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
Secular Affairs will furnish us with frequent opportunities of exercising great and excellent Vertues yet the World is apt to gain too much upon us by our constant Conversation with it and as Flesh and Sense prevails so the Spirit loses and if this does not defile the Soul with worldly Lusts yet it takes us off very much from the frequent and vigorous acts of a Divine Life which is the true Happiness of a reasonable Soul But then these mortal Bodies are exposed to great Wants and Sufferings bad Men are injurious and Meekness and Patience and such tame and gentle Vertues incourage their Injuries nay true Piety and Religion itself may be the cause and reason of our Sufferings and when the Body suffers the Soul suffers with it and this stifles the present pleasures and satisfactions of Vertue and nothing can support the Spirits of good Men under such Sufferings but the future expectations of great Rewards So that in this State Vertue alone is not a sufficient reward to itself for either its pleasures are but faint and languid or its sufferings over-ballance its pleasures But yet if we will but suppose a good Man removed into such a State where Vertue and Piety will have its free unrestrained undisturbed Exercise and can produce its natural Effects without any hindrance and interruption then it is demonstrable that Piety and Vertue must make Men happy and this secures the Happiness of good Men when ever they remove out of these Bodies and out of this World When these Bodies and this World can no longer tempt or disturb us with its Pains or Pleasures when the Care and Business of this World can no longer divert and employ our Thoughts when Bad Men can no longer injure us when our Souls are set at liberty to exercise all their Rational Powers when we remove into a World of Spirits and converse only with Spiritual Objects which will as strongly affect our Minds as the things of this World do our Senses then Vertue will and must be a Reward unto itself then the Pleasures of Wisdom and Knowledge and Divine Passions will be ravishing and transporting Thus on the other hand the Nature of Vice is such as to make a reasonable Creature miserable but yet a great Prosperity in this World and a confluence of all sensual Enjoyments may at present palliate and dissemble or suspend these malignant Influences of a vicious Nature may make Men unsensible of the want of true Rational and Divine Pleasures or of the pain and disturbance of sinful Passions may bind up our Reason and Conscience and give such an empire and predominancy to Sense that we can neither understand nor relish any other Pleasures but those of the Body and think ourselves compleatly happy while we have these but if we will suppose such Men stript of Flesh and Sense thrust out of these Bodies and out of this World and there is an end of their sensual Happiness and a sensualized Soul is capable of no other and when all other Objects are removed and such sinful and distempered Minds are brought acquainted with themselves when the Vertue of these Opiates is spent and the Soul recovers its sense again then every vicious Passion proves a Fury then Guilt and Shame and Fear and Despair and raging Remorse act their several Tragedies in such a miserable Soul This is the true Nature of sinful and disordered Passions and thus they must do when they act like themselves and thus they will do when they are let loose upon us in the other World So that the natural Rewards and Punishments of Vertue and Vice that Vertue in its own nature is the Life the Happiness Vice the Death and Misery of a reasonable Soul do necessarily prove that if good and bad Men remove out of this World of Sense into a World of Spirits Piety and Vertue must make Men happy and Vice miserable and we may take it for granted that God will reward a happy and punish a miserable Nature 7. These natural Rewards and Punishments of Vertue and Vice are a great Instrument of Providence as they are a most effectual Antidote and Remedy against Superstition which corrupts the Manners of Men and debauches the World By Superstition I mean all those hypocritical Arts of appeasing God and procuring his Favour without obeying his Laws or reforming our Sins infinite such Superstitions have been invented by Heathens by Iews by Christians themselves especially by the Church of Rome which abounds with them Now these Superstitions do not only spoil all Religion but corrupt Mens Lives and give them great security and impudence in sinning which overturns the good Government of the World For while Men perswade themselves that they may live as they list and commit what Villanies they please and yet escape the Wrath and Vengeance nay obtain the Favour of God both in this World and in the next it sets them free from all Laws and Government and leaves no restraint on them but what the Laws of Men and the Rods and Axes of Princes lay on them But when Men consider that God has so contrived the nature of things that Vertue must make Men happy and Vice miserable they cannot imagine that God can be reconciled to wicked Men unless they think that he will alter the nature of Vertue and Vice for them the Rewards and Punishments the Happiness and Misery of good and bad Men are not now arbitrary things at the disposal of God's arbitrary will and pleasure but God must new make Man again to make good Men miserable and bad Men happy they may as well expect ease in a Fit of the Gout or Stone or Health in the Paroxysms of a Feavor as that a wicked and corrupt Nature should receive the Rewards of Religion and Vertue This is the first Evidence we have of a Divine Providence which governs the World that Divine Justice which is interwoven in the nature of things which has annexed such natural Rewards and Punishments to Vertue and Vice and thereby marked them out for the proper Objects of God's Favour or Vengeance II. Another Evidence of God's Providence and Government is the Institution of Humane Governments for the Punishment of Wickedness and the Rewards of Vertue it is very plain in Scripture that Humane Power and Authority is ordained by God I need only direct you to 13 Rom. for the proof of it though indeed the nature of the thing proves itself if we allow that God made the World for he has made Man such a creature that Humane Government is absolutely necessary and to make Humane Government necessary is a natural Institution of it Man is a sociable Creature who cannot live alone but must unite into Societies and the experience of Mankind proves that Societies cannot be preserved without Civil Government to maintain the Rights and to restrain the Violences and Injuries of Men that if God had not by any direct and immediate Institution set up any
pray for and therefore it teaches us Having Food and Raiment there-with to be content But who could be contented with such a scanâ—y Provision while he sees the greater Prosperity of bad Men who dissolve in Ease and Luxury were there not a happy state reserved for them in the next World Where is the Man who would not comply with the Devil's Temptation to fall down and Worship him for all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them were he not to lose a brighter and a richer Crown for it Some times indeed God does bless good Men with great Plenty and Honour but he has no where promised to do so in the Gospel of Christ sometimes he does it not so much to reward good Men for Temporal things are not the proper Rewards of Piety and Vertue as to serve the ends of his Providence in the World he takes care of good Men to supply their wants and necessities here which is all that a perfect Vertue requires but he rewards them hereafter and yet this is not absolutely promised neither for our Saviour teaches us to take up his Cross to expect Sufferings and Persecutions for his Name sake and then we must be contented to want Food and Raiment to part with Houses and Lands and Life itself for his sake and our condition may be so afflicted and calamitous here that it may force us to say as S. Paul does If in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable And who would be the Disciple of Chriâ—â— upon these Terms to suffer so much for him in this World and to gain nothing by it in the next Thus on the other hand there is a terrible Vengeance threatned against wicked Men in the next World Lakes of fire and brimstone blackness of darkness the worm that never dieth and the fire that never goeth out but the Gospel threatens no Temporal Punishments against Sin Bad Men are very often punished in this World when the Wisdom of the Divine Providence sees fit and they very often escape too and are much more prosperous than good Men are here that there is no Threatning in the Gospel to restrain the Impieties of Men but only the Fears of the other World and a Future Judgement and if you take away these you destroy the Gospel of our Saviour 2. Many of our Saviour's Laws are founded on the supposition of a Future Judgment and are extreamly unreasonable if there be no Rewards or Punishments after this Life that if we will but allow him the ordinary Prudence of a Lawgiver a Future Judgment must be the Foundation of his Religion If there were no other Life after this the only Rule of our Actions would be to live as long and to enjoy as much of this World as we can But Christian Religion in many cases will not allow of this and therefore is no Religion for this World were there not another World to follow To begin with the Enjoyments of this World How many Restraints does the Christian Religion lay on us to lessen the Pleasures and Satisfactions of this Life It teaches us a great Indifferency to all the things of this World but how unreasonable is that if this World be our only place of Happiness For who can be indifferent whether he be happy or not It commands us to mortifie our sensual Appetites to crucifie the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts to live above the Pleasures of the Body to pluck out our right Eyes and to cut off our right Hands but what reason can there be to deny our selves any of these Enjoyments as far as is consistent with preserving our Health and prolonging our Lives if we have no expectations after Death nay if Men are contented to live a short and a merry Life what hurt is there in it if death puts an end to them It forbids us to lay up for ourselves Treasures on Earth which were a strange Command were there not greater Treasures to be expected in Heaven It forbids earthly Pride and Ambition an affectation of Secular Honours and Power but why must we submit to Meanness and Contempt in this World if this be the only Scene of Action we shall ever be concerned in for a mean and base Spirit is no Vertue and for the same reason it can be no Vertue to be contented with a low Fortune to be patient under Sufferings which if they will never be rewarded is to be patiently miserable and that is Stupidity and Folly but to have our Conversation in Heaven to live upon the hopes of unseen Things is Madness and Distraction if there be no Heaven no unseen Things for us The Laws of our Saviour require us in some cases to sacrifice the dearest Interests we have in this World and Life itself for his sake which is a sensless and unreasonable Command if he does not intend to bestow a better Life on us If there were no other Life after this no wise Man would forfeit more for any Religion than it is worth in this World and that would reach but a little way in Suffering Nor is our Saviour so unreasonable as to require it upon these Terms but tells us plainly Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul 16 Mat. 25 26. The Reasons of most of the Evangelical Commands must be fetched wholly from the other World and a Future Judgement and therefore we should have had the same Evidence for a Judgment to come that we have for the Christian Religion tho' there had been no such express mention made of a Future Judgment I cannot but observe here the true Reason of the Corruption of Christian Morals which are as much corrupted as the Christian Faith is That in expounding the Laws of our Saviour some Men have no other regard but to fit them to the ease and the conveniences of this Life and therefore reject any Interpretation of them which is severe to Flesh and Blood or will hazard their Ease and Fortunes in this World It is sufficient to Confute any Law of our Saviour or to Interpret it away to shew that there are great Temporal Inconveniences in it that to observe such Laws in such a sence would be very injurious to Mens present Interests and deprive them of many Pleasures and Advantages of Life It were easie to give many Instances of this but it shall suffice at present to confess that considering the State of this World and the Propensities and Inclinations of Humane Nature some Laws of our Saviour are very unreasonable were there not a Future Judgment to reward the Severities and Sufferings which good Men must undergo in observing of them and therefore we must have a care of rejecting any plain and express Law
they think Patience and Forbearance a greater Fault in them then it is in God who beareth with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction Why are they so unmerciful as to hurry away these poor Wretches immediately to Hell when God is contented to let them live on to let the Tares and the Wheat grow up together till the Harvest Why do they envy them the short and perishing Contentments of this Life when they are to suffer an Eternity of Misery Methinks it should satisfie the most implacable Hatred to know that they must be miserable for ever though their Miseries should be adjourned for some few Years but if this be the Effect of damning Men you may guess that the Cause is not very good though an uncharitable Judgment will hurt no Body but themselves yet it is of dangerous consequence when such rash Judges will be as hasty Executioners too 2. Though the effects of saving Men and voting them to Heaven be not so Tragical as those of damning them yet this has its Mischiefs too when any Party of Men have voted themselves the only true Church wherein Salvation is to be had or the only Saints and Elect People of God then all who will be saved must herd with them and most Men think it enough to secure their Salvation to get into their Number Thus the Church of Rome frightens Men into her Communion by threatning Damnation against all who are out of that Church and this reconciles Men to all their Superstitions and Idolatries for fear of Damnation and encourages them in all manner of Looseness and Debauchery when they arâ— got into a Church which can save them and it has much the same effect when Men list themselves with any Party where they hope to be saved for Company while all the rest of Mankind even those who profess the Faith of Christ are no better then the World and the Ungodly and Reprobates who tho' they may have more Moral Vertues then some others yet have no Grace And the mischief of this encreases when Men are Sainted after death Had it not been for this Trick the Church of Rome had had very few Saints to Worship none but the Virgin Mary and the Apostles whom they might certainly conclude to be in Heaven but as for their other Saints who were the great Founders and Examples of their Superstition they are Saints of their own making just as the Heathens made their Gods and it is the Stories and Legends of these Saints which support the Superstition of the Church of Rome for who dares question the Examples of those who are canonized Saints in Heaven Hac arte Pollux vagus Hercules innixus arces attigit igneas And there are another sort of Men who are not behind-hand with them in this who have a great many more Saints than the Church of Rome though they don't pray to them who send great shoals to Heaven especially if they have been zealous for promoting a Party which hides all other Faults and sanctifies very doubtful Actions and how powerful must the Example of such Saints be to excite others to an imitation of their Vertues In a word when we pretend to send Men to Heaven we make them our Rules and Examples we hope to go to Heaven with all the Faults they had and those who knew them possibly knew a great many what they were eminent for we conclude were great Vertues and fit for our imitation tho' otherwise of a doubtful and suspicious Nature There is not a more dangerous thing than to make any Man our Rule and Example and yet that we necessarily do when we send him to Heaven for who would not think himself safe in imitating those whom he believes to be in Heaven And if we consider at what rate both the Church of Rome and others make Saints we must needs be sensible how infinitely dangerous this is to Mens Souls To conclude this Head Let us judge charitably of all Men and hope well according to the different reasons we have to hope but let us leave their final State to God neither peremptorily damn nor save them it is to be feared that Humane Judgment has sent many Men to Heaven who will never get thither and to be hoped that many Men shall meet with a more favourable Sentence in the next World than they do in this God is the Judge of the World and he will certainly judge us and there is no Inconvenience in staying till the Day of Judgement to see what Mens final Sentence shall be but very great Mischief in pronouncing a rash and hasty Judgment our selves SECT VIII Fourth Inference To refer all Difficulties to the Day of Iudgment IV. IF God will Judge the World let us refer all Difficulties to the Day of Judgment It must be confessed that there are very great Difficulties in Providence such as the wisest Men cannot understand and I can by no means say it is a Fault for Men to search into Providence and to be very inquisitive into the reasons of it for what can more become a reasonable Creature then to study the Works of God and what Works more worth our study then the Divine Providence and the wonderful Mysteries of God's governing the World But the Difficulty is to set Bounds to the Curiosity of Mankind to teach them to study Providence with the Modesty of Creatures and with the just Reverence which we owe to God whose Wisdom is infinite and unsearchable to be contented to discover what we can to admire and adore the Wisdom and Goodness and Justice of Providence in what is plain and there is enough plain to exercise our devout Meditations to be matter of our Praise and Thanksgivings anda sure foundation of our Trust in God And this wise and good Men are contented with but most Men take least notice of what is plain as if that were of no use and not worth notice but puzle their thoughts and lose themselves in those vast Depths and Abysses which no Humane Understanding can fathom To Correct this Miscarriage would do great service to Religion would give great peace and satisfaction to Mens minds and prevent a great many scandalous Disputes about the Divine Providence and therefore if I discourse this a little more at large then my present Argument requires I hope it will be no great Fault Now to set Bounds to our Curiosity and to make us Modest in our Inquiries into Providence I shall shew you I. How dangerous it is to search too narrowly into the Secrets of Providence II. How unreasonable it is to disturb our Minds with such Difficulties as we cannot answer III. That what cannot be known in this World it is time enough for us to know in the World to come IV. That we have all the reason in the World to believe that what we cannot know in this World will be made very plain and easie at the Day of Judgment I. As
Providence against all the Reproaches and evil Surmizes of Men for he will appear just when he judgeth and overcome when 〈◊〉 contendeth Let us not disturb our Heâ—â—â— with such Difficulties as we cannot understand now we know enough to believe that God is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works enough to makâ— us devout Worshippers of God and tâ— enquire farther is a dangerous Curiosity like looking into the Ark of God SECT IX â—ifth Inference To affect our Souls with a strong and vigorous and constant Sence of Iudgment V. SInce it is certain that GOD will Judge the World let us endeavour by all means possible to affect our Souls with a strong and vigorous and constant Sence of Judgment The Belief of a Future Judgment is worth little when it ends in Speculation the use of it is to govern our Lives and to prepare us to give a good Account of ourselves to God since we know that he will demand an Account of us but a meer Belief that we shall be judged will not do this unless we affect our Souls with a Sence of Judgment The Experience of the World and our own Experience of ourselves does sufficiently prove this we all profess to believe a Future Judgment and most of us do heartily believe it and yet there are too many among us who give little reason to the World to think they believe it who commit those Sins every day for which they know God will damn them when they come to Judgment which one would think those who believe they shall be judged could never do so 〈◊〉 a meer Belief of a Future Judgment 〈◊〉 not govern Mens Lives but then 〈◊〉 very Men when they are awakened 〈◊〉 a Dread and Fear of Judgment feel 〈◊〉 Vertue and Power of it on their Hearâ— it makes them hate their Sins and 〈◊〉 themselves for them it makes them 〈◊〉 devout and importunate in their Pâ—â—â—ers very sincere and passionate in their Repentance very resolved to forsake all thâ—â—â— Sins and to live a new Life and thâ—â—â—fore if we would have the Belief of a Future Judgment make us good Men 〈◊〉 must not only believe it but affect oâ—â— Souls with a great Sence of it which iâ— true of all the other Arguments and Motives of Religion as well as of a Futurâ— Judgment The proper Enquiry then here is How we shall awaken and preserve such a poâ—erful Sence of Judgment in our Minds Now the only general Direction thâ—â— can be given is Frequently to Thinâ— and Meditate on a Future Judgment foâ— nothing can affect our Minds but ouâ— Thoughts which make the Object present and give us a near View of it 〈◊〉 it is in the Objects of Sence the Eye affects the Heart and excites and moveâ— the Affections more than all the Arguments in the World if we look stedfastly upon a terrible and frightful Object it will strike Terrour into us if upon a pleasant and beautiful Object it will excite Love and Delight if upon a miserable Object it will affect us with a tender Compassion to see Men in great Want and Misery will melt and open that Heart which was hardened and shut against all the Arguments and Motives to Charity and long and frequent Consideration will have much the same effect on us that Sight has Judgment is a terrible thing to bad Men and if they would but seriously think of it it would terrifie them if they would but imagine sometimes that they heard that last-Trumpet sound which will awaken all-Mankind and raise them out of their Graves and summon them to Iudgement that they saw the Son of Man descend from Heaven attended with his mighty Angels to execute Vengeance on all them who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ that they saw the Earth all in flames about them and Hell opening her Mouth wide to receive them that they saw the Books opened and those Sins recorded which they had forgot and the Secrets of their Hearts disclosed and that they heard that terrible Sentence Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels do yâ—â— think that any Man who believes all this and would suffer himself seriously to think of it could bear up against the Terrour of it or that with these Thoughts about him he could court a Strumpet or spend his Time in Revels and Excess or Blâ—spheme God and Ridicule Religion or Cheat his Neighbour or Oppress the Poor and Fatherless or Forswear himself Noâ— we see this cannot be as often as we see â— miserable Sinner whose awakened Conscience distracts him with all these Scenes and Images of Terrour So that serious Consideration would make a Future Judgment very effectual to govern our Lives but the great Difficulty of all is to bring Men to consider and yet one would think it impossible that a reasonable Creature should not consider that he must be judged But so it is and there is no disputing against Experience and yet it is so dangerous and fatal a Neglect that it concerns us to enquire into the Causes and Remedies of it for could we Cure this it would quickly Reform the World give a new Resurrection to Piety and Vertue and secure Men from the Danger and Terrours of a Future Judgement Now there are two apparent Causes of this 1. That the Thoughts of Judgment are very uneasie and troublesome and that makes Men afraid and averse to think of it And 2. that Judgment is out of sight and they have nothing to mind them of it and their Thoughts are so taken up with other matters that they forget it unless they happen to hear a Sermon about it or some accidental mention of it which when they return to their worldly Affairs and Business they quickly forget again 1 st Men are very apt to avoid all Thoughts of Judgment because they are very uneasie and troublesome they startle at the mention of it at least do not love to talk too long nor think too seriously of it for it awakens their Consciences and makes them think what a sad Account they have to give how many things they have done and daily do which they can never answer to God when he comes to Judgment and therefore they choose to live quietly without disturbing themselves with such terrifying Reflections and the amazing Thoughts of what is to come Now methinks it is no hard thing to convince thinking Men of the Danger and Folly of this and to reconcile them to the Thoughts of Judgment For 1. To drive these Thoughts out of our Minds though it may give us present ease yet it will not mend our Accounts nor prevent our being judged God will judge us whether we will think of being judged or not were no Men to be judged but those who think of it there were as much reason to stupifie our Consciences and never to think of Judgment as there is for sick Men to take
29. They knew it seems there was a time of Torment appointed for them but it was not yet and yet there was then some place of Confinement for them which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Deep whatever that signifies whither they were unwilling to go and therefore when Christ cast them out of the Man whom they had long and furiously possessed they beg of him that he would not command them to go into the Deep 8. Luke 31. I shall only observe farther That the Devils are said to believe and tremble Now what is it they believe and what is it they tremble at but the last Judgment and that terrible Condemnation which they then expect and therefore they are not under it yet for Faith respects what is absent and future and Fear does not respect what we suffer at present but what we expect But these are great Mysteries which we cannot now understand but thus much we do understand that if these fallen and apostate Angels have not yet received their final Punishment but are only reserved in Chains of Darkness till the Judgment of the great Day there is less reason to think that wicked Men who are to be punished with the Devil and his Angels should immediately go to Hell as soon as they go out of these Bodies and therefore whatever is meant by those Flames wherein Dives was tormented it is not the last Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels As for good Men those Expressions of Scripture of their going to Paradise especially of their going to Christ or being present with the Lord seem to bid very fair for their going directly to Heaven where Christ is but the Primitive Christians understood them otherwise that Paradise and Abraham's Bosom was a place of Ease and Happiness but not Heaven that no Man ascends into Heaven till after the Resurrection which Ireneus and Tertullian prove from the Example of Christ to which we must be conformed for Christ himself did not ascend into Heaven till after the Resurrection but as his Body rested in the Grave so his Soul went into the State of Souls departed and when he arose again then he ascended into Heaven and thus they say we must do also When we die our Souls shall live in those places which God has prepared for separate Souls and when we have re-assumed our Bodies we shall be admitted into the highest Heavens whither Christ is ascended and this seems very reasonable that we should not ascend into Heaven into the immediate Presence of God which signifies our perfect Reconciliation to him without our Bodies the want of which is an argument of our Apostasie and his Displeasure and all the Marks of his Displeasure ought to be removed before we appear in his immediate Presence But is not Christ in Heaven and how then can good Men be present with the Lord after Death if they do not immediately ascend into Heaven Now as for this they tell us That the Souls of just Men in Paradise have the sight and conversation of Angels and Archangels and the Vision or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our Saviour which they think is what is meant by being present with the Lord though they did not affirm that no good Men did immediately ascend into Heaven when they died but expressly taught that all Martyrs did who died for the Name and Religion of Christ and this was the thing which made them in that Age so fond of Martyrdom that they thought all Martyrs ascended directly into Heaven And if they could have proved this as it is plain they believed it that Martyrs did immediately ascend into Heaven and that other Christians did not who would not have coveted to die a Martyr Thus I have very fairly and truly represented this Matter and that no Man who has not so carefully considered this may take Offence at it I shall 1. shew you how useful this Doctrine is at this time And 2. that it gives no discouragement to Vertue nor any encouragement to Vice 1 st As for the first we may consider In the first place That in such an Age as this wherein we have to deal with so many Atheists and Infidels we ought to take care to make Religion reasonable and intelligible for if we do not they expose it to Scorn and Ridicule and both harden themselves in their own Infidelity and corrupt others and therefore we must take care of representing any thing absurdly and inconsistently Now to say that Men who are already judged and either condemned or absolved and actually sent to Hell or to Heaven should be solemnly judged over again and condemned again to Hell or advanced to Heaven sounds oddly to such Men but if the Scripture does not expresly teach such a Doctrine we are at liberty not to teach it especially if we can give another Account of it which seems as agreeable to Scripture and more agreeable to the Reason and Understanding of Mankind 2. Some there are who observing that Mankind shall not be judged till the Day of Judgment conclude that there is no intermediate State but that the Soul sleeps with the Body till the Day of Judgment A very Foolish and Unphilosophical Opinion for we may as reasonably think that the Soul dies as that it sleeps in a state of Separation if the Soul be a spiritual Substance distinct from the Body it may live and act without it and it is as easie and reasonable to defend the Mortality of the Soul as its sleeping for if the Soul must sleep when it is separated from the Body it must sleep for ever if it never be re-united to the Body again that is it must live and die with the Body for such a sleep as this is not meerly an Image of Death but Death it self But from what I have now discoursed it appears that though there be a great distance between Death and Judgment yet the Soul does live and act is happy or miserable in the mean time 3. This Notion does very great Service also against Popery For 1. it gives an account of a middle State without Purgatory This has greatly imposed upon unlearned Men that the Advocates of Popery have proved from the Ancient Fathers that they owned a middle State which was neither Heaven nor Hell and then presently conclude that this must be Purgatory Now it is very true the Ancient Christians did own a middle State between Death and Judgment which was neither Heaven nor Hell but yet never dreamt of a Popish Purgatory they believed bad Men were in a State of Punishment as soon as they left these Bodies but not in Hell and that good Men were in a State of Rest and Happiness but not in Heaven but they never thought of a place of Torment to expiate the Temporal Punishment due to Sin when the Eternal Punishment is remitted which is the Popish Purgatory and the most barbarous Representation of the Christian Religion though the most profitable
a Sight as all of you who saw it cannot but confess it was what will it be to see the whole World on Fire and yourselves incompassed in the Flames of 〈◊〉 to see all those tempting Objects all the Instruments of your Pleasures all the Riches and Glory of the World which were the Fuel of your Lusts now turned into a devouring Fire to torment you to expiate those Flames they kindled in your Souls by sensible and material Flames Who would make this World his Portion and Inheritance who considers the end of it It looks charmingly indeed at present it invites and caresses and lays Baits and Snares for us but if we will have the World for our Portion it must be our Portion too at the Day of Judgment and consider how you shall like its Courtship when it incircles you with Flames and Smoke and Darkness those who choose this World for their Portion can never remove out of it and therefore must be contented to share Fortunes with it to smile when it smiles and to burn when it burns With what Triumph will good Men at that Day see themselves out of the reach of a burning World They betimes made their Escape out of this World as foreseeing its approaching Ruin they were not of the World while they lived in it but disintangled their Affections from this World while their Bodies were confined below And such Divine Souls whose Conversation was in Heaven as soon as they get loose from these Bodies ascend far above this Sphere of Corruption out of danger either of being tempted or being hurt by this World With what Triumph will they behold God erect a new World for them to inhabite create a new Heaven and new Earth where he will place his Throne and Tabernacle and dwell among them and be their God! What bad Man can hear these things without Terrour and Amazement What good Man does not long for this happy Day for this Marriage of the Lamb when the new Ierusalem shall come down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband 21 Revel 2. 3. That the Day of Judgment is at the end of the World proves that this Judgment is final and irreversible because this present state of Things is come to an end and as this puts a final Conclusion to this World so to all accounts relating to it This World is a changeable Scene but the next World is eternal and therefore as good and bad Men are disposed of in the next World they must continue for ever This World will be destroyed and therefore bad Men can never return into it again to act over a new part and to correct the Sins and Follies of their former Lives as Origen conceived they should after a long time of Punishment when the fleshly Principle is thoroughly subdued by the Torments they have suffered Which Opinion how much mercy and good nature soever there may be in it has not the least countenance from Scripture nor any foundation that I know of in Reason when the World where they lived and where they sinned is at an end I think there is an end also of their acting any new part in it And that new World where good Men shall dwell in the immediate Presence of God shall last for ever there is no death no pain no crying for there can be no sin there there is no Devil no World to tempt and nothing within to be tempted they enter clean and pure into that holy Place and the immediate Sight and Presence of God will eternally keep them so Had we no positive Revelation of the Eternity of Rewards and Punishments it were yet reasonable to conclude that if the Day of Judgment put an end to this World without putting an end to good or bad Men but only translating them to a new state of Happiness or Misery that their Happiness or Misery must last as long as that new State does and their Sentence can never be reversed without a new Day of Judgment and therefore if this be the last and final Judgment good and bad Men must then enter upon an unalterable and eternal State of Happiness or Misery and this is the most comfortable and most terrible Consideration of all How will the Souls of good Men rejoyce in God their Saviour when they shall see themselves possest of an eternal and unchangeable Happiness when this mutable Scene is vanished and they have an abiding City whose Builder and Maker is God when they can look forward to Eternity without fearing Death or any Change or Diminution of their Happiness which may encrease to Eternity and be always new and fresh but can never admit of any interruption or allay But I will not pretend to describe the Confusion the Distraction the Raging Despair of those wretched Sinners who shall be condemned to Everlasting Fire who see an end of all their Happiness and but the beginning of their Miseries in a Fired World our Thoughts cannot reach this now we have no Passions yet big enough for such a Misery Eternal Torment Blessed JESU have Mercy upon us and let the present Fear and Dread of it preserve us from ever knowing what it means If you should ask me When the end of the World and the Day of Judgment will come I must confess to you I do not know for our Saviour has before told us Of that day and hour knoweth no man not the angels in heaven nor the Son but the Father only That we are not concerned to know when this shall be nay that God has very wise Reasons to conceal this from us I have shewed you before I shall now add 1. That it is not likely to be yet 2. That how long soever it be delayed we have great reason at present to provide for it Especially 3. when we are sure that the time now hastens after so long an expectation of it I. That it is not likely to be yet In St. Paul's time some Christians were in great apprehension that the Day of Judgment was near and it seems were in a terrible Fright about it but the Apostle thought fit to correct this Mistake and that with some Earnestness as if it were a Mistake of ill consequence and so indeed it might have proved if not to them yet to those who followed who observing their Mistake about the Day of Judgment confuted as all such Mistake are by the Event might have concluded that the whole was a Mistake and that there should be no Day of Judgment because it did not come when it was expected and therefore the Apostle thought fit to warn them against it Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him That ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand 2 Thess. 2.1 2. And to satisfie them
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
God 5 John 25 28 29. Verily verily I say unto you The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Which may indeed be understood of a Metaphorical or Spiritual Death and Resurrection that those who were dead in Sin should be raised to a new Spiritual Life by hearing the Voice of the Son of God and believing on him but though our Saviour might intend this sence yet he meant somewhat more by it as appears from what follows Marâ—â— not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation So that the Voice of Christ shall raise the Dead which may well be called the Trump of God when it shall found through all the World and give a new Life to the Dead and summon 'em to Judgment For this is another very material Circumstance of the Future Judgment that all the Dead both good and bad shall be raised to Life again and appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that as we must give an account of whatever we have done in this Body whether good or bad so we must re-assume our Bodies again when we come to Judgment I shall noâ— now discourse to you of the Nature or Possibility of the Resurrection which belongs to another Argument but the Man Christ Jesus is the Judge of Mankind he appears in Humane Nature himself cloathed with an Humane Body though infinitely bright and glorious and he comes to Judge Men not unbodied Souls and therefore we must be reunited to our Bodies again for a Humane Soul is not a perfect Man without its Body An unbodied Soul is guilty of none of those Sins for which we must be judged for we must be judged for what we did in the Body the Man sinned and the Man must be judged and the Man must be either happy or miserable for ever Lord with what Horrour and Reluctancy will bad Souls enter into their Bodies again not to enjoy their old beloved Sensualities but to be judged for them when the very sight of their Bodies shall call to mind all the Villanies they acted in them when they must appear before their Judge with all the Instruments of Wickedness about them with those very Bodies whose members they had made servants of uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity with Eyes full of Adultery with Hands stained with Blood or full of Bribes or Rapine with a blaspheming a lying a reviling a perjured Tongue to unite a Soul to such a Body again is like tying a Man to his murdered Friend which will both scare and torment his Conscience and poison him with a noisom Stench The Body which was the Tempter and the Instrument in all this Wickedness will now be a Witness against him and an Instrument of his Punishment too But holy Souls will give a better Welcome to their Bodies Bodies in which the Flesh was subdued to the Spirit which were preserved pure and clean from all sensual Lusts which were the ready Instruments of Righteousness and Vertue which were offered up living holy and acceptable Sacrifices to God which suffered loss and want and torment and death for the sake of Christ good Men would desire to be judged in such Bodies as these which are visible Testimonies of their Faith and Patience and Mortification and Self-denial which are the Members of Christ and the Temples of the Holy Ghost Thus all Mankind shall rise out of their Graves and appear before the Judgment seat of Christ and therefore now let us Contemplate our Lord sitting upon his Throne the Throne of Judgment as he himself tells us 25 Matth. 31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory Thus it is described in the Revelations of St. Iohn 20 Revel 13. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them What this Throne is or where it shall be placed we are not told but the most probable Conjecture is that this Throne is a bright resplendant Cloud in the form of a Magnificent Throne placed in the Air at some distance from the Earth for he is said to come in the Clouds of Heaven and St. Paul plainly intimates to us that his Throne shall be in the Air when he tells us that those good Men who shall be alive at Christ's coming shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and it is not improbable but this may be near Ierusalem where the Temple of God was where he conversed while he lived on Earth and where he was judged and condemned as a Malefactor and treated with the utmost Scorn and Contempt and nailed in an infamous manner upon the Cross for it seems to add to the Triumph of that Day to appear in all his Glory to Judge the World at that very place when he suffered Shame and Reproach and Death for the Sins of Men and from the hands of Sinners But this is all Conjecture though not without some appearing Probability and therefore I shall build nothing on it The Judge being sat all Mankind appear before him to give an account of their Actions and to receive their finaâ— Sentence Before him shall be gathered 〈◊〉 nations and he shall separate them 〈◊〉 from another as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats 25 Mat. 32. This 〈◊〉 I observed before our Saviour attributes to the Ministry of Angels who separate the Wheat from the Tares and the good Fiâ—â— from the bad for the angels we know 〈◊〉 ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation 1 Heb. 14. and therefore they know how to distinguish between good and bad Men and to separate them from each other This is the last and final Separation good and bad Men shall never meet and intermix with each other after this they live together in this World and conveâ—â— together are united by Relation and Inâ—â—rest are Members of the same Church and Worship God together in the same Holy Communion of Prayers and Sacraments but they must part Company at the Day of Judgment the one to the right Hand and the other to the left Men are very apt to flatter themselves now that they shall fare the better for the Company they keep no Church and no Communion is pure enough for them not that they are so much Holier than their Neighbours but they are of Opinion that God will judge of them by the Church they are of and therefore whatever Church strikes their Fancy most with an appearance of Sanctity and Holiness there they joyn themselves not so much to