Men who sin on till old Age though they prove true Penitents at last can never recover this for their time is past and their youthful Strength and Vigour spent and the Scene of Action over they can never re-call thirty or forty Years past in which if they had improved their time well they might have done great Service to God and to Religion and great good to Men but those who are beginning their Lives if they start right at first and pursue an even and steady Course of Piety and Vertâ—â— if they keep the Future Judgment and the next World always in their Eye what Improvements will they make what rich Treasures and glorious Rewards may they expect from that Righteous Judge who will render to every Man according to his Works The most that a Penitent can expect after a long Life spent in Wickedness and Folly is to get to Heaven and it is infinite Mercy in God to accept of such Penitents but the bright and dazling Crowns are reserved for those who have spent their Lives well and glorified God on Earth and finished the Work he gave them to do such Men will triumph at the Conclusion of their Race and Warfare as St. Paul did I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness I know this will not affect those Men now who love their Sins and desire to keep them as long as they can they will be very well satisfied if they can but get to Heaven at last how mean soever their Station be there for they are not so desirous to go to Heaven as to escape Hell and if they can but keep out of Hell it is all they hope for but Men must have a greater Spirit a more Divine and Generous Temper of Soul before they can get to Heaven If ever they prove true Penitents the loss of so many opportunities of doing Good and the loss of any degrees of Glory they might have had will both shame and afflict them I am sure the greater Rewards we expect in the other World the greater degrees of Glory and Happiness the greater will our Joy and Triumph be Are not Men in this World as fond of Happiness as they are afraid of Misery Does not a great Mind despise little things and aim at what is great And is there not as much reason to aim at the highest Happiness we are capable of in the next World as well as in this This is the noble Prize I would propoâ—e to Young Men You are now beginning your Race your Day is but in its Dawn if you rise with the Sun and work hard all day and spend your whole Lives in God's Service what a great deal of work will you do and what a proportionably great Reward will you have This you will do if you make the Thoughts of Judgment familiar to you this will keep a constant Guard upon your Actions this will excite and quicken your Industry this will make you stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord as knowing that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. CHAP. VI. For what we shall be Iudged VI. LET us now enquire What we are to be judged for And the general Answer to this is very plain That we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 That is we shall be judged for all the Good and Evil we have done This is obvious to all Men and acknowledged by all who believe a Judgement and it may be thought impertinent to prove that we shall be judged for such or such particular Crimes when it is universally confessed that we shall be judged for all But as I observed under the former Head though all Men who believe a Future Judgment profess also to believe that all Men shall be judged yet some Men are very apt to forget it and to flatter themselves that they shall escape better than others so it is here Though Men will in general acknowledge that we must give an account of whatever we have done in the Body yet there are a great many things which in themselves are very great Crimes and yet many Men think there is no account to be given of them I shall not instance in particular Sins though a great many such there are which few Men take any great notice of but shall confine myself to what is of a more General Nature for Particulars would be endless I. First then we must remember we shall be judged for our Ignorance which some Men are so far from suspecting that they take Sanctuary in their Ignorance to Skreen them from the Judgment of GOD. If they can but keep out the Light they
and impudent and are not so much concerned to be private what at first they were ashamed the World should know in time they think no Shame A Custom of Sinning though in private wears off the Modesty of Humane Nature and when Men forget to blush they despise Reproach and Censure and then publish their own Wickedness and seek for Retirement and Privacy no longer The most impudent Sinners in the World were at first modest but if they can find any Excuse to make a beginning how modest soever their beginnings are they quickly improve and lose the sence of Sin and aversion to it by their repeated Commissions and then cannot bear the Restraints of Modesty and Retirement And this shews what little hope there is that secret Sinners should ever prove true Penitents for the most impudent and hardened Sinners sinned very secretly at first and of all those Sinners who make very modest and bashful beginnings I doubt for one true Penitent some hundreds sin away all thoughts of Repentance For the only effectual Restraint upon Humane Nature is an Awe and Reverence for God and the Fear of Future Judgement and Men may sin away this in private as well as in publick When once they conquer a Reverence for God and for their own Consciences which a Custom of Sinning will do be it never so secret they will have little regard to what the World says of them they may fear Humane Punishments but they are sunk below the sence of Shame If ever God reclaim such Men it must be either by some great and severe Afflictions which carry the Marks of a Divine Vengeance on them or by discovering their Wickedness and exposing them to publick Shame before they have lost all sence of it But if Men sin secretly and are very fortunate in concealing their Sins they will never think it time to repent till they can sin no longer And therefore since GOD sees our most secret Sins and will judge us for them let us maintain a constant Awe for God in our greatest Retirements let us remember that God is always present with us that he sees us when no other Eye sees that he abhors our most secret Sins that it is a great Contempt of God to retain a Reverence for Men and to cast off the Reverence of God to be ashamed that Men should know and see that Wickedness which we are not ashamed to commit tho' we know God looks on But then on the other hand we must remember that at the Day of Judgment God will reward all the good we do how private and secret soever it be as our Saviour assures us with reference to our private Devotions private Alms and private Fasts 6 Mat. That our Father who seeth in secret will reward us openly It is too often seen that Men make Religion itself minister to their Lusts and Secular Interests as the Pharisees did all their Works to be seen and to be admir'd of Men and therefore their great care was for what is external and visible they prayed in the Corners of the Streets and gave their Alms with the sound of a Trumpet and disfigured their Faces that they might appear unto Men to Fast. This was all vain Glory and Hypocrisie and when they were admired by Men for it they had the Reward they aimed at and all the Reward they must expect But true Religion does not court the Applause of Men A good Man must set a good Example to the World in his publick Conversation but such Acts of Vertue as may be private he is contented should be known to none but God and his own Conscience This is highly acceptable to God for it is to do good only for God's sake and that satisfaction we take in doing good Here is no mixture of Secular Ends but God is the whole World to us that he sees it is more than all Humane Applause though the whole World were the Theatre we expect our Reward from him and from him only for we let no body else know it which is such a Perfection of Obedience of Faith of Hope and Trust in God as deserves the greatest Rewards Those who industriously conceal the good they do from Men can expect nothing from Men for it neither Praise nor Rewards and therefore can have no other Motive to do good but the Love and Reverence of God and Faith in him or the pleasure they take in doing good for Goodness sake which are such Noble and Divine Principles of Action as command Reverence from all Men when they are discovered do great Honour to the Divine Nature and will procure great Rewards which is a mighty encouragement to the most secret Vertues to the most secret Acts of Devotion and Charity That our Father who seeth in secret will reward us openly in the presence of men and angels VI. We shall be judged for the Sins of our Thoughts and though all Men will confess this also yet few consider it Good God! could we look into one anothers Thoughts how should we blush and be confounded to see each other Men who seem to make Conscience of their external Behaviour and Conversation make very little Conscience of governing their Thoughts and secret Passions Those who appear so modest as to blush at any indecent Word and Action too often at the very same time burn with Lust and entertain their Fancies with all impure and unclean Imaginations The most affable and courteous Men whose Words and Behaviour are soft endearing and obliging can yet cherish revengeful Thoughts Anger Malice Hatred and please themselves with the Imagination of some Tragical Scenes which they dare not Act. Nay many times those who appear Humble to a Fault who seem as free from Ambition as any Men in the World who arrogate nothing to themselves nay seem to admire every body but themselves are yet very full of themselves swoln with vain Conceits of their own Worth and Merit and please themselves with their own Deserts and that the World takes notice of their Deserts and then they consider how they ought to be rewarded and preferred and will be sure to choose very well for themselves and thus entertain their deluded Fanices with vain and empty Scenes of Greatness and Glory The Pharisees thought all this very innocent that to lust after a beautiful Woman and please themselves with amorous and wanton Imaginations were no Crime if they did not commit Adultery that Anger and Malice and Revenge were very innocent while confined to thought but our Saviour teaches his Disciples better Ye have heard it hath been said to them of old Thou shalt not commit adultery But I say unto you Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart You have heard it hath been said unto them of old Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment But I say unto you Whosoever shall be angry with his brother
and set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left then shall the King say unto them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison aâ—d ye came unto me Then shall the righteous answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink or when saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye clothed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee Then shall he answer them saying Verily I say unto you inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these you did it not to me This is so remarkable a difference which our Saviour makes between Charity and all other Graces that it concerns us to take notice of it and to enquire what the meaning of it is 1. Now in the first place there is no doubt but our Saviour's intention in this was very powerfully to recommend all Acts of Charity to us since Heaven is the peculiar Reward of Charity and to make us as much afraid of all Uncharitableness as we are of any other the most enormous and flagitious Crimes since Uncharitableness will damn us though we were guilty if that were possible of no other sin And there is great reason to enforce this Duty on us because few Men have so great a sense of the Necessity and Obligations of Charity as they have of Moral Honesty and Justice All Mankind have a natural sense of the great evil of Rapine and Injustice and Murder to defraud Men of their Estates or to take them by force and violence to oppress the Poor the Fatherless and the Widow or to murder the Innocent their Consciences terrifie and scare them with such guilt but they have but little sense of the Obligations to Charity and of the great sin and danger of Uncharitableness they can see Men hungry and thirsty and naked and sick and in prison without ministring to them and though they will acknowledge such Acts of Charity to be very good and commendable yet charge themselves with no guilt for neglecting them but if none shall be saved at the last Day but the kind and the charitable if we shall be condemned at the last Day to that everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for doing no good though we should do no other evil as we certainly shall if our Saviour gives us a true Account of the Process of the last Judgment this if any thing will make Men sensible how necessary it is to do all the Good they can as necessary as it is to go to Heaven that they may as safely with respect to another World rob and steal and cheat and oppress as not relieve the Wants of the Poor as far as Christian Prudence and Charity directs for they shall be damned for this as well as for the greatest Injustice 2 dly Our Saviour hereby signifies that this Divine Charity is the perfection of all other Christian Graces and Vertues and comprehends them all for it is certain that no Man shall be saved without an Universal Righteousness and yet our Saviour enquires only after Charity as the only mark and criterion of an Universal Righteousness for where that is in sincerity there is a combination of all other Graces Our Saviour tells us That the Love of GOD and Men is the Summ of the whole Law and the Prophets 22 Mat. 36 37 38 39 40. And St. Paul tells us He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law Love worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the law 13 Rom. 8 9 10. He that loves his Neighbour will do him no hurt but will do him all the good he can And this Divine Love of Men results from the Love of GOD whose Creatures they are and whose Image they bear and therefore includes the Love of GOD as its cause for there is no other Principle of Universal Love and Charity though of particular Friendships there is And therefore St. Iohn makes this the Trial of our Love to God If a man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen and this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also 1 John 4.20 21. Thus much is certain from this Text that no Man loves God who does not love his Brother and I believe there never was an instance of true Universal Charity without the Love of God but not to make a dispute of that since Humanity and Greatness and Generosity of Mind will in some Men very nearly resemble and counterseit an Universal Charity the Charity our Saviour speaks of is this Divine Charity which flows from the Love of God and Christ when we love Men for God's sake and Christians as the Members and the Brethren of Christ and therefore he accounts all the kindness shewn to them for his sake as done to himself Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me This Divine Charity contains the Exercise of all other Christian Graces where this is no other Grace is wanting it is the universal Habit of Grace the very Nature of God for God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Iohn 4.7 8 9 10 11 12. But on the other hand an uncharitable Man can have no good in him and he has the Seeds and Principles of all Evil. Uncharitableness is owing to self-Self-love and to the love of this World and where these two are there can be no good but there may be all the wickedness that human Nature is capable of So that this brings the matter to a short issue at the Day of Judgment as our Saviour has here represented it In order to our final Doom and Sentence there needs but this one enquiry whether we were charitable or uncharitable for
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
regard to the Merit of the Work but we must do something to reconcile the Love and Favour of God to us before we can expect the Rewards of Grace and there is no other way if I may so speak of obliging God but by doing good to Men for God's sake This I take to be a very reasonable account of the great Rewards of good Men so vastly disproportioned to their Works and very agreeable to our Saviour's Account of the Future Judgment that God rewards our Love and Charity not our Works which makes the Reward not of Debt but of Grace which has no proportion but what Grace the infinite Love and Goodness of GOD will give it which lays all manner of Obligations on us to be very charitable for if we would be rewarded by Grace if we would be rewarded for Kindnesses we must shew kindness 4 thly Our Saviour's Account of the Future Judgment with reference to the final Sentence of uncharitable Men justifies the Righteousness of it to all Mankind For how can Sinners be saved but by Grace And what Title have those to Grace and Mercy who will shew none Is there any thing in the World more hateful to Mankind or which all Men think more deserves punishment than Ill-Nature And if God damn Men only for their Ill-nature will not all Mankind justifie the Righteousness of his Judgments Will such Men find any Apologists Nay can they Apologize for themselves And what is Uncharitableness but Ill-nature What Cruelty and Barbarity is it to see Men want Food and Cloths and all the Necessaries of Life when we are satised their Wants are real not counterfeit not to indulge their Idleness and Luxury and not relieve them If nothing but Ill-nature shall be damned nothing but Ill-nature can complain of God and there is no scandal in that But we must consider Mankind as Sinners obnoxious to the Judgments of God who must be pardoned before they are rewarded now when both the Pardon and the Reward is wholly of Grace and Mercy has that Man any Title to either who will shew no Mercy Is it reasonable to expect that God in meer grace and kindness should bestow Heaven upon that Man who will not give a Morsel of Bread nor a Cup of Drink to the Poor and Necessitous for God's sake Do Men deal thus with one another Do we think that Man deserves any kindness who will shew none That he should be fed and clothed when he is in want who would never feed and cloath others That he should be forgiven who would never forgive Unless Sinners be saved by Grace they can never be saved for it is Grace must forgive those sins which Justice would punish It is Grace which must bestow Heaven on us which is a Reward too big for our best Works to deserve and therefore too big for Justice to give If our sins be not pardoned we must sink into Hell and if we have no Title to the Grace of God which alone can forgive sins they can never be pardoned and this gives a plain account how Uncharitableness must necessarily damn us for an uncharitable Man has no Right to the Grace of God Innocence may challenge Impunity and Meritorious Works may challenge a Reward but nothing but Kindness can challenge Kindness and as a Sinner cannot merit Heaven so an unmerciful and uncharitable Man does not deserve to have it given him and if Heaven be not given him he can never have it if his Sins be not pardoned by Grace Justice must lay hold on him and sentence him to everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and Angels This is agreeable to the Reason of Mankind it is what all Men approve what all Men justifie when it shall appear at the last Day that though other sins have deserved Hell yet it is only our uncharitableness that hinders our Pardon and brings the Sentence of Condemnation on us all Mouths will be stopped before God Sinners themselves must confess the Righteousness of it their own Consciences must tell them that they have deserved no Mercy because they have shewn none and therefore we find in the account our Saviour gives us of it that when he condemned these uncharitable Men to Hell they made no exception against the Righteousness of the Sentence but only deny the Fact Lord when saw we thee hungry or thirsty or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee Though Mercy and Compassion and Forgiveness becomes the God of Love yet it does not unbecome Love itself infinite Love to condemn Ill-nature to everlasting Fire and there is nothing else which eternal and infinite Love will finally condemn and punish And this gives a plain account why Forgiveness of Sins is promised to no other particular Grace and Vertue but to Mercy and Charity Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy 5 Mat. 7. And the Psalmist tells us That with the merciful God will shew himself merciful but with the froward he will shew himself froward 18 Psal. 25 26. Our Saviour has taught us to pray for forgiveness upon the condition of our forgiving those who trespass against us For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses 6 Mat. 14.15 Which our Saviour represents at large in the Parable of the King who called his Servants to an account and finding one who ought him Ten thousand Talents and had nothing to pay he commands him and his Wife and Children to be sold and payment to be made but upon his earnest importunity forgave him the Debt this Servant meets his Fellow-Servant who ought him an Hundred Pence and cast him into Prison which his Lord hearing of revokes his Pardon and delivers him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was undue to him So likewise saith our Saviour shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses 18 Mat. 23. c. Thus St. Peter tells us That Charity all Acts of kindness shewn to Men covereth a multitude of sins 1 Pet. 4.8 And the Prophet Daniel advises Nebuchadnezzar to break off his sins by righteousness and his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor Heaven itself is promised to Acts of Charity Give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom for with the same measure that ye meet withal it shall be measured unto you again 6 Luke 38. which plainly signifies the Rewards of the next Life This is to lay up treasures in heaven 6 Mat. 20. To make to our selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when we fail they may receive us into everlasting habitations 16 Luke 9. As our Saviour tells the rich young Man If he would sell all he had and give to the poor he should
the Prophets about this matter And though it cannot be denyed but that many Christians deceive themselves with the same vain hopes yet this is much more unpardonable in them because God has given a more undeniable proof of the evil of Sin and his irrecoverable displeasure against it then either Iews or Heathens had For can there be a more certain evidence of the evil of Sin than the Death of Christ He dyed for Sin and as the Apostle speaks condemned sin in the flesh 8 Rom. 3. Not only condemned Sin by his excellent Sermons wise Exhortations sharp Reproofs and terrible Threatnings while he lived in the Flesh but by dying in the Flesh by offering up his Body a Sacrifice for Sin Whatever Christ suffered was not upon his own Personal account but for Sin and therefore what he suffered was the just demerit of Sin or else he ought not to have suffered it in him God shews us what our Sins deserve Infamy Reproach and utmost Scorn and Contempt the Agonies of the Mind the Pain and Torments of the Body and Death it self it was Sin that was Crucified that was exposed to all this Shame and Suffering in the Person of our Saviour and therefore in his Sufferings we have a lively Image of the Evil and Deserts of Sin which is a more convincing and satisfactory Evidence then the fine and subtile Reasonings of Philosophy which some Men cannot understand and which none but purified Minds can feel And though God declared his great love to Sinners in giving his own Son to dye for them yet hereby also he expressed his irreconcileable hatred against Sin Sinners may be reconciled to God by the Death of Christ but Sin never can that is Condemned is Crucified in the Death of Christ. Christ expiated Sin and reconciles Sinners by killing and destroying Sin by putting it to shame and Death upon his own Cross And this is the Method of our reconciliation to God in Conformity to the Death of Christ we must be crucified with Christ must be planted into the likeness of his Death that is we must crucifie Sin in us we must crucifie the flesh with its affections and lusts we must die to sin the body of sin must be destroyed that we may no longer serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin as St. Paul Argues 6 Rom. and in several other places And do we need any other proof of God's hatred of Sin than that he gave his own Son to be a Sacrifice for Sin that Christ could not expiate our Sins without undergoing that Infamy and Scorn and Pain and Death which is the desert of Sin that the Death and Destruction of Sin is represented in that very Sacrifice which expiates our Sins and must be acted over again in us in the real Crucifixion and Death of Sin before we can have any Interest in the Expiation of Christ's Death And can there be a more powerful Disswasive from Sin than this Thus it is a mighty encouragement to Repent of our Sins and forsake them to be assured of Pardon and Forgiveness if we do Now whatever Reasons Iews and Heathens had to hope for Pardon upon their Repentance it is certain they had not that assurance which the Death and Sacrifice of Christ gives us We have now an express Covenant of Grace and Pardon sealed with the Blood of Christ who is that lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world and God cannot condemn repenting Sinners without denying the purchase of Christ's Blood that precious Blood of infinite Price and Value that Blood which our great High Priest hath carried into the Holy of Holies and which there pleads the Pardon of penitent Sinners at the Throne of Grace God cannot deny himself cannot deny his own Covenant cannot deny his Sons Blood which speaketh better things then the blood of Abel cannot deny our great High Priest who appeareth in the presence of God for us who died for us and now liveth for ever to make intercession for us and he who wants greater security than this must tell us what greater security Sinners can have then the Oath and Covenant of God and the Blood and Intercession of Christ. When I consider this matter with what infinite Wisdom God has contrived the Redemption of Sinners to cure the degeneracy of our Natures and to raise us to a perfect Vertue to bind us faster to himself in those soft and charming Fetters of Love to spur us forward with all the Zeal and Impetus that Hope and Fear and Indignation and Love the Passions and Paroxysmes of a divine inflamed Love can give us it amazes me to think that any Christians should flatter themselves that Faith in Christ will save them without Works that there is less need for them to be so exact and circumspect in their Lives that sin is not so damning a thing now since Christ has made atonement for it and reconciled God to Sinners as it was before Had they no Saviour indeed it would concern them to be very good when they must merit for themselves had they not such a meritorious Sacrifice for Sin and such a powerful High-Priest it would be a very dangerous thing to commit sin but now Christ has Righteousness and Merit enough for us all and we need none of our own nothing but Faith to apply his Righteousness to us Christ has pulled out the Sting of Sin that it cannot greatly hurt it cannot kill a Believer though it may slightly wound him a 〈◊〉 and draw some Tears of Repentance from him and that heals all again This if any thing in the World is to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness to be wicked because God is good to sin because grace does abound whose damnation is just I beseech you for the love of Christ and for the Honour of his Undertaking of his Death and Intercession for us to consider this a little better Consider what the Gospel teaches us to believe of Christ and how absurd and contradictious it is to say that such a Faith will save us without holiness and purity of heart and life Do you not believe That Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 2 Titus 14. And is it reasonable to think that our believing this will save us unless we be redeemed from all iniquity unless we be purified unless we be a people zealous of good works If Christ saves those who are not redeemed from all iniquity who are not purified who are not zealous of good works it is certain he must save those for whom he did not give himself or must save them contrary to his own intention of giving himself for them but however to believe that Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity does not seem to be such a Faith if our Faith be true as will justifie us without being redeemed from all
cannot deceive us for if we judge of our selves by the same Rule by which God will judge us every Man knows himself so well that he cannot mistake and when GOD and Conscience judge by the same Rule their Judgment must be the same but if we will alter our Rule of Judging if Conscience judge by one Rule and God by another then there is no wonder if their Judgments differ if GOD condemn those whose Consciences acquit them and absolve those whose Consciences or rather whose private Opinions and Fancies condemn them This is plain from the instances before us some Men justifie themselves in doing very wicked Actions but the reason is because they mistake the Nature of Things they call Good Evil and Evil Good and then their Consciences applaud and commend them for doing that which is very wicked but which they call good As our Saviour tells his Apostles The time cometh when every one that killeth you will think that he does God good service 16 Joh. 2. Others who know they are guilty of very great wickedness are yet very confident of their Salvation and full of assurance because they do not judge of themselves by the good or evil which they do but rely upon other marks and evidences for their Salvation Raptures Extasies Enthusiasms a presumptuous Faith in Christ an ineffectual sorrow for sin some arbitrary and fanciful signs of Election c. Now indeed these Mens Consciences do condemn them for they accuse them of great wickedness but they will not believe the Judgment of their own Consciences but judge of their final state by their own mistaken Fancies and Opinions and therefore according to the Apostle's Rule God will condemn these Men for their own Consciences condemn them though they will not believe the Judgment of their Consciences but justifie themselves in contradiction to it when Conscience condemns Other Men who are not condemned by their own Consciences that is who cannot charge themselves with any great guilt who are not conscious to themselves that they have lived in any known Sin or in the habitual neglect of any material and essential part of their Duty yet they strongly fancy that GOD will condemn them that they are under the Sentence of Reprobation that they have sinned against the Holy Ghost though what that Sin is they know not They want the testimony of the Spirit to assure them of their Election they have never felt the Spirit of Bondage and therefore they fear they have not the Spirit of Adoption that is they have never felt the Horrours and Agonies of guilty Sinners because by the Grace of GOD and the Blessing of a pious and vertuous Education they have always been preserved from those frightful sins which amaze the Conscience and therefore they fear it is but a false Peace they feel that God is not in this soft and calm Voice of Conscience because they have never heard nor seen the Thundrings and Lightnings from Mount Sinai Or though they maintain a great reverence for God and worship him with all humility of Soul and Body yet they do not feel those flights of Devotion those melting and languishing Passions which some good Men â—eel or if at any time they are transported beyond themselves and feel their Hearts all on fire with Love and Devotion these Fits are but short these Boylings and Fermentations go off and they return to a calm and even Temper and then they think they grow cold and that the Spirit of GOD hath forsaken them Now it is plain also that these Mens Consciences do not condemn them for they charge them with no such guilt as the Gospel of Christ will condemn them for but they are condemned only by false Opinions or by a misguided and disturbed Fancy In both these Cases Men absolve or condemn themselves not by the judgment and testimony of Conscience but by their mistaken Notions and Opinions and God is not concerned to confirm and ratifie such a Judgment The Sum is this When St. Iohn tells us That if our Conscience condemn us God will condemn us but if our Conscience do not condemn us neither will God condemn us he means by Conscience that Judgment which Men make of themselves by comparing their Lives and Actions with the Rule by which GOD will judge us for Conscience judges not by making new and arbitrary Rules of Judgment but by giving Testimony to our Lives and Actions The Judgment of Conscience is no more but this Whether we have obeyed or disobeyed the Laws of the Gospel whether we have done those things which the Gospel threatens to punish or which it promises to reward but when we judge our Actions by false Notions of Good and Evil contrary to the Gospel of our Saviour we judge by a false Rule and then our Judgment must be false and when we judge our selves not by the Nature of our Works as God will judge us and as Conscience judges but by Opinions and Fancies and some Arbitrary and Enthusiastick Marks and Signs this is not the Judgment of Conscience which judges only of our Works but the Judgment of private Opinions Conceits and Fancies and though God will judge us as Conscience judges yet he will not judge us as Opinion Fancy Enthusiasm or Melancholy judge us Thus we see how we may know what our Sentence shall be at the Day of Judgment Two sorts of Men may certainly know what their Sentence shall be and a third sort may know the great danger they are in if they will but listen to the Judgment of their own Consciences Men whose Consciences absolutely condemn them may certainly expect that God will condemn them For when their guilt is so notorious that they are forced to condemn themselves why should they think that a just and righteous Judge will not condemn them Those whose Consciences do not condemn them shall certainly be pardoned and rewarded by the Mercies of God those whose Consciences will neither condemn nor absolve them but do both by turns are in a very doubtful and hazardous state their Salvation as yet is very uncertain and it concerns them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure And should not this teach us to reverence the Judgment of Conscience as a Divine Sentence not to provoke our Consciences to condemn us to obey their Admonitions and to reform at their Rebukes and Censures What would Sinners think should they hear themselves condemned by God every time they commit a known and wilful sin And yet Conscience is the Tribunal of God judges for God and condemns us in God's Name and by his Authority and God will confirm and execute its Sentence and therefore Conscience is a very venerable Judge And ought we not diligently to hearken to that Judgment which Conscience passes on us This I am sure is of vast concernment both to bad and to good Men whether it